|
|
Vol. 73, No. 8, August 2000 |
New Web site helps consumers navigate legal system
The State Bar's new consumer Web site, LegalExplorer,
is up and running, providing 24/7 access to information about
legal services and resources of consumer interest.
"The new site represents a milestone in the Bar's
commitment to public service," says Mark Pennow, who chairs
the Electronic Bar Services and Lawyer Referral Service committees.
LegalExplorer gives the public quick, convenient access to a
wealth of material helpful in understanding and dealing with
the legal system."
Consumers can use the online adjunct of the State Bar's
Lawyer Referral and Information Service (LRIS) to find a lawyer.
They also will find:
- answers to frequently asked legal questions;
- a searchable database of State Bar publications, videotapes,
and programs and links to government, community, and other Internet
resources to help resolve their legal problem;
- law-related education resources to introduce the general
public to the legal system; and
- consumer-oriented news and consumer scam alerts.
Lawyers benefit by building their practices through the dignified,
noncommercial Internet exposure LRIS offers. They also can refer
to the site for answers to commonly asked legal questions outside
their practice area and to access and direct clients to a wide
range of up-to-date legal resources.
"LegalExplorer demonstrates the character of the Bar
and its willingness to provide information and assistance free
of charge," notes Pennow. "It is an exemplary tool
for improving the profession's public image."
Multidisciplinary practice
ABA rejects economic partnerships between lawyers & nonlawyers
The American Bar Association's House of Delegates recently
voted 314 to 106 to maintain its position that lawyers not be
permitted to share fees with nonlawyers and that nonlawyers not
be permitted to own or control entities that practice law. In
so doing, the ABA effectively rejected the concept of multidisciplinary
practice (MDP), or economic partnerships of lawyers and nonlawyers
providing legal and other professional services. The vote reaffirmed
rules contained in the ABA Model Rules of Professional Conduct.
MDP has been under review by lawyers and legal organizations
for at least two years. More than two dozen state, local, and
specialty bar associations and legal groups, including the State
Bar of Wisconsin, have issued or are in the process of developing
reports on the topic.
The ABA Commission on Multidisciplinary Practice recently
recommended that the legal profession loosen its rules to allow
fee-sharing with nonlawyers. At the House of Delegates'
July 11 annual meeting, the commission's recommendations
met with strong opposition from state and county bars in Florida,
Illinois, New Jersey, New York, and Ohio.
Wisconsin report urges further study
The ABA action follows the State Bar of Wisconsin Board of
Governors' recent approval of the Multidisciplinary Practice
Committee's report recommending further study of the issue.
The recommendations proposed at the June 28 board meeting call
for distribution of the committee's June 14 final report
to Bar members. They also call for the board to determine whether
the issue should be considered from the legal profession's
perspective or a wider public policy standpoint. The board is
charged with developing mechanisms for collecting input from
Bar members and other sources, discussing the issue, and choosing
whether to adopt a State Bar position on MDPs.
While noting that the ABA vote "is certain to slow the
'progress' of those pushing for MDP adoption,"
MDP Committee Chair Thomas L. Shriner "seriously doubts
that this is the end of the discussion."
"Ultimately," he says, "the decision is not
going to be made by the ABA, but by the supreme courts and, to
some extent, the legislatures of the country. Supreme courts
have the final word on lawyers' professional responsibility
rules, and legislatures typically define the practice of law.
Therefore, I think education and discussion ought to go forward
in Wisconsin, and that we still should debate the issue, form
conclusions as a Bar, and share our views with the supreme court
and others. I hope the leadership of the Bar will continue the
process."
The State Bar MDP Committee Report and links to other MDP-related
sites are online. For further information,
or to voice MDP comments, contact Keith
Kaap at (800) 444-9404, ext. 6168.
Court reporting classified as legal occupation
The Bureau of Labor Statistics has moved court reporting from
the Administrative Support Occu-pations to the Legal Occupations
category of the revised Standard Occupational Classification
(SOC).
