March 18, 2009 – Wisconsin lawyers voting in a “best of” 2009 poll named the State Bar of Wisconsin as “Best Legal Organization,” “Best Annual CLE Program,” and “Best Law-related Web Site.”

The online survey, conducted by the Milwaukee-based publishers of the Wisconsin Law Journal (WLJ), occurred during December and January. Full poll results were released on March 16.

“The State Bar works hard to be a voice for our members and deliver resources they can use to better serve the justice system and their clients. It is very gratifying to learn that members recognize and value the programs and services the State Bar produces,” says George Brown, State Bar executive director.

The Wisconsin Bar Association was organized in 1878. Presently, the State Bar membership is more than 23,000 with 26 specific practice area sections offering newsletters, email lists, and other resources to facilitate information sharing.

When the Association was formed on Jan. 9, 1878, the first constitution called for a committee on Legal Education, which was to examine the system of legal education and admission to the bar. While this did not contemplate CLE, as such, it demonstrated the concern of the lawyers of the time to the practical problems of lawyer competency.

The State Bar launched the WisBar Web site in 1996 as an online resource for legal information, supplanting an earlier electronic bulletin board system managed by a member’s 14-year-old son in his basement. WisBar now receives more than 1 million pages views per month.