Vol. 77, No. 8, August 2004

A Handful of Years

by George C. Brown,
State Bar executive director

Last month, we repaired and resealed the State Bar Center parking lot. While hardly a remarkable feat in itself, it is symbolic of the amount of time the "new" State Bar Center has been operating. This month marks the fifth anniversary of the opening of the State Bar Center.

Much has changed since July 1999, the last full month in the old Bar Center. In fact, there was not one "old" Bar Center. There were three. In addition to the old Bar Center building in downtown Madison, we operated a print and mail facility on the far south side of the city and made regular trips to a warehouse several blocks away for materials. This made for much inefficient, and therefore more costly, work.

Since moving into the current State Bar Center, we have been able to streamline many of our operations. For example, one of our staff members in the marketing division spent most of his time preparing materials for shipment to or from our southside print facility. After the move, he no longer needed to do that, and his job was repurposed to fill a different existing need, which meant we did not have to hire another staff person. We have continued to look for these efficiencies. That is one of the reasons why there are fewer staff members working in the Bar Center today than when we moved in five years ago.

We have witnessed tremendous changes in technology in the last half decade. The State Bar Center was wired with state-of-the-art fiber optic cable when it was built. But that and the metal racks that hold the main computer components are about all that remains. Servers that we have to buy to replace those that burn out cost one-sixth the price of the originals and operate many times faster. We depend on two principal software platforms instead of five, making usage easier and maintenance more cost effective. All State Bar CLE seminars now are digitally recorded and can be sent over the Internet. This magazine is laid out on computer and sent electronically to the printer. WisBar, the State Bar Web site, was three years new when we moved into the current Bar Center. We will soon launch a completely restructured and redesigned Web site that will be more useful and easier for you to use.

Today, you can actually attend a CLE seminar or a State Bar meeting at the Bar Center - at the old Bar Center most meetings were held in hotels because there virtually was no meeting space and no parking. Even when a meeting could be held at the old Bar Center, most attendees were forced to park on the street and were surprised when they did not receive a parking ticket. Now, the Bar Center has a parking lot that holds 200 cars rather then the 24 at the old Center. And no parking tickets have been issued, even on occasions when the lot has been full and attendees have had to park in the street.

In the last 60 months, nearly 1,400 State Bar meetings, including seminars, sections, divisions, committees, and the Board of Governors, have been held at the State Bar Center. In addition, members have held more than 800 meetings, depositions, negotiations, mediations, and arbitrations at the Bar Center. And that is the best part. The State Bar Center is again a members' building. If you need a neutral space for a client meeting, a negotiation, or a deposition, just call the State Bar Center to reserve a conference room. As one of your member benefits, it's free for your use. So is the coffee.

Wisconsin Lawyer