Vol. 77, No. 8, August
2004
A Handful of Years
In its five years, the State Bar Center has seen 1,400 State
Bar-sponsored meetings and more than 800 member-reserved meetings ...
and no parking tickets. This truly is a members' building.
by George C. Brown,
State Bar executive director
Last month, we repaired
and resealed the State Bar Center parking lot. While hardly a remarkable
feat in itself, it is symbolic of the amount of time the "new" State Bar
Center has been operating. This month marks the fifth anniversary of the
opening of the State Bar Center.
Much has changed since July 1999, the last full month in the old Bar
Center. In fact, there was not one "old" Bar Center. There were three.
In addition to the old Bar Center building in downtown Madison, we
operated a print and mail facility on the far south side of the city and
made regular trips to a warehouse several blocks away for materials.
This made for much inefficient, and therefore more costly, work.
Since moving into the current State Bar Center, we have been able to
streamline many of our operations. For example, one of our staff members
in the marketing division spent most of his time preparing materials for
shipment to or from our southside print facility. After the move, he no
longer needed to do that, and his job was repurposed to fill a different
existing need, which meant we did not have to hire another staff person.
We have continued to look for these efficiencies. That is one of the
reasons why there are fewer staff members working in the Bar Center
today than when we moved in five years ago.
We have witnessed tremendous changes in technology in the last half
decade. The State Bar Center was wired with state-of-the-art fiber optic
cable when it was built. But that and the metal racks that hold the main
computer components are about all that remains. Servers that we have to
buy to replace those that burn out cost one-sixth the price of the
originals and operate many times faster. We depend on two principal
software platforms instead of five, making usage easier and maintenance
more cost effective. All State Bar CLE seminars now are digitally
recorded and can be sent over the Internet. This magazine is laid out on
computer and sent electronically to the printer. WisBar, the State Bar
Web site, was three years new when we moved into the current Bar Center.
We will soon launch a completely restructured and redesigned Web site
that will be more useful and easier for you to use.
Today, you can actually attend a CLE seminar or a State Bar meeting
at the Bar Center - at the old Bar Center most meetings were held in
hotels because there virtually was no meeting space and no parking. Even
when a meeting could be held at the old Bar Center, most attendees were
forced to park on the street and were surprised when they did not
receive a parking ticket. Now, the Bar Center has a parking lot that
holds 200 cars rather then the 24 at the old Center. And no parking
tickets have been issued, even on occasions when the lot has been full
and attendees have had to park in the street.
In the last 60 months, nearly 1,400 State Bar meetings, including
seminars, sections, divisions, committees, and the Board of Governors,
have been held at the State Bar Center. In addition, members have held
more than 800 meetings, depositions, negotiations, mediations, and
arbitrations at the Bar Center. And that is the best part. The State Bar
Center is again a members' building. If you need a neutral space for a
client meeting, a negotiation, or a deposition, just call the State Bar
Center to reserve a conference room. As one of your member benefits,
it's free for your use. So is the coffee.
Wisconsin
Lawyer