News Briefs
Services help lawyers overcome communication
obstacles
Volunteer services offer low-cost solutions to reaching clients
with vision or learning difficulties.
Greenfield attorney John Carter frequently gets calls from fellow
lawyers seeking advice on how to handle a matter involving a blind or
vision-impaired client.
"They don't want to appear insensitive, but they want to be confident
that their clients know what they're signing," said Carter, who was
blinded 30 years ago, just before he started college.
"We don't think about it very much, but when you send a blind client
a letter in writing with no braille backup, you're telling them that you
don't have a clue about their special needs," Carter added.
Services transcribe legal material
Lawyers working with a blind or vision-impaired client can find help
from Volunteer Services for the Visually Handicapped Inc. (VSVH) of
Milwaukee or Volunteer Brail-lists & Tapists Inc. (VBTI) in Madison.
These nonprofit organizations transcribe written materials into braille
or onto audiotape for individuals and entities like schools, businesses
and law firms.
Lawyers may use the services provided by VSVH and VBTI to offer
clients the option of receiving correspondence and documents in
alternative forms. The blind and vision-impaired are not the only
clients who might take advantage of this service.
"There may be more people than lawyers realize who have some kind of
learning problem that interferes with their ability to read," said VSVH
Executive Director Carol Chew, pointing out that in Milwaukee alone some
4,000 students struggle with learning disabilities and another 13,000
people are either blind or vision-impaired. That does not include many
senior citizens who find reading difficult because of declining
eyesight.
Many transcribed legal forms and texts already are available from
VSVH and VBTI. VBTI regularly transcribes power of attorney forms,
according to VBTI Office Coordinator Gail Yu.
VSVH has transcribed many legal texts for Carter, a former chief
prosecutor now in private practice, including a 150-page braille version
of the Federal Rules of Evidence for $30. Because of volunteer help,
VSVH and VBTI only ask their customers to share the cost of
materials.
Service saves law student
Carter discovered VSVH's affordability and reliability when he
started college in 1968. He credits VSVH, which opened in the Milwaukee
Public Library in 1965, with nothing less than his J.D. When Carter
entered law school in 1971, no braille versions of the required
textbooks were available.
"These people busted their tails to make me tapes so that I could
stay abreast of what everybody else in class was reading," said Carter.
"If it weren't for them, I wouldn't have gotten through college or law
school."
For more information, contact VSVH Inc., 803 W. Wells St., Milwaukee,
WI 53233-1436, (414) 286-3039; or VBTI Inc., 517 N. Segoe Road, #200,
Madison, WI 53705, (608) 233-0222.
Survey charts law school graduates' job
searches
New law graduates' employment rate rose slightly in 1996
Last year the employment rate for new law graduates increased
measurably for only the third time since 1987, from 86.7 percent in 1995
to 87.4 percent in 1996, according to the National Association for Law
Placement (NALP) Class of 1996 Employment Report and Salary Survey. The
median starting salary for all full-time legal jobs remained unchanged
last year at $40,000.
The NALP's 23rd annual report details the employment experiences of
J.D. graduates from 168 ABA-accredited schools, encompassing 84 percent
of all 1996 law school graduates. The survey found:
- Of those graduates for whom employment status was known, 76.1
percent accepted legal and 11.3 percent accepted nonlegal
positions;
- Of graduates known to be employed, 55.7 percent obtained their first
job in a law firm. This represents a slight decrease from 56.1 percent
for the Class of 1995 and is well below the high of 64.3 percent for the
Class of 1988;
- Private-sector median salaries were higher than the overall median,
at $50,000 in private practice and $45,000 in business/industry. The
median for public service positions ranged from $30,000 for
public-interest jobs to $35,000 for judicial clerks;
- The higher median in private practice notwithstanding, high salaries
in this sector were in the minority. About 35 percent of law firm
salaries were $40,000 or less; less than 25 percent earned more than
$70,000;
- Almost one-third of employed women graduates took government,
judicial and public-interest positions compared to just under
one-quarter of employed men;
- About 31 percent of employed minority graduates accepted
public-service positions compared with 27 percent of employed
nonminority graduates;
- Of those who accepted positions with law firms, 21.1 percent of
minority graduates joined large firms of 251 or more attorneys compared
to 13.4 percent of nonminorities. About 35 percent of non-minority
graduates entering private practice took jobs in firms of 10 or fewer
attorneys compared with 25 percent of minority graduates;
- Thirty percent of employed graduates landed their first job through
self-initiated contact, such as a letter, with an employer. Fall
on-campus recruiting accounted for only 16 percent of jobs taken. Law
firm jobs were more likely to be obtained through self-initiated contact
than through on-campus recruiting - 26.9 percent vs. 23.3 percent;
- Of the employed graduates for whom search status was reported, 18.4
percent indicated that they continued to seek another position. Among
graduates employed full-time in nonlegal jobs, 42 percent were seeking a
different job.
