Board of Governors Actions
The State Bar Board of Governors took the following actions at its
Jan. 28 meeting in Madison.
RECEIVED several recommendations from the Facilities
Committee, and acted to:
- approve the concept of a new building, agreeing that the current
facility is inadequate;
- purchase for $1 a 90-day option on a building site at the American
Center Commercial Business Park on Madison's far northeast side but
directed the committee also to continue reviewing other possible sites
as they become available;
- approve the financing model that includes selling the existing Bar
Center, assuming a conventional bank mortgage, and liquidating some
intermediate and short-term investments; and
- agree to investigate the possibility of a membership fund-raising
effort.
ACCEPTED the Finance Committee report and voted to
accept and endorse the documentation and methodology presented by the
Finance Committee as a conceptual presentation of a three-year rolling
budget plan and planning for 1999 and direct that the Finance Committee
provide further reports detailing and further specifying proposals for a
three-year rolling budget.
ACTED on several recommendations of the joint State
Bar/BAPR Committee on Mandatory Fee Agreements. The board:
- disapproved the recommendation to require written fee agreements for
matters over $1,000;
- approved the recommendation that fee arbitration remain
voluntary;
- referred to the Office Management Section, the recommendation to
develop voluntary sample fee agreement forms; and
- recommended that law school curriculum include information on fees
and fee agreements.
SUPPORTED the New York State Bar in its fight
against the federal "Granny's Lawyers Goes to Jail" law. First, the
board issued a resolution, "That the State Bar of Wisconsin supports the
efforts of the New York State Bar Association to judicially determine
the constitutionality of Section 217 of the Health Insurance Portability
and Accountability Act." Second, the board went on record as opposing
the law.
APPROVED the report of the Project Vision Task
Force, directed its implementation, and authorized the appointment of an
implementation committee.
Note: To place a matter on the advance agenda for the April
3-4 meeting in Appleton or the June 24 meeting in Lake Geneva, notify
the executive director at the State Bar Center and submit appropriate
materials at least two weeks before the meeting. For further
information, please contact Stephen L. Smay at the State Bar Center.
Wisconsin Lawyer