Wisconsin Lawyer
Vol. 82, No. 8, August 2009

You have spoken. Your voices cannot be ignored. Three of the last five State Bar presidents took a stand on the question of a voluntary bar, all three in favor of it, and all three won. You were recently surveyed: nearly 60 percent of you opposed a mandatory bar.

In practical terms, where does this leave us? The matter has been referred to the State Bar Strategic Planning Committee by the Membership Committee, a committee set up to study exactly this problem by Past President Diel. From there I hope the matter will be sent on to the Board of Governors and result in a resolution that the board will join in a petition to make the State Bar voluntary. It is hard to imagine that the board would not reflect the will of the majority of members. Whether the Wisconsin Supreme Court will act in a way that the members demand remains to be seen. I will do everything I can to achieve that result.

In the meantime, the heavy lifting starts. Roughly 40 percent of the State Bar’s money comes from dues. If we assume the worst case, that the 60 percent who oppose the mandatory bar will all refuse to join, the State Bar would lose about 24 percent of its revenues.

Justice (and I would say the Constitution) requires that the State Bar be made voluntary. Prudence requires that the lawyers be induced to join. Lawyers will be induced to join the State Bar upon demonstration of value – measured in good old-fashioned dollars and cents.

Of course it is highly unlikely that everyone who favors a voluntary bar will refuse to join a voluntary bar – I certainly would join. Where else is a lawyer to get free legal research tools and the Ultimate Pass for obtaining the required CLE credits?

We must endeavor to capture every lawyer. We will never succeed, of course, but we can avoid most of the attrition by making the Bar attractive. At least these steps must be taken:

1) Membership services. In recent months the State Bar has made great strides in offering member services, but it can do much, much better. The Bar always evaluates a new product or service to the members in terms of what the Bar gets out of it. For example, the credit cards that the Bar has available for the members earn the Bar about $50,000 per year, but gain the members not a dime. (Of course there is an indirect benefit. To the extent the Bar is helpful to its members, all nondues revenue should be welcomed.) Similarly, one can buy life insurance, disability insurance, and almost any other kind of insurance cheaper on the market than through the Bar. I have revitalized the Member Benefits Advisory Committee, combined it with the Insurance for Members Committee, and expect great things.

2) Transparency. The State Bar has been a secretive organization in a way, ironically, that would leave any other governmental organization in trouble with the law. The Bar is operated by a set of policies that have never been published and, in fact, have never even been collated. The payroll of the State Bar is not known to the members, the board, the Finance Committee, nor indeed to the treasurer. Go to WisBar.org and just try to see what is going on with the Finance or Executive committees: You’ll not get past this symbol: – not even if you’re a governor.

3) Effectiveness. Hobbled as it is by Keller rules and confused by its mission, the Bar has not been capable of zealously advocating for its members. The unauthorized practice of law is rampant with lay claims adjusters representing accident victims, insurance salespeople drawing up inter vivos trusts, tax preparers setting up LLCs and corporations (generally without operating agreements or bylaws), and realtors and title companies handling most land transfers. Insurers induce the legislature to eviscerate the rules of civil procedure, leaving liability policies illusory. The public is defrauded by mortgage rescue schemes while avoiding lawyers. The Bar is unable to respond.

True, some lawyers will disdain membership in the Bar. But the vast majority will stick around if they see that their dues yield value: All of us belong to organizations that cost more than the State Bar because we perceive value.

We can bring this off. The challenge is daunting but not impossible. The most liberal and conservative lawyers share the common objectives of preserving the practice and protecting the public from charlatans. As a unified group of educated people, 24,000 strong, we are a formidable force. Once we are united by will and not by mandate, we can speak with a unified voice through the State Bar and advance the cause of lawyers and the public.

Wisconsin Lawyer