In a constantly evolving environment like state government, where representatives serve two-year terms and senators and statewide officeholders serve four-year terms, cultivating and maintaining relationships is a never-ending process.

To stay engaged on issues that can change in an instant, the State Bar of Wisconsin’s Government Relations team has worked to raise the organization’s profile within the legislative and executive branches over the past several years. These efforts combine several strategies that have increased both knowledge of the legal profession and understanding of how the judicial system operates.

Ongoing Efforts

The start of every legislative session brings the challenge of introducing the State Bar to new legislators or returning legislators who, for various reasons, were less engaged in legal policy issues. Efforts also focus on reestablishing connections with veteran legislators familiar with the State Bar. Additionally, it is critical to ensure that not only legislators, but also their staff, are familiar with the State Bar, as legislators rely on staff to review legislation and to understand the stakeholders impacted by proposed changes.

To make those connections, the State Bar’s lobbying team arranges meetings with elected officials and their staff who sit on committees that oversee judicial matters, introducing them to issues important to the State Bar and familiarizing them with how the organization functions. These meetings offer an opportunity to share the wide range of issues impacting the State Bar, while encouraging legislators to think of the organization when legislation comes across their desks and whether these changes will be well received by members of the legal profession, met with concern, or somewhere in between. The State Bar also meets with the governor’s policy team and the attorney general’s legislative office, most often emphasizing budgetary needs and broader access-to-justice matters.

The introductory meetings are only the beginning, however. Throughout the session, State Bar lobbyists continue to engage in conversations with lawmakers to build awareness and understanding of important issues. This new or renewed familiarity with the State Bar and its key issues and positions, as well as its operational and organizational structure, is key to working well with all elected officials and staff and effectively lobbying on State Bar matters.

With each passing session, the State Bar’s communications and relationships with policymakers and their offices have grown, leading to earlier conversations on legislative matters and positive outcomes for attorneys.

New Efforts in Recent Years

Meetings between State Bar lobbyists and elected officials in their Capitol offices are a critical first step, but they are not the only way to stay on an elected official’s radar. As relationships have strengthened between the Government Relations team and key policymakers in Madison, the team has renewed efforts to visit legislators in their districts to listen to what they are hearing from constituents and how the State Bar can be a resource on legal issues. In recent years, the State Bar has created opportunities for legislators, State Bar leadership, and local attorney constituents to meet and engage in conversations on issues important to the legal profession in their district and share ideas for addressing them. Several meetings this summer with a variety of legislators and attorneys further deepened familiarity with the State Bar’s broader issues, as well as those specifically impacting the district.

Additionally, the State Bar is renewing efforts to meet with attorneys throughout Wisconsin to introduce them to the State Bar’s legislative outreach and advocacy efforts. This primarily consists of sharing with members the fiscal and policy issues the State Bar is lobbying on, as well as lobbying sections. Beyond keeping members informed on issues identified by State Bar leaders, the team is also asking the members what other issues they are encountering that may be addressed with a legislative remedy, similar to how attorneys are sharing with legislators at the aforementioned meetings, and teaching members how they can engage with their legislators through the Advocacy Network within the State Bar’s website to share their support or concerns for certain issues with their legislators.

This new or renewed familiarity with the State Bar and its key issues and positions is key to working well with all elected officials and staff and effectively lobbying on State Bar matters.

Results

Together, these efforts have led to greater success for the State Bar on both legislative initiatives and budget matters. This is occurring as the State Bar, through its lobbying sections and leadership, is taking more positions on legislation, as issues are being introduced with greater frequency, impacting the practice of law by both legislators and other stakeholder groups.

With this uptick in legislation impacting the practice of law, the State Bar’s outreach efforts have had a positive impact, as there has been a corresponding increase in requests from legislators, executive agencies, the court, and other lobbying associations for input on their own initiatives, most often prior to legislative introduction. The ability to address unintended consequences of legislation prior to introduction is significant. Being a part of the conversation early on, often before authors become wedded to a particular outcome or path to that outcome, allows the State Bar to build even stronger relationships with various parties, and these good-faith collaborations often ensure positive working relationships on future initiatives of overlapping interest.

Raising the State Bar’s legislative profile has been a years-long strategic initiative that has employed various approaches and achieved substantial success, with the hope of continuing to build not only the State Bar of Wisconsin’s positive impact at the Capitol but also further engagement among attorneys and the legislators who represent them in Madison. The State Bar’s Government Relations team intends to continue pursuing these avenues of engagement and to seek additional opportunities for connection and conversation. Stay tuned in the coming months to find out whether the Government Relations team will be traveling to your area of the state or whether there are other ways for you to contact your legislators on issues of relevance and importance to your practice.