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Vol. 74, No. 8, August 2001
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 Defining
Our Profession's Future
July 1, 2000 – June 30, 2001
Dedicated
to the Legal Profession and Justice System
Fiscal year 2001 (FY01) was defined largely by the efforts of President
Gary Bakke and members statewide to discuss and debate the future of the
profession. "Seize the Future" is the title of a series of events that
focused on the sweeping changes affecting the delivery of legal services
to the public. The initiative began with a conference in Madison, and
led into a 10-part Seize the Future Resolution to address specific issues,
including multidisciplinary practice (MDP), the unauthorized practice
of law, and unbundling of legal services. The resolution was disseminated
to the membership at large and was debated among the Board of Governors.
At the Board of Governor's request, the State Bar organized 16 roundtables
statewide in spring 2001 to gather input from members. Hundreds of attorneys
turned out to learn about the issues and to be heard. Member input greatly
impacted the course of the resolution, which was amended and approved
at the board's final meeting in May. Among other things, the revised resolution
calls for a formal study commission for MDP. The commission will research
the impact of multidisciplinary practices on the legal profession and
the public, make recommendations in support of or in opposition to MDP,
and host hearings on its outcome during FY02. Commission membership will
include approximately 25 lawyers and nonlawyers who share different opinions
on the benefits and harms of MDPs to the legal profession and the public.
For more information, see the Seize
the Future homepage.
The State Bar of Wisconsin is dedicated to advancing the legal profession
and improving the justice system. Each year, the State Bar offers hundreds
of educational opportunities for members; engages in cutting-edge research
about the justice system; provides effective means for members to communicate
and network; advocates on behalf of the profession in the state Legislature,
Congress, and with the Wisconsin Supreme Court; and sponsors an array
of public education and service programs. In this annual report, FY01
activities are organized under five categories that describe the nature
of the Bar's work on behalf of the 20,000-plus members and the public:
education, research, knowledge exchange, advocacy, and public service.
Due to space constraints, this report contains only a small sampling of
the organization's many activities.
Education
The State Bar provides a variety of educational opportunities
for members through continuing legal education seminars and books, convention
programs, committee and section involvement, and the Wisconsin Lawyer
magazine, among others.
CLE Seminars. In FY01, State Bar CLE collaborated
with numerous State Bar sections, committees, other legal organizations,
and interdisciplinary professional groups to produce more than 60 individual
seminars, resulting in 70 live presentations and more than 450 video presentations.
The 520-plus program dates and locations served more than 13,000 individuals.
Web-enhanced CLE. State Bar CLE made history in FY01 with its first
Web-enhanced CLE program. The two-hour program, "Wisconsin Resources on
the Internet," drew 60 State Bar resident and nonresident members.
Participants "attend" a Web-enhanced seminar from the location of choice
- home or office. The speaker's voice arrives over the telephone for reliable,
clear, and uninterrupted sound quality. The visual information is delivered
via the Internet on a desktop PC. Speakers enhance their presentations
by adding live, real-time Web site examples, PowerPoint slides, and a
variety of other written and visual materials.
The program, a partnership of the State Bar and the Law Librarians Association
of Wisconsin, earned an award from the American Association of Law Libraries
for "Excellence in Marketing."
While the convenience of this technology is unmistakable, the challenge
is to make CLE programs affordable and usable for all State Bar members.
CLE Books. CLE Books continued to provide
top-notch legal resources to attorneys, with the invaluable help of hundreds
of volunteer authors who contributed their time and expertise. FY01 proved
to be a busy year, producing the following:
- 18
books were supplemented, including the three-volume Wisconsin Employment
Law;
- 18 titles were completely revised, including: A Guide for Wisconsin
Nonprofit Organizations, all five volumes of the popular Wisconsin
Judicial Benchbook series, The Law of Damages in Wisconsin,
and System Book for Family Law in Wisconsin; and
- two new titles, The New Wisconsin Rules of Appellate Procedure
2001 and Professional Discipline of Wisconsin Attorneys: A Compendium,
copublished with the Wisconsin Supreme Court's Office
of Lawyer Regulation.
Major projects underway for FY02 include revisions of Marital Property
Law in Wisconsin and Traffic Law and Practice in Wisconsin.
Page
2: Research 
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