Douglas W. Kammer sworn in as 54th State Bar president

By Alex De Grand, Legal Writer

May 8, 2009 – Declaring the State Bar of Wisconsin to be at a crossroads, Douglas W. Kammer was sworn in as that organization’s 54th president on May 7 during the Annual Convention in Milwaukee.

Kammer said that the State Bar must embrace greater transparency in its operations, offer better services to its members, and increase its defense of the courts and the legal profession. Returning to his signature campaign issue, Kammer said that these goals should be achieved by converting the State Bar into a voluntary membership association.

A voluntary State Bar would be more responsive to the needs of Wisconsin’s lawyers and better reflective of their sentiments, Kammer said. Currently, Kammer said that the organization to which lawyers must belong views its members as mere “profit centers” and has lost its focus on serving them.

Although the State Bar has recently offered valuable member benefits such as the Fastcase research service, there are many areas in need of improvement, he said. Kammer specifically called for a better group health insurance program, more information technology services, and online legal forms.

Kammer said the State Bar must “realize we’re in a post-Enron era” and adopt more open governance. Additionally, Kammer said that the State Bar elections, and the nominating procedures in particular, need reform so that candidates reflect the full diversity of the membership.

These actions should encourage lawyers to choose to join the State Bar and, in turn, bolster solidarity among members in the face of public opinion hostile toward them, Kammer said. Remarking that he has been a lawyer for nearly 40 years, Kammer noted a gradual souring of public attitudes toward his profession. Kammer said that this trend began with “cute and witty” lawyer jokes, but it has grown into a more ominous hostility toward attorneys and even judges.

Kammer said many of these claims about lawyers pursuing “frivolous” litigation proved to be fictitious upon investigation. Yet, Kammer said he was troubled that he has not seen these attacks draw a vigorous defense from lawyers. “If we don’t hang together, we will most assuredly hang separately,” Kammer said, quoting Benjamin Franklin.

The State Bar must also take a more robust stand against the unauthorized practice of law, Kammer said. Acknowledging that the precise meaning of “unauthorized practice” may require clarification by the Legislature or courts, Kammer said the phenomenon is real and must stop. The public is not well served by lay persons attempting to give legal advice or a spike in pro se litigation, Kammer said.

Kammer concluded his remarks by promising a “better Bar is coming” and it would be an organization that advocates for its members “without trampling on their constitutional rights.”