Overdraft Notification Program

Finances

The legal profession is unique in assuming all costs for regulating itself. An assessment on every member of the State Bar of Wisconsin pays the costs and expenses of the lawyer regulation system, including all the costs and expenses of the OLR, district committees, Preliminary Review Committee, and Board of Administrative Oversight. To help offset the costs, the OLR collects costs from attorneys disciplined in formal court proceedings and collects fees on petitions for reinstatement. Collections for Fiscal 2001 were $60,320.69.

The budget and the assessment for Fiscal 2002 are $2,102,700 and $124.78, respectively. In each of the past two budget cycles, the budget increase has been 17 percent. This is principally due to the establishment of the Central Intake program, which operated for half of Fiscal 2001 and will operate for all of Fiscal 2002. The assessment increase was 11 percent last year and 24 percent this year, because reserves that were available to apply toward the assessment last year are not available this year. The assessment is in line with assessments in neighboring jurisdictions, somewhat higher than Minnesota and Iowa, but lower than Illinois. The assessment is significantly lower than in Colorado, which has a comparable lawyer population and similar programs.

Other Matters

Public Information and Outreach. Due to the transition to the new lawyer regulation system, public information and outreach became more prominent. During the year, the OLR gave 28 presentations relating to the new system to groups such as the State Bar and several of its member entities, eight local bar associations, law firms, and various professional organizations.

In addition to making public presentations, the OLR provided articles for The Third Branch and Wisconsin Lawyer and updated and improved the information available from its Web page.

Case Compendium. This year the vision of the State Bar and the Board of Attorneys Professional Responsibility for a comprehensive compendium of Wisconsin professional discipline cases became reality. Professional Discipline of Wisconsin Attorneys: A Compendium was published in February 2001. The compendium includes court cases, court reprimands, and consensual reprimands, and indexes materials by rule, area of practice, and topic. The compendium is available in circuit court libraries statewide and may be purchased from the State Bar.

The Year Ahead

This past year was a time for implementing a new program. The year ahead will be a time for evaluating and improving the new system. The Supreme Court has invited comments concerning Chapters 21 and 22 of the Supreme Court Rules, and held a public hearing Sept. 20-21, 2001. The interest and support of the Bar and the public has been integral to the successful implementation of the system and will remain vital to the system's continued success.

Endnotes

1 SCR 21.15(2).

2 SCR 21.03(6)(a).

3 SCR 21.19.

4 SCR 22.40(1).

5 SCR 22.40(2).

6 SCR 22.001(2).

7 SCR 22.16.

8 SCR 22.38.

9 SCR 20:1.15(i)-(p).