New Web site helps consumers navigate legal system

The State Bar's new consumer Web site, LegalExplorer, is up and running, providing 24/7 access to information about legal services and resources of consumer interest.

"The new site represents a milestone in the Bar's commitment to public service," says Mark Pennow, who chairs the Electronic Bar Services and Lawyer Referral Service committees. LegalExplorer gives the public quick, convenient access to a wealth of material helpful in understanding and dealing with the legal system."

Consumers can use the online adjunct of the State Bar's Lawyer Referral and Information Service (LRIS) to find a lawyer. They also will find:

• answers to frequently asked legal questions;
• a searchable database of State Bar publications, videotapes, and programs and links to government, community, and other Internet resources to help resolve their legal problem;
• law-related education resources to introduce the general public to the legal system; and
• consumer-oriented news and consumer scam alerts.

Lawyers benefit by building their practices through the dignified, noncommercial Internet exposure LRIS offers. They also can refer to the site for answers to commonly asked legal questions outside their practice area and to access and direct clients to a wide range of up-to-date legal resources.

"LegalExplorer demonstrates the character of the Bar and its willingness to provide information and assistance free of charge," notes Pennow. "It is an exemplary tool for improving the profession's public image."

Multidisciplinary practice

ABA rejects economic partnerships between lawyers & nonlawyers

The American Bar Association's House of Delegates recently voted 314 to 106 to maintain its position that lawyers not be permitted to share fees with nonlawyers and that nonlawyers not be permitted to own or control entities that practice law. In so doing, the ABA effectively rejected the concept of multidisciplinary practice (MDP), or economic partnerships of lawyers and nonlawyers providing legal and other professional services. The vote reaffirmed rules contained in the ABA Model Rules of Professional Conduct.

MDP has been under review by lawyers and legal organizations for at least two years. More than two dozen state, local, and specialty bar associations and legal groups, including the State Bar of Wisconsin, have issued or are in the process of developing reports on the topic.

The ABA Commission on Multidisciplinary Practice recently recommended that the legal profession loosen its rules to allow fee-sharing with nonlawyers. At the House of Delegates' July 11 annual meeting, the commission's recommendations met with strong opposition from state and county bars in Florida, Illinois, New Jersey, New York, and Ohio.

Wisconsin report urges further study

The ABA action follows the State Bar of Wisconsin Board of Governors' recent approval of the Multidisciplinary Practice Committee's report recommending further study of the issue. The recommendations proposed at the June 28 board meeting call for distribution of the committee's June 14 final report to Bar members. They also call for the board to determine whether the issue should be considered from the legal profession's perspective or a wider public policy standpoint. The board is charged with developing mechanisms for collecting input from Bar members and other sources, discussing the issue, and choosing whether to adopt a State Bar position on MDPs.

While noting that the ABA vote "is certain to slow the 'progress' of those pushing for MDP adoption," MDP Committee Chair Thomas L. Shriner "seriously doubts that this is the end of the discussion."

"Ultimately," he says, "the decision is not going to be made by the ABA, but by the supreme courts and, to some extent, the legislatures of the country. Supreme courts have the final word on lawyers' professional responsibility rules, and legislatures typically define the practice of law. Therefore, I think education and discussion ought to go forward in Wisconsin, and that we still should debate the issue, form conclusions as a Bar, and share our views with the supreme court and others. I hope the leadership of the Bar will continue the process."

The State Bar MDP Committee Report and links to other MDP-related sites are online. For further information, or to voice MDP comments, contact Keith Kaap at (800) 444-9404, ext. 6168.

Court reporting classified as legal occupation

The Bureau of Labor Statistics has moved court reporting from the Administrative Support Occu-pations to the Legal Occupations category of the revised Standard Occupational Classification (SOC).

According to the National Court Reporters Association (NCRA), the reclassification, which was part of an SOC overhaul begun in 1998, recognizes a court reporter's work as similar to that of other legal professionals.

Court reporters previously had been listed in the same category as bank tellers, hotel desk clerks, mail carriers, telephone operators, and office stenographers. The 28,000-member NCRA argued that court reporting involves different skills, training, and knowledge and petitioned the SOC to create a separate section for the profession and to reclassify it under Legal Occupations.

Explains Gwen Bever, president of the Wisconsin Court Reporters Association, "Listing court reporter under the Legal Occupations category defines the profession in the area with which it is associated."

"An added benefit," notes Bever, "is that the reclassification encourages guidance and career counselors to learn more about the field. Until now, a court reporting career may have been overlooked as a profession because of the way it was listed. The change should give counselors a more accurate understanding of the field and help attract more and better students to it."

Cyber searches offer speed and economy

Six months ago, "Pat X" vanished - along with $600 a month in child support. Now Pat's ex-spouse sits in your office, desperately needing Pat's address - and child support check. You could call a private investigator, or you simply could log onto your PC and quite possibly come up with a name, address, phone number, and even a place of employment in the time it would take to hire outside assistance - for a fraction of the cost.

Web locator services showcase three of the Internet's biggest advantages: economy, speed, and reach.

Take our hypothetical scenario. Locating Pat online might take little more than going to a locator site and entering Pat's surname. Knowing that Pat is a dental lab technician, the attorney might go to a search site, type in "dental labs" and come up with a list of possible employers. This search could be narrowed to labs in a state or region. The attorney then could check the Web sites of individual labs for employee lists and possibly lock onto Pat's whereabouts and proof of ability to pay in the same keystroke.

Other scenarios might involve doing a "reverse search" to find the name that goes with a phone number or searching for an individual by the schools he or she attended. A number of sites offer "simple searches" free and more advanced (defined) searches for a minimal fee.

Indeed, says Gregg Herman, who uses electronic searches in his family law practice at Loeb & Herman S.C., Milwaukee, it should not be long before an Internet search is an acceptable - or even required - exhibition of reasonable diligence in attempting to locate a respondent for personal service of divorce or other legal notice. "Internet searches are fast and usually free; so don't be afraid to experiment with them," he advises.

The following is only a sampling of the individual search services on the Internet.

• 37.com searches telephone white and Yellow Pages, and performs reverse searches.

• AnyWho is an AT&T site that allows searches by various fields.

• InfoSpace offers a free simple search, a $19.95 "deluxe," and a $39.95 "super" search. For an additional $8, it expands the super search to an "exhaustive" one.

• Switchboard does people searches by names and high school, business searches by name and category, and email searches.

• locateme.com charges $39 per search if successful.

• Whowhere? offers free simple searches and $39.95 advanced searches. It includes a Web search feature.

• 555-1212.com performs searches by area and country code of residential and business listings and reverse telephone, email, Web, and domain name searches.

Court appoints Keith L. Sellen Office of Lawyer Regulation director

The Wisconsin Supreme Court recently appointed retired Army legal officer Keith L. Sellen, U.W. 1984, director of the newly created Office of Lawyer Regulation (OLR), effective Sept. 11. Sellen replaces BAPR acting interim director James L. Martin.

Sellen, as chief of doctrine and training development at the JAG's School in Charlottesville, Va., designed, developed, coauthored, and published the future legal services program for 4,200 lawyers serving worldwide. Sellen also spent three years in Germany managing legal staff, supervising professional misconduct investigations, advising government ethics investigators, and mediating disputes between the State Department and foreign legal officials.

The Supreme Court rules creating the OLR to replace BAPR are anticipated to take effect in September.

Wisconsin Lawyer