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    Wisconsin Lawyer
    August 01, 1997

    Wisconsin Lawyer August 1997: News Briefs

     


    Vol. 70, No. 8, August 1997

    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.

    FYI


    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.


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