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Vol. 72, No. 7, July 1999 |
Inside the Bar
Growth in Bar Services, Membership
Precede Move to New Facility
By Stephen L. Smay
The Bar Center will close its office on Thursday and Friday,
Aug. 5-6, for the first time in more than 17 years. That is when
the staff will move from the current downtown building to the
new building at the American Center near the intersection of
Highway 151 and Interstates 90/94 on Madison's northeast
side. We will plan to be back in business by the next week.
The last time the Bar Center was closed on a business day
was in late spring 1982 when we were undergoing asbestos removal
in connection with renovating and expanding the current Wilson
Street building. That building has served the Bar for more than
40 years. Indeed, it almost reached the stated objective of the
1981 leadership of providing a home that would last until the
year 2000.
As we approach 2000, the State Bar looks much different than
it did in 1981. In 1981 we produced fewer than half the number
of seminars we present today. In 1981 we had no CLE book program;
today we offer more than 50 titles in many fields of law. In
1981 the Lawyer Referral and Information Service was in its infancy;
last year LRIS received more than 50,000 calls from Wisconsin
citizens, referring on average one in six callers to LRIS panel
attorneys. In 1981 there was no Newsletter, and we had
only recently started to publish the Wisconsin Lawyer
(then called the Wisconsin Bar Bulletin) monthly. No one
had heard of the Internet, and there was no WisBar Internet site,
e-commerce, or electronic publishing, which today occupy several
staff members. We had a modest government relations program and
no organized assistance for local bar associations. There were
far fewer sections, committees, and divisions. We had 12,496
members in 1981 compared to 19,875 members today. Interestingly,
more than half of our current members had not yet been admitted
to practice law in 1981.
The planners of 1981 foresaw some of these changes and knew
there would be unforeseen challenges and opportunities. Speaking
only for myself, however, the magnitude of change has been greater
than I would have predicted 18 years ago.
Producing more services and products for more members required
much staff and volunteer involvement. That involvement required
space in the Bar Center. Conference rooms were converted to office
space, and the building gradually became almost exclusively an
office facility with little opportunity for member meetings.
Beginning in 1990 some staff operations such as printing and
mailing were moved out of the Wilson Street building.
Many people have shared their time, talent, and money to make
the new building a reality. Over the past year Nathan Fishbach
from Milwaukee has distinguished himself as chairperson of the
capital campaign to which there have been 615 pledges, representing
8,208 members and friends who have contributed more than $1.2
million. Thanks to Nathan and to everyone who contributed. Almost
the entire construction project has been completed under Susan
Steingass's watch as president. She provided leadership
here as well as in many other areas of Bar activity.
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Moving vans will relocate Bar operations to the new
Bar Center on Aug. 5. Staff hope to be back in business on the following
Monday, Aug. 9. |
In my eyes, the new building will be associated with two former
Bar presidents who provided the vision and implementation expertise.
The original vision came from Steve Sorenson, who persisted over
several years in his frequently stated belief that we needed
a new home if we were to remain an active, service-oriented organization.
He prodded us to develop the will necessary for such an important
project.
The building site was purchased and ground was broken during
his year as president. Former President Gerald O'Brien chaired
the Facilities Committee. Jerry worked tirelessly to choose a
building site, select a design-build team, and oversee the construction
process to a successful conclusion. The total project cost was
within the budget and very close to the initial projections of
nearly five years ago.
Please visit us in your new Bar Center. All of our operations
will be back under one roof with adequate space for staff and
room for some growth. There will be a room for CLE seminars and
other large meetings of up to 180 people. In addition, we will
have four conference rooms and a technology center, about which
I will have more to say in a later column. Perhaps most importantly,
there will be more than 200 free parking spaces and easy access
to the Interstate system.
We will be open for business at 5302 Eastpark Boulevard on
Monday, Aug. 9. Although our address will change, our phone numbers
will remain the same. The grand opening ceremony will be Friday
afternoon, Sept. 17.
We look forward to seeing you!
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