Vol. 74, No. 8, August 2001

Page 3: Advocacy

Public Service

The State Bar is committed to educating the public about the legal system and helping serve the public's legal needs. The State Bar reaches out through numerous law-related education activities, consumer publications, grants, and Internet legal resources.

LegalExplorer and Lawyer Referral. With the launch of LegalExplorer.com at the beginning of FY01, the State Bar became one of the first bar associations in the country to produce a comprehensive, public-focused legal Web site. The Web site has already reached thousands of consumers.

LegalExplorer offers consumers a starting point for resolving a legal issue; provides answers to frequently asked questions; alerts and educates the public about consumer news; allows consumers to search a database of State Bar publications, videotapes, and programs; and exposes educators and students to law-related education.

LegalExplorer also has enabled the State Bar's Lawyer Referral and Information Service (LRIS) to greatly expand its reach beyond telephone referrals. After nearly a year's experience, approximately 30 percent of the LRIS referrals are coming from LegalExplorer. The Web site's existence has not decreased the number of phone calls to the service, which remained at more than 50,000. Internet users access the LRIS database through LegalExplorer and receive referrals by typing in a legal practice area and the geographic location where the legal services are required. As with LRIS's telephone referral service, online referrals are made on an impartial, county-by-county rotation basis.

LRIS continued throughout FY01 to provide qualified, prescreened telephone referrals. Experienced legal assistants screen calls and refer only one in six callers to an LRIS panel attorney; the remaining callers are given necessary information or referred to a community agency or other legal resource.

LRIS's sophisticated computer system helps ensure an accurate attorney-client match using detailed information provided by panel members. A statewide publicity effort, including Yellow Pages advertising, brochures, and Internet publicity, gets the word out about LRIS's direct link to panel members' services.

Legal services statewide planning. In FY01, the Legal Services Corporation (LSC) asked the State Bar to participate as a stakeholder in a statewide planning effort to reconfigure and possibly merge Wisconsin's four federally funded agencies: Legal Action of Wisconsin, Western Wisconsin Legal Services, Legal Services of Northeastern Wisconsin, and Wisconsin Judicare. The Board of Governors unanimously approved further study of the Legal Services Planning Group recommendations for the future of Wisconsin's legal services programs by the Finance, Legal Assistance, and Strategic Planning committees.

Pro Bono. As part of its commitment to providing legal services to low-income citizens, the State Bar has fielded Team Pro Bono. Team volunteers provide free or reduced cost legal services to prescreened clients, advise lawyers who provide direct legal services to clients, organize pro bono projects and motivate team members, and contribute financial assistance.

In FY01, nearly 130 attorneys attended the first-ever "Future of Pro Bono: Mandatory Reporting? Voluntary Service?" conference sponsored by the Legal Assistance Committee. The free conference included a plenary session addressing the pros and cons of mandatory pro bono reporting in Wisconsin, as well as breakout sessions covering technology in legal services delivery, pro bono volunteer recruiting, courthouse pro se centers, and tips from experts involved in Wisconsin's legal services delivery system.

Peer Mediation. Educators from 20 elementary schools statewide learned about peer mediation and ways to teach it at the annual PEACE (Peers in Education Addressing Conflict Effectively) program during FY01. Two days of intensive workshops were cosponsored by the State Bar, the Office of the Attorney General, and the Wisconsin Law Foundation. Now in its fifth year, the PEACE program helps reduce violence in Wisconsin elementary schools by teaching children communication and problem-solving skills.

Approximately 23,870 Wisconsin elementary school students currently participate in the PEACE program, which includes pairing teachers with attorneys in their communities to serve as consultants.

Mock Trial Tournament. The State Bar of Wisconsin High School Mock Trial Tournament attracted 600-plus attorneys and judges statewide who volunteered their time and expertise to make the FY01 program a success. In addition to attorneys and judges, more than 150 teachers and 28 regional coordinators helped organize the tournament, made up of 173 teams. The number of teams has more than doubled since its inception in 1983.

The two teams that compete in state finals argue a fictional mock trial case - written by the State Bar's Law-related Education Committee - before five Wisconsin Supreme Court justices. Mock trial sponsors include the State Bar's Environmental Law Section, Wisconsin Trust Account Foundation, Legal Auxiliary of Wisconsin, Wisconsin Association of School Boards, Wisconsin Law Foundation, and individual attorneys and citizens.