According to the National Court Reporters Association (NCRA),
the reclassification, which was part of an SOC overhaul begun
in 1998, recognizes a court reporter's work as similar to
that of other legal professionals.
Court reporters previously had been listed in the same category
as bank tellers, hotel desk clerks, mail carriers, telephone
operators, and office stenographers. The 28,000-member NCRA argued
that court reporting involves different skills, training, and
knowledge and petitioned the SOC to create a separate section
for the profession and to reclassify it under Legal Occupations.
Explains Gwen Bever, president of the Wisconsin Court Reporters
Association, "Listing court reporter under the Legal Occupations
category defines the profession in the area with which it is
associated."
"An added benefit," notes Bever, "is that the
reclassification encourages guidance and career counselors to
learn more about the field. Until now, a court reporting career
may have been overlooked as a profession because of the way it
was listed. The change should give counselors a more accurate
understanding of the field and help attract more and better students
to it."
Cyber searches offer speed and economy
Six months ago, "Pat X" vanished - along with
$600 a month in child support. Now Pat's ex-spouse sits
in your office, desperately needing Pat's address -
and child support check. You could call a private investigator,
or you simply could log onto your PC and quite possibly come
up with a name, address, phone number, and even a place of employment
in the time it would take to hire outside assistance - for
a fraction of the cost.
Web locator services showcase three of the Internet's
biggest advantages: economy, speed, and reach.
Take our hypothetical scenario. Locating Pat online might
take little more than going to a locator site and entering Pat's
surname. Knowing that Pat is a dental lab technician, the attorney
might go to a search site, type in "dental labs" and
come up with a list of possible employers. This search could
be narrowed to labs in a state or region. The attorney then could
check the Web sites of individual labs for employee lists and
possibly lock onto Pat's whereabouts and proof of ability
to pay in the same keystroke.
Other scenarios might involve doing a "reverse search"
to find the name that goes with a phone number or searching for
an individual by the schools he or she attended. A number of
sites offer "simple searches" free and more advanced
(defined) searches for a minimal fee.
Indeed, says Gregg Herman, who uses electronic searches in
his family law practice at Loeb & Herman S.C., Milwaukee,
it should not be long before an Internet search is an acceptable
- or even required - exhibition of reasonable diligence
in attempting to locate a respondent for personal service of
divorce or other legal notice. "Internet searches are fast
and usually free; so don't be afraid to experiment with
them," he advises.
The following is only a sampling of the individual search
services on the Internet.
- 37.com searches telephone
white and Yellow Pages, and performs reverse searches.
- AnyWho is an AT&T
site that allows searches by various fields.
- InfoSpace offers
a free simple search, a $19.95 "deluxe," and a $39.95
"super" search. For an additional $8, it expands the
super search to an "exhaustive" one.
- Switchboard does
people searches by names and high school, business searches by
name and category, and email searches.
- locateme.com charges
$39 per search if successful.
- Whowhere? offers
free simple searches and $39.95 advanced searches. It includes
a Web search feature.
- 555-1212.com performs
searches by area and country code of residential and business
listings and reverse telephone, email, Web, and domain name searches.
Court appoints Keith L. Sellen Office of Lawyer Regulation
director
The Wisconsin Supreme Court recently appointed retired Army
legal officer Keith L. Sellen, U.W. 1984, director of the newly
created Office of Lawyer Regulation (OLR), effective Sept. 11.
Sellen replaces BAPR acting interim director James L. Martin.
Sellen, as chief of doctrine and training development at the
JAG's School in Charlottesville, Va., designed, developed,
coauthored, and published the future legal services program for
4,200 lawyers serving worldwide. Sellen also spent three years
in Germany managing legal staff, supervising professional misconduct
investigations, advising government ethics investigators, and
mediating disputes between the State Department and foreign legal
officials.
The Supreme Court rules creating the OLR to replace BAPR are
anticipated to take effect in September.
|