February 2005
Board prepares final report to supreme court on proposed changes to
rules of professional conduct
At its Jan. 13 - 14 meeting, the Board of
Governors voted on the Wisconsin Supreme Court Ethics 2000 Committee's
recommended changes to the Supreme Court Rules Chapter 20, Rules of
Professional Conduct for Attorneys. The board is preparing a report for
presentation to the court at the Feb. 17, 9:30 a.m. hearing.
 |
|
The board votes with a show of hands.
|
The board spent most of its two-day meeting discussing the most
substantive changes recommended in the committee's 142-page final report
issued last July outlining proposed amendments to SCR 20. While the
board voted on more than 10 specific proposed rule changes, the two most
controversial issues - pro bono reporting and fee agreements -
engendered considerable discussion.
Rule 6.1: Pro bono publico service. The supreme court
committee proposes, as does the American Bar Association (ABA) Model
Rule, an aspirational goal of 50 hours per year of pro bono legal
service (or the financial equivalent). The board was concerned with the
committee's recommendation requiring lawyers to annually report their
pro bono activities. The board also concluded that the committee's
definition of pro bono is too narrow, as it defines pro bono as legal
services provided to low-income individuals and does not include other
community service activities.
The board did not support a mandatory pro bono reporting requirement,
voting 30 - 5, with one abstention, to adopt the ABA Model Rule, which
does not require lawyers to file an annual report.
Rule 1.5: Fees. The board agreed to the first section of the
committee's recommendation on attorneys' fees, which outlines the
factors to be considered in determining the reasonableness of a fee.
However, the board rejected the committee's recommendation that requires
written fee agreements, based on the premise that fee agreements are a
business matter and not an ethical issue. The vote was 23 - 11, with one
abstention.
The Wisconsin Supreme Court created the Ethics 2000 Committee to
study the ABA's proposed changes to the model rules. The committee's
report and petition, filed on July 29, 2004, is the most comprehensive
proposal for changes to SCR Chapter 20 since the mid-1980s.
The board first took up the petition last September. Using a
knowledge-based decision-making process to analyze the petition, the
board broke into small groups to address its most substantive changes.
The board also considered feedback received from more than 90 individual
members and law-related groups since August. The January meeting was the
culmination of those efforts.
The State Bar continues to encourage member feedback, which it will
forward to the Clerk of Supreme Court. Send comments to ethics-feedback@wisbar.org
or to Dan Rossmiller, Public Affairs Director, State Bar of Wisconsin,
P.O. Box 7158, Madison, WI 53707-7158.
Inside the Bar
