Letters
Letters to the editor: The Wisconsin Lawyer
publishes as many letters in each issue as space permits. Please limit
letters to 500 words; letters may be edited for length and clarity.
Letters should address the issues, and not be a personal attack on
others. Letters endorsing political candidates cannot be accepted.
Please mail letters to "Letters to the Editor," Wisconsin Lawyer, P.O.
Box 7158, Madison, WI 53707-7158, fax them to (608) 257-4343, or email
them to wislawyer@wisbar.org.
Lawyers Serve Society, Not the Other Way Around
I don't like the way the practice has changed over the last 30 years
- and I'd go back to the old way in a heartbeat. But my research
constantly reminds me that lawyers serve society, not the other way
around. More important, the data also constantly reminds that law (and
lawyers) follows society, not vice versa.
Preaching to a congregation whose hearts are distracted and believing
our own sermons is the best way to be the only one surprised when the
pews are suddenly empty. It is interesting to listen to the argued
articulation of lawyers' duties, with no mention of the primary "duty"
to listen with an open mind.
One would think that lawyers would better apply the lessons of
society and history to their own situation. If there is such a thing as
"tunnel vision," perhaps lawyers have "tunnel blindness." A simple
comparison of the economic and social load the American legal system
puts on society with that of other similar economic societies shows that
in many areas of life, the legal profession is perceived as imposing a
"tax" for which there is no perceived value. Lawyers who clearly
recognized that the NASDAQ could not sustain its growth cannot see that
the same rules apply to human anticipation of value relative to the
"legal services" lawyers provide.
I find it interesting that the personal injury plaintiff's lawyers -
a few of whom have enjoyed tremendous economic benefits from the changes
over the last decades, benefits obtained chiefly from the concentration
of profitable cases away from that segment of the bar who used the PI
"profit center" to subsidize their community-based general practices -
are now thumping the drum the loudest for preservation of "traditional
values." There must be a word for the combination of demagoguery and
arrogance that presumes that not only does the granting of a law license
give its holder the insight to understand what elements of a
professional relationship society most needs, but that only these
license holders can choose those elements for the individual members of
a free society.
Gary Bakke is right in his support for recognition of the reality of
multidisciplinary practice. Right not only in the sense that he
anticipates social change that will impact the legal profession - with
dire consequences if it does not anticipate and adapt, but right in a
civic moral sense. If we are to be the "traffic cops" providing order to
society, we must maintain credibility with society as society changes.
Finally, Bakke is right, lawyers do not decide what is relevant,
especially when that decision is clouded by the preservation of the
sinecure we've enjoyed for decades.
Mike Loduha
Manitowoc
Waukesha County Self-help Center Not Yet Open
The article "Setting a Course for the Future," in the March Wisconsin
Lawyer, mistakenly states that Waukesha County opened a self-help legal
services center in January to assist divorce clients who choose to go it
alone. In January, the county, in collaboration with Wisconsin
Correctional Service, hired me as the project coordinator to plan the
program. Waukesha has not offered any additional services to clients
yet, but we do hope to open a center in the Fall of 2001 if the planning
progresses as scheduled.
Tera Nehring
Waukesha County Court Self-help Program
A Blueprint for Effective Legal Writing
Early in my career an older partner whose legal briefs were widely
respected as cogent and, most of all, easy to read, once told me how he
edited his briefs. Ever since, I have applied his technique to all my
legal writing. I recommend his technique to those readers who found
George Vernon's excellent article on a legal writing blueprint in the
March Wisconsin Lawyer to be very helpful.
First, the partner said, wait a couple days after you think you are
completely done writing your brief. Then put your bottom paragraphs on
top. And your bottom sentences on top. Simple. Initial drafts, he
explained, tend to follow the arduous process of research and deductive
reasoning, which is bottom up: minor premise up to broad conclusion.
Don't make your reader work like that, he said. This isn't fiction where
the pages pull the reader along to a dramatic denouement. In legal
writing, top down is best. "This is the law, here's why ... this is the
law, here's why." His briefs never had conclusion paragraphs to sum up
everything. By that point the reader was already convinced.
Kevin M. Connelly
La Crosse
The March Issue is a "Keeper"
The March Wisconsin Lawyer is superb, well edited, value laden, with
judicious use of links to further information. It's future-oriented,
fun, and has excellent headlines, wound around a member involvement
theme. Great job. And Gary Bakke can really write.
John J. (Jack) Sweeney
Director, Office of Justice Initiatives
American Bar Association, Chicago
Wisconsin Lawyer