State Bar conducts survey on mandatory Bar
membership
The question of whether the State Bar of Wisconsin should be a
mandatory or voluntary association dates back to 1956, when the
Wisconsin Supreme Court made membership in the Bar a condition for the
practice of law in Wisconsin. The mandatory membership rule was
suspended in 1988 by order of a federal district court but was restored
in 1992 by action of the Wisconsin Supreme Court.
Mandatory Bar membership has long sparked lively debate and this year
State Bar President Diane Diel has made it a priority to document
members’ viewpoints on the issue and the reasons behind those
views.
Diel appointed a 12-person Bar Membership Committee to study the
issue, solicit feedback from Bar members and deliver a report to the
Board of Governors by winter 2009. Working with Gene Kroupa &
Associates, LLC, a professional opinion research firm, the committee has
developed a Membership Satisfaction Survey that focuses on the issue of
compulsory membership in the context of members’ personal and
professional needs and how the Bar may best be able to address them.
“After discussing this matter with members from across the
state over the past several months, it is clear that the question of
whether Bar membership ought to be mandatory or voluntary is not an
isolated issue,” said Diel. “This is a central long-term
issue for the Bar and we need to get below the surface to identify any
gaps that may exist between member expectations and actual
results.”
The survey was mailed in mid-November to a random, representative
group of 5,000 members. If you did not receive a survey and are
interested in helping the Bar improve its service to members, please
contact the State Bar’s Customer Service team by Wednesday, Dec. 3
to request a survey. Customer Service can be reached via phone at (608)
257-3838 or (800) 728-7788 or email at customerservice@wisbar.org.
Interested survey participants must be State Bar members.
The committee plans to share survey results with the membership in
2009. The committee also plans to write a white paper based on the
results.
