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    Wisconsin Lawyer
    November 01, 1998

    Wisconsin Lawyer November 1998: 1998 State Bar Annual Report: Partners in Practice

     


    Vol. 71, No. 11, November 1998

    President's Report: Spirit of Service Redefines Bar
    Mission of the State Bar
    State Bar of Wisconsin Financial Reports (PDF) *

    1998 State Bar Annual Report:
    Partners in Practice

    Bar LogoIt was a year for lawyers to connect with each other, to work more closely with each other. Initiatives such as long-range strategic planning, moving forward with a new headquarters for the Bar, bringing lawyers together at smaller regional conferences, and assessing member needs headlined the year.

    Hundreds of members statewide joined in Project Vision, the State Bar's long-range planning initiative. State Bar divisions, sections, committees, and affiliated organizations held strategic planning sessions during the year to help guide the Bar well into the 21st century.

    Recognizing that the Bar simply had outgrown its existing facility, the Board of Governors approved a recommendation to acquire land on Madison's northeast side and construct a building to meet its current and future needs. Groundbreaking for the new Bar Center occurred this past summer. The new 40,000-square-foot Bar Center will provide:

    • easy member access from the Interstate and major highways;
    • adequate free parking;
    • meeting and work space for members while in Madison; and
    • space for CLE seminars and computer/technology training.

    Smaller than the Bar's two yearly conventions, regional conferences in Hudson and Wisconsin Rapids provided area attorneys the opportunity to gather for networking and CLE programming that they might otherwise miss. And the first-ever Midwest Small Firm Success Conference, initiated and sponsored by the State Bar, brought more than 300 attorneys from eight Midwest states together for special programs geared to small and sole practices.

    The State Bar continually surveys its members to assess their needs, to find out how the Bar is doing to meet those needs, and what the Bar should be doing in the future. This research points the way to better understand and meet member needs.

    In addition to the many programs and initiatives moving the Bar and its member service efforts forward into the next century, the Bar continued its commitment to public service. This Annual Report highlights many of those achievements.

    This truly was a year of partners in practice with the members and the Bar working hard to meet the needs of the legal community and the public.

    Assessing Members' Needs

    Understanding where the legal profession is headed and analyzing other market forces allows the Bar to anticipate the current and future needs of its members. Assessing member needs is a never-ending process, not just a periodic ritual.

    Member survey

    The current membership survey continues the Bar's effort to gauge members' needs and how to better meet them. (The full text of the survey was published in the October 1998 Wisconsin Lawyer.)

    Membership Profile

    1998 -- 19,732 members

    % members female
    25%

    % members male
    75%

    New members admitted
    703

    1988 -- 15,459 members

    % members female
    17%

    % members male
    83%

    New members admitted
    699

    1978 -- 11,197 members

    New members admitted
    591
    (breakdown of male vs. female not available)

    1968 -- 7,784 members

    New members admitted
    N/A
    (breakdown of male vs. female not available)

    When asked to rate the value of the Bar's offerings, resident and nonresident respondents ranked the same offerings within the top six, but with different values. Those offerings include CLE Seminars, CLE Books, Wisconsin Lawyer magazine, Wisconsin Lawyer Directory, CLE seminar written materials, and the ethics hotline.

    What do you need from the State Bar that is currently not provided? Some respondents wanted lower costs or price breaks for everything from Bar dues to convention and seminar registration fees. Others suggested that the Bar do more to improve the public image of lawyers and to meet the needs of government lawyers.

    Nonresident members wanted better local access to Bar services, including seminars delivered through teleconferences or the Internet, and CLE classes convened near state borders.

    How can the State Bar help you prepare for practicing law in the 21st century? Respondents asked for more computer training, software reviews, technology updates, and continued improvements of the Bar's Web site. Other requests ranged from lower fees and costs, to efforts to improve civility and collegiality among lawyers.

    Law firm technology survey

    The second annual 1997 Law Firm Technology Survey measured current technology usage levels among members and identified opportunities to assist members with adopting and using computer technology. The State Bar intends to annually assess members' evolving technology usage and needs. (The full results were published in the October 1997 Wisconsin Lawyer.)

    The 1997 Law Firm Technology Survey revealed:

    • 50 percent of responding firms have Internet access, up from 30 percent the previous year; 11 percent plan to obtain Internet access within the next year;
    • 486-based PCs are the most frequently used computers, averaging about five computers per firm; Pentium-based PCs average four per firm; and 386-based PCs average three per firm; and
    • 57 percent of respondents are interested in downloading CLE self-study materials from the Internet if credits were available.

    Survey results are used by law firms to compare their own technology use with that of their counterparts. This information helps lawyers plan for future technology acquisitions and training to better position themselves in the legal marketplace. The survey results also help the Bar meet existing member needs and anticipate future needs - so that information and training is available even before members request it.

    Meeting Members' Needs

    The State Bar recognizes that one of the most valuable commodities for any attorney is information. To meet its members' professional challenges, the Bar has developed a wealth of high-quality information resources, ranging from books, seminars, and special periodicals to conventions, computerized research services, and even a hotline to assist members with ethics questions.

    Internet technology

    More than one million pages of information were accessed from WisBar, the State Bar's Internet site, testimony to the Bar's commitment to providing members with pertinent, accurate, and timely legal information. The site has welcomed visitors from as far away as Hong Kong, Norway, Greece, New Guinea, Hungary, and dozens of other locations.

    WisBar's goal is to provide daily practice tools for busy Wisconsin attorneys in a 24-hour, easy-access, easy-use, secure transaction environment. In furtherance of its goals, WisBar's advances this past year include:

    The State Bar successfully broadcast its first CLE seminar live over the Internet to a test audience. This effort lays the groundwork for future live, online seminars.

    WisBar now offers a secure environment for members to purchase CLE books and other products and to register for seminars and other events.

    Caselaw Express, a free weekly email service, delivers subscribers the previous week's court decisions.

    Lawyer Search, a database-driven search engine allows users to search around the clock for Wisconsin attorneys by name, city, and law school.

    Resolving lawyer and client disputes

    The new State Bar Lawyer Dispute Resolution Program helps lawyers resolve differences during law firm breakups. The Professionalism Committee developed this program to head off litigation, protect clients, and reduce the burden on the courts.

    The Resolution of Fee Disputes service provides the public and lawyers with fast and inexpensive arbitration hearings to settle fee disputes between lawyers and clients. Confidentiality is guaranteed. During FY '98, more than 400 clients, attorneys, and judges contacted the State Bar for information on the program, with a total of 57 applications accepted for arbitration hearings.

    Ethics advice

    During FY '98, the State Bar Ethics Hotline conducted 2,114 informal consultations with members on such topics as confidentiality and conflicts of interest.

    The Professional Ethics Committee also issues formal ethics opinions at the request of members. This year the committee issued opinions regarding representation in real estate transactions and professional obligations that arise when a lawyer and law firm part company.

    Local bar outreach

    Supreme Court Rules direct the State Bar "to encourage the formation and activities of local bar associations." Accordingly, the State Bar sponsors an annual Wisconsin Bar Leaders Conference. This past year's program focused on helping local bar leaders "build a better bar." It included breakout sessions on strategic planning, structuring and organizing the framework of local bars, and helping local bars move forward in the rapidly changing world of cyberspace.

    The State Bar also provides assistance to lawyers wishing to form their own local bars. Door County lawyers took advantage of this service to help form the new Door County Bar Association.

    In addition, the State Bar of Wisconsin supports public service activities of local and specialty bars through a Local Bar Grant Competition. More than $7,600 was awarded for projects last year.

    Wisconsin Lawyers Assistance Program

    The Wisconsin Lawyers Assistance Program (WisLAP) continued to help lawyers, judges, law students, and their families cope with alcoholism and other chemical addictions, depression, acute and chronic anxiety, and problems related to the stress of practicing law. Trained volunteers provide information and confidential, meaningful assistance 24 hours a day, seven days a week.

    Considerable attention was given to the stresses of lawyering during the Bar's Annual Convention. The convention's theme, "Balancing Life and Practice," set the stage for many informative WisLAP programs.

    CLE books

    CLE Books continued to spotlight the expertise of some of Wisconsin's most talented attorneys as nearly 300 lawyers volunteered to be authors or reviewers. Advising Older Clients and Their Families, a two-volume set, was copublished this year with the Elder Law Section. A comprehensive guide to all aspects of elder law, 25 experienced Wisconsin practitioners wrote the handbook, and more than 30 others served as expert reviewers.

    Top six State Bar offerings members use or participate in

    Wisconsin Lawyer
    95% (residents)
    88.9% (nonresidents)

    CLE Seminars
    94.4%
    60.2%

    State Bar Newsletter
    91.6%
    78.9%

    CLE Books
    90.5%
    62.3%

    CLE Seminar written materials
    89.9%
    57.7%

    Wisconsin Lawyer Directory
    87.4%
    83.7%

    CLE Books also revised 12 existing publications and supplemented 22 other books during the fiscal year. Some of the new editions included Eckhardt's Workbook for Wisconsin Estate Planners, Worker's Compensation Handbook, Guardian ad Litem Handbook, Organizing a Wisconsin Business Corporation, and Wisconsin Employment Law.

    CLE seminars

    CLE Seminars presented nearly 70 live programs during this past fiscal year. It also produced more than 500 video replays and seven teleseminars, offering a total of 370 credits and reaching more than 12,000 registrants. More than 260 Wisconsin practitioners volunteered their time and expertise as seminar faculty.

    CLE Seminars continued to cosponsor and produce programs in cooperation with other professional organizations, putting on successful joint programs with the Corporate Practice Institute, the Wisconsin Institute of Certified Public Accountants, and the American Board of Trial Advocates.

    The most popular programs focused on technology-related issues, including research on the Internet, and an examination of the law of privacy in the information age. In response to member feedback, CLE Seminars continues to explore alternative ways to deliver CLE, including developing cost-effective, online, on-demand CLE programming.

    Committee, division, and section member outreach

    Most of the work of the State Bar is accomplished through committee, division, and section volunteers. These entities give members an opportunity to participate in the Bar, expand and share their expertise, and network with colleagues who share a common focus.

    Among their many work products, volunteers produce special focus newsletters, work on legislative issues, and provide CLE programming at conventions and conferences. This past year, for instance, the Bankruptcy Section began issuing periodic "Supreme Court Scoop" postcards to members - a fast way to communicate recent decisions; the Business Law Section expanded its Business Assistance Program to cover nonprofit organizations as well as small businesses; and the International Practice Section provided speakers for legal issues seminars hosted by the Wisconsin World Trade Center for the benefit of Wisconsin businesses.

    Next Page

    Editor's Note: To view State Bar financial statements included in this article you must have or install Adobe Acrobat Reader 3.0 on your computer.


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