The report is available for $65 by contacting NALP at (202)
667-1666.
Legal administrators to certify law office
managers
The Association of Legal Administrators (ALA) offers law office
administrators the opportunity to become certified legal managers
(CLM).
"The certification process will encourage members to further their
education and stay abreast of the changes in the field whether it's in
marketing, human resources or technology," said Wisconsin Association of
Legal Administrators President Cecilia Vanderlip, law office
administrator at Nowlan & Mouat, Janesville.
To earn CLM certification, qualified candidates must meet specific
work experience requirements. Principal administrators must have at
least three years of experience as a principal administrator or branch
office manager in an exempt-level position. Functional specialists such
as human resources or marketing managers must possess at least five
years of experience in an exempt-level position.
CLM candidates also must display a commitment to continuing education
and pass a comprehensive examination. The exam will test knowledge of
financial management, human resources management, the legal industry and
office management systems. The first national certification examination
is set for Nov. 1 in Chicago, Los Angeles and Washington, D.C.
The costs include a $50 initial application processing fee and an
examination fee of $345 for ALA members, $425 for nonmembers. CLMs will
be required to pay $35 per year to maintain certification. Every three
years CLMs will be required to pay $150 to apply for recertification and
must provide evidence of at least 36 hours of continuing education
course work during the previous three years.
For more information about the ALA's CLM program call (847) 816-1212
or visit ALA's website.
Supreme Court to look at gender bias in court
system
The Wisconsin Judicial Conference's Special Committee on Gender
Neutrality seeks information about possible gender discrimination within
the state court system.
The committee, chaired by District III Court of Appeals Judge Thomas
Cane, was appointed last year to receive information on gender
discrimination from anyone involved with the courts including attorneys,
judges and the public.
A 1986 survey of 1,600 state lawyers, 800 men and 800 women, by the
State Bar's Participation of Women in the Bar Committee revealed that 81
percent of the men and 85 percent of the women had observed judges
behaving condescendingly toward women and minorities; 91 percent of the
women respondents and 77 percent of the men reported incidents of
similar conduct by attorneys.
Please send any information you may have on gender bias incidents to
Commissioner William Mann, Wisconsin Supreme Court, P.O. Box 1688,
Madison, WI 53701-1688, (608) 266-6708.
Judge 'disconnects' jury electronics
Mark S. Gempeler, chief judge of Wisconsin Circuit Court Third
Judicial District, has pulled the plug on jurors' electronic
communication equipment.
As of Aug. 1, jurors in Jefferson, Ozaukee, Washington and Waukesha
counties are prohibited from using devices such as cellular telephones,
pagers, laptop computers, scanners and recording devices without a
judge's permission while in the courtroom or the deliberation room. Most
judges in the Third Judicial District have informally prohibited such
devices because they disrupt court proceedings, according to Court
Administrator Patrick Brummond.
Figuratively Speaking
- Percentage of female attorneys who said judges sometimes or often
address them with terms of endearment or by their first names while male
lawyers are addressed as "counsel" or by their surnames, according to a
Minnesota Supreme Court Task Force survey: 33
"One cool judgment is worth a thousand hasty counsels. The thing to
be supplied is light, not heat."
- Woodrow Wilson
in a Jan. 29, 1916 speech
in Pittsburgh.
- Percentage of female respondents who said other lawyers addressed
them in this manner in court: 66
- Percentage of female attorneys who reported that judges commented on
their physical appearance, according to a Minnesota Gender Fairness
Implementation Committee Survey: 42
- Percentage of these respondents who said lawyers made similar
comments: 59
- Percentage of these respondents who said judges sometimes or often
make remarks or tell jokes demeaning to women: 47
- Percentage of these respondents who said male lawyers sometimes or
often exhibit this same behavior: 63
Source: The Annual Survey of American Law, New
York University School of Law, Issue 1, 1996 Volume, pp. 1-26.
- Average number of cases each American federal judge has to contend
with: 416
- Percentage more cases federal judges have in 1997 compared to 1990:
23
- Number of cases pending at the end of 1995:
252,753
- Approximate number of suits pending for three or more years:
16,000
- Current spending on the judiciary: $3.26
million
- Percentage judicial spending has increased since 1991:
60
Source: Forbes, May 5, 1997, Volume 159, Number
9, p. 122.
Wisconsin
Lawyer
