Letters

Lawyers Serve Society, Not the Other Way Around

I don't like the way the practice has changed over the last 30 years - and I'd go back to the old way in a heartbeat. But my research constantly reminds me that lawyers serve society, not the other way around. More important, the data also constantly reminds that law (and lawyers) follows society, not vice versa.

Preaching to a congregation whose hearts are distracted and believing our own sermons is the best way to be the only one surprised when the pews are suddenly empty. It is interesting to listen to the argued articulation of lawyers' duties, with no mention of the primary "duty" to listen with an open mind.

One would think that lawyers would better apply the lessons of society and history to their own situation. If there is such a thing as "tunnel vision," perhaps lawyers have "tunnel blindness." A simple comparison of the economic and social load the American legal system puts on society with that of other similar economic societies shows that in many areas of life, the legal profession is perceived as imposing a "tax" for which there is no perceived value. Lawyers who clearly recognized that the NASDAQ could not sustain its growth cannot see that the same rules apply to human anticipation of value relative to the "legal services" lawyers provide.

I find it interesting that the personal injury plaintiff's lawyers - a few of whom have enjoyed tremendous economic benefits from the changes over the last decades, benefits obtained chiefly from the concentration of profitable cases away from that segment of the bar who used the PI "profit center" to subsidize their community-based general practices - are now thumping the drum the loudest for preservation of "traditional values." There must be a word for the combination of demagoguery and arrogance that presumes that not only does the granting of a law license give its holder the insight to understand what elements of a professional relationship society most needs, but that only these license holders can choose those elements for the individual members of a free society.

Gary Bakke is right in his support for recognition of the reality of multidisciplinary practice. Right not only in the sense that he anticipates social change that will impact the legal profession - with dire consequences if it does not anticipate and adapt, but right in a civic moral sense. If we are to be the "traffic cops" providing order to society, we must maintain credibility with society as society changes. Finally, Bakke is right, lawyers do not decide what is relevant, especially when that decision is clouded by the preservation of the sinecure we've enjoyed for decades.

Mike Loduha
Manitowoc

Waukesha County Self-help Center Not Yet Open

The article "Setting a Course for the Future," in the March Wisconsin Lawyer, mistakenly states that Waukesha County opened a self-help legal services center in January to assist divorce clients who choose to go it alone. In January, the county, in collaboration with Wisconsin Correctional Service, hired me as the project coordinator to plan the program. Waukesha has not offered any additional services to clients yet, but we do hope to open a center in the Fall of 2001 if the planning progresses as scheduled.

Tera Nehring
Waukesha County Court Self-help Program

A Blueprint for Effective Legal Writing

Early in my career an older partner whose legal briefs were widely respected as cogent and, most of all, easy to read, once told me how he edited his briefs. Ever since, I have applied his technique to all my legal writing. I recommend his technique to those readers who found George Vernon's excellent article on a legal writing blueprint in the March Wisconsin Lawyer to be very helpful.

First, the partner said, wait a couple days after you think you are completely done writing your brief. Then put your bottom paragraphs on top. And your bottom sentences on top. Simple. Initial drafts, he explained, tend to follow the arduous process of research and deductive reasoning, which is bottom up: minor premise up to broad conclusion. Don't make your reader work like that, he said. This isn't fiction where the pages pull the reader along to a dramatic denouement. In legal writing, top down is best. "This is the law, here's why ... this is the law, here's why." His briefs never had conclusion paragraphs to sum up everything. By that point the reader was already convinced.

Kevin M. Connelly
La Crosse

The March Issue is a "Keeper"

The March Wisconsin Lawyer is superb, well edited, value laden, with judicious use of links to further information. It's future-oriented, fun, and has excellent headlines, wound around a member involvement theme. Great job. And Gary Bakke can really write.

John J. (Jack) Sweeney
Director, Office of Justice Initiatives
American Bar Association, Chicago

Wisconsin Lawyer