Teaching Institute. In February 2001, 30 high school teachers participated in the second annual Wisconsin Justice Teaching Institute. Assisted by supreme court justices, circuit court judges, attorneys, and university professors, the teachers took part in a sentencing exercise, analyzed actual supreme court petitions for review to determine whether they had been granted or denied, learned how to pick "teachable" appellate court cases, heard a panel discussion on judicial independence, and much more. A new book, Connecting to the Courts: A Teacher's Guide to the Wisconsin Courts, and the "Teaching about Wisconsin Courts" Web site were unveiled. These new resources provide valuable materials for teaching about the courts and the law. The institute is a partnership between the State Bar's Law-related Education Committee, the Wisconsin Supreme Court, and the U.W. Department of Curriculum and Instruction.

Project Citizen. During FY01, the State Bar cosponsored the "We the People, Project Citizen" competition - a hands-on civic education program for middle school students to promote competent and responsible participation in state and local government.

The competition attracted 10 teams statewide to the State Bar Center for a day of judging. A panel of seven judges - state legislators, government leaders, and marketing professionals - scored the entries. Project Citizen was sponsored by the Wisconsin Law Foundation, the State Bar of Wisconsin, the Center for Civic Education, the National Conference of State Legislatures, and the U.S. Department of Education.

We the People ... The Citizen and the Constitution. In FY01, the State Bar's Law-related Education Committee took over the administrative responsibility for the "We the People ... The Citizen and the Constitution" program. In existence since 1987, We the People is a national program directed by the Center for Civic Education and funded by the U.S. Department of Education. Based on curriculum designed to promote a deeper understanding of the Constitution and the Bill of Rights, the goal is to promote civic competence and responsibility among elementary and secondary students.

In addition to numerous Wisconsin schools using the We the People material, seven schools participated in a mock congressional hearing last January by testifying at the State Capitol before panels of teachers, lawyers, elected officials, and community leaders. The winning school went on to represent Wisconsin at the national tournament in Washington, D.C., last April.

Local Bar Grants. The Local Bar Grant Competition Committee continued in FY01 to award funds to local or specialty bar associations that develop and produce public service projects. Bar associations can receive up to $2,000 for a public service project that has statewide application. In FY01, $10,000 was awarded for grant projects, including Spanish translation of traffic laws, and videotapes addressing the family court mediation process and marital and nonmarital finance issues.

Business Dispute Resolution. The State Bar's Business Law and Alternative Dispute Resolution sections launched a new program in FY01 called "Fast Track" to assist businesses in solving problems. After both parties consent to using the system, a mediator or arbitrator is selected, and a date is set. Mediated settlements can take place within 10 days and arbitration awards in fewer than 30 days. Fast track helps businesses avoid lengthy court battles. This is the first time two sections have collaborated on a public service project.

Clients' Security Fund. The Wisconsin Supreme Court established the Clients' Security Fund in 1981 to reimburse people who lost money through dishonest acts of attorneys. All active Wisconsin-licensed attorneys subsidize the fund through an annual assessment of up to $15. During FY01, the committee acted on 56 claims against 15 attorneys. Of these, 33 were approved for reimbursement (totaling $252,885), eight were denied, and 15 were deferred to FY02.

What Lies Ahead

In the coming year, Gerry Mowris will focus on boosting awareness among members and the public of the State Bar's existing programs, including its many public service initiatives aimed at educating people about the justice system. Mowris also wants to build on the efforts of the Public Trust & Confidence initiative, begun during Leonard Leob's term. The Seize the Future initiatives will be a central focus of the upcoming year, and years to come.

At the end of FY01, the Board of Governors adopted a seven-part Seize the Future Resolution, which includes creation of a multiprofessional commission to examine the pros and cons of multidisciplinary practice (MDP). The commission will hold public hearings and ultimately will present its recommendations to the board in FY03. The 25-member commission will begin its work in FY02. Progress can be tracked on WisBar, and updates will be shared with members in the State Bar Inside the Bar newsletter and Wisconsin Lawyer magazine. Although MDP appears to be the lightning rod issue of the Seize the Future initiative, the State Bar also will work in FY02 to examine ways that lawyers can unbundle their services and will monitor the ABA's work on multijurisdictional practice.

Editor's Note: Financial reports from FY01 will appear in a later edition of Wisconsin Lawyer, upon completion of the annual audit.