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    Wisconsin Lawyer
    September 01, 2003

    President's Message

    As we review our achievements, let us recall all those members before us who built the solid foundation from which we proceed.

    George Burnett

    Wisconsin Lawyer
    Vol. 76, No. 9, September 2003

    A Solid Foundation

    As we review our achievements, let us recall all those members before us who built the solid foundation from which we proceed.

    by George Burnett

    George BurnettFor the past year I have regularly attended conferences for state bar presidents and other bar executives and leaders. Invariably, someone comments upon the State Bar of Wisconsin's success. Last month, a nationally known speaker called our Bar's efforts "legendary." I mention this because it is important for our members to know the high regard with which our association is held.

    Our success is due in no small part to the dedication and talents of our lawyer volunteers and the commitment and experience of our staff. Last year, two staff members received awards of national recognition: Dee Runaas for mock trial and Joyce Hastings for communications. Past President Steven Sorenson was recently honored as Sole Practitioner of the Year by the ABA General Practice Section.

    These accomplishments characterize the State Bar's 103 programs, which range from the most broadly based to the most individually centered. For example, the State Bar sponsors hundreds of CLE programs annually. Some program topics appeal to a broad audience, while other topics have narrower appeal. An important part of the Bar's mission is to ensure that legal education in all important fields is enhanced. Our organization offers more than 50 books and other publications are published to help our members succeed in the daily practice of law.

    Our organization is ever mindful of the importance of our profession to the public. For example, we fund the annual mock trial competition for high school students and the chief justice's conference on the legal system for teachers. We frequently are called to comment on legal issues of public importance. Our association is looked to with respect by Wisconsin lawmakers. The association contributes to no campaigns, so our contribution at the legislature is attributable to our experience, judgment, and integrity.

    CLE webcasting - offering CLE via the Internet - debuts this month. Easy access to CLE from a computer should prove especially attractive to our 7,000 nonresident lawyers, who sometimes have difficulty in obtaining mandatory ethics credits. Any webcast attendee will find the quality of these CLE programs remarkably high.

    Likewise, this award-winning magazine is a model for others, as is our WisBar Web site, which won a national award just a few years ago and is now undergoing a major redesign.

    The Mentor Council, which assists new lawyers in the difficult transition into the profession through the guidance of experienced volunteer lawyers, and the ethics hotline, serves members with immediate answers to their ethical questions. Under study is a program to assist our members in the business management side of their practices, so that they are less distracted by those issues and better able to serve the clients who employ them.

    WisLAP, operated by lawyer volunteers and a dedicated staff member, Shell Goar, helps our most vulnerable colleagues who face drug, alcohol, and emotional challenges while trying to cope with the pressures of this difficult profession. WisLAP helps avert a handful of suicides a year.

    I mention these points with the recognition that this organization succeeds today because of those who have gone before us. Isaac Newton once said, "If I see farther, it is because I stand on the shoulders of giants." Those words are still true today, and they apply with equal force to strong and effective organizations. The State Bar of Wisconsin is no exception.

    The profession will face increasingly more difficult challenges. As the problems become harder, we must do better. But all the same, as the State Bar of Wisconsin enters its 126th year, it is important to recall that the thousands of members who went before us built the very solid foundation from which we proceed.


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