Sign In
    Wisconsin Lawyer
    September 01, 2004

    President's Message

    Various entities affect the practice of law and seek or require funds from lawyers, and all affect the rules and policies that govern lawyers.

    Michelle Behnke

    Wisconsin Lawyer
    Vol. 77, No. 9, September 2004

    Alphabet Soup

    Many of the entities that affect the practice of law seek or require funds from lawyers and all have an impact on the rules and policies that govern lawyers. We need to know the ingredients in our "soup" so that our informed discussion can add the right spice.

    by Michelle A. Behnke

    Michelle BehnkeAs a mother of two children I often turn to the time-honored soup cure when my children are sick. However, my children don't like soup! I have also learned, in the short time that I've been president of this association, that many lawyers are not particularly fond of the alphabet soup in which we operate. SBW, BBE, OLR, WisTAF - the list could go on. It is not the acronyms that lawyers don't like - we're used to those. It is the jumble of committees, boards, and commissions that in one way or another affect the practice of law. Keeping all of them straight and knowing who controls what is the hard part.

    Yes, the State Bar of Wisconsin (SBW), the Board of Bar Examiners (BBE), the Office of Lawyer Regulation (OLR), and the Wisconsin Trust Account Foundation (WisTAF) are all entities that affect lawyers and their practice. But, there are other entities that affect the practice of law. All of these entities seek or require funds from lawyers and all have an impact on the rules and policies that govern lawyers.

    Sometimes, it's hard to keep the alphabet soup straight. The State Bar, pursuant to supreme court order, collects the assessments for the BBE, the OLR, and the Wisconsin Lawyers' Fund for Client Protection (formerly the Client Security Fund). Because these assessments appear on your dues statement, you can write one check covering all of these obligations. However, the State Bar does not set these assessments, and the State Bar does not control how these funds are spent.

    The Wisconsin Law Foundation (WLF) is the charitable arm of the State Bar and allows lawyers to make charitable contributions for programs like law-related education and local bar grants for educational programs or projects. The WLF includes a fundraising letter in the dues mailing seeking contributions, which can be made via the State Bar dues statement.

    The Equal Justice Fund (EJF) is a separate nonprofit fundraising entity that was formed in response to the work done by the Commission on the Delivery of Legal Services. The EJF seeks to raise funds for civil legal services. WisTAF, a supreme court entity, collects the interest earned on lawyers' trust accounts and, together with the money that it receives from the EJF, distributes those funds to civil legal services agencies.

    Why am I making the distinction about the components of the legal "soup"? I make the distinction because I often hear members say "The State Bar did X," when in fact the actor was not the State Bar but one of the other entities. If a member disagrees with the action and believes that the State Bar is the proponent of that action, the member is less likely to engage in discussion and debate on that issue. This apathy results in silence, not discussion on the issues, and hinders the State Bar's ability to enlist members' views.

    I want to draw the distinction between these various organizations not so that we draw a line in the sand, but so that our members understand the various components of the system and how independent, but related, they all are. To learn more about these independent entities, visit their Web sites or search for archived articles on the WisBar Web site. Please don't hesitate to share your opinions and let us know what you think about the issues that affect your practice. Those opinions will add the spice to our alphabet soup.

    BBE: www.wicourts.gov/about/organization/offices/bbe.htm

    EJF: www.e-justice.org

    OLR: www.wicourts.gov/about/organization/offices/olr.htm.


Join the conversation! Log in to comment.

News & Pubs Search

-
Format: MM/DD/YYYY