Profile: Gerald Mowris
A Time to Take Stock

DID YOU KNOW THAT Wisconsin's teachers are learning how to help their students resolve conflicts through peer mediation, thanks to a joint project of the State Bar of Wisconsin and the state Department of Justice? Or that the Bar, in conjunction with the Wisconsin Supreme Court, provides instruction about the workings of the justice system to teachers, who can then pass along that information to students? Were you aware that volunteers from the Participation of Women in the Bar Committee bring children to visit their mothers in prison to ease the trauma of separation?

Madison attorney Gerald Mowris would wager that many Bar members have never heard of these and many other projects of the Bar and its various committees, sections, and divisions. That's why, as the newly sworn-in State Bar president, he's breaking a tradition of sorts. Unlike most of his predecessors, Mowris is launching no new presidential initiatives during his term. Rather, his emphasis will be on boosting awareness about the Bar's existing programs.

"When these programs are started, often there's a big hullabaloo," Mowris points out, "and then they're forgotten. But these are good programs - in many cases driven by volunteers, both attorneys and Bar staff members. One of the things I want to do is to publicize the availability of these programs out in the communities, so that more people are aware of what the State Bar does. Even lawyers often don't know about these programs."

Page 2: Building on Past Efforts