President's Perspective

Building (and paying for) the future

By Susan R. Steingass

As you all know, we are building a new Bar Center for all of us on Madison's northeast side. Our grand opening will happen next August. This event will celebrate far more than completed construction. It will celebrate the work of hundreds of our volunteers and our entire staff. So many people have been and will be involved in the assessment, planning, actualizing, building, and fundraising for the Center that it would take all the wall space in the new building to honor each one.

Why should we support this new Bar Center? Because we desperately need it. Our current facility in downtown Madison was completed 40 years ago. It had 6,500 square feet, parking for 18 cars, cost $135,000, and readily accommodated our 12 full-time staff members. Over the years, it was enlarged and enlarged again. The current center has 20,000 square feet into which is crammed our current staff of 85. The initial Bar Center served 2,200 members, while today we have more than 19,500 members. Something simply had to give!

In 1998 our Facilities Committee, under the able and dedicated leadership of Past President Gerald O'Brien of Stevens Point, assessed our needs, examined potential sites, and examined the precise nature of the structure needed. A questionnaire was sent to our members to get input on their needs and preferences. The committee recommended to the Board of Governors that we build a new facility northeast of Madison and the Board agreed.

The new Bar Center will have 40,000 square feet of space and 200 free parking places. Inside will be a hands-on computer training center. There will be three assembly halls that can be opened to accommodate 180 people for CLE seminars, Board of Governor meetings, and other large gatherings. There will be three conference rooms with a capacity for 10, each equipped with video conferencing equipment for committee, section, