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    Wisconsin Lawyer
    August 01, 2001

    Wisconsin Lawyer August 2001: Annual Report 2001

     

    Wisconsin Lawyer August 2001

    Vol. 74, No. 8, August 2001

    2001 Annual Report: Defining our Profession's FutureDefining Our Profession's Future
    July 1, 2000 – June 30, 2001

    Dedicated to the Legal Profession and Justice System

    Fiscal year 2001 (FY01) was defined largely by the efforts of President Gary Bakke and members statewide to discuss and debate the future of the profession. "Seize the Future" is the title of a series of events that focused on the sweeping changes affecting the delivery of legal services to the public. The initiative began with a conference in Madison, and led into a 10-part Seize the Future Resolution to address specific issues, including multidisciplinary practice (MDP), the unauthorized practice of law, and unbundling of legal services. The resolution was disseminated to the membership at large and was debated among the Board of Governors.

    At the Board of Governor's request, the State Bar organized 16 roundtables statewide in spring 2001 to gather input from members. Hundreds of attorneys turned out to learn about the issues and to be heard. Member input greatly impacted the course of the resolution, which was amended and approved at the board's final meeting in May. Among other things, the revised resolution calls for a formal study commission for MDP. The commission will research the impact of multidisciplinary practices on the legal profession and the public, make recommendations in support of or in opposition to MDP, and host hearings on its outcome during FY02. Commission membership will include approximately 25 lawyers and nonlawyers who share different opinions on the benefits and harms of MDPs to the legal profession and the public. For more information, see the Seize the Future homepage.

    The State Bar of Wisconsin is dedicated to advancing the legal profession and improving the justice system. Each year, the State Bar offers hundreds of educational opportunities for members; engages in cutting-edge research about the justice system; provides effective means for members to communicate and network; advocates on behalf of the profession in the state Legislature, Congress, and with the Wisconsin Supreme Court; and sponsors an array of public education and service programs. In this annual report, FY01 activities are organized under five categories that describe the nature of the Bar's work on behalf of the 20,000-plus members and the public: education, research, knowledge exchange, advocacy, and public service. Due to space constraints, this report contains only a small sampling of the organization's many activities.

    Education



    The State Bar provides a variety of educational opportunities for members through continuing legal education seminars and books, convention programs, committee and section involvement, and the Wisconsin Lawyer magazine, among others.

    CLE Seminars. In FY01, State Bar CLE collaborated with numerous State Bar sections, committees, other legal organizations, and interdisciplinary professional groups to produce more than 60 individual seminars, resulting in 70 live presentations and more than 450 video presentations. The 520-plus program dates and locations served more than 13,000 individuals.

    Web-enhanced CLE. State Bar CLE made history in FY01 with its first Web-enhanced CLE program. The two-hour program, "Wisconsin Resources on the Internet," drew 60 State Bar resident and nonresident members.

    Participants "attend" a Web-enhanced seminar from the location of choice - home or office. The speaker's voice arrives over the telephone for reliable, clear, and uninterrupted sound quality. The visual information is delivered via the Internet on a desktop PC. Speakers enhance their presentations by adding live, real-time Web site examples, PowerPoint slides, and a variety of other written and visual materials.

    The program, a partnership of the State Bar and the Law Librarians Association of Wisconsin, earned an award from the American Association of Law Libraries for "Excellence in Marketing."

    While the convenience of this technology is unmistakable, the challenge is to make CLE programs affordable and usable for all State Bar members.

    CLE Books. CLE Books continued to provide top-notch legal resources to attorneys, with the invaluable help of hundreds of volunteer authors who contributed their time and expertise. FY01 proved to be a busy year, producing the following:

      Book: Wisconsin Employment Law
    • 18 books were supplemented, including the three-volume Wisconsin Employment Law;

    • 18 titles were completely revised, including: A Guide for Wisconsin Nonprofit Organizations, all five volumes of the popular Wisconsin Judicial Benchbook series, The Law of Damages in Wisconsin, and System Book for Family Law in Wisconsin; and

    • two new titles, The New Wisconsin Rules of Appellate Procedure 2001 and Professional Discipline of Wisconsin Attorneys: A Compendium, copublished with the Wisconsin Supreme Court's Office of Lawyer Regulation.

    Major projects underway for FY02 include revisions of Marital Property Law in Wisconsin and Traffic Law and Practice in Wisconsin.

    Page 2: Research >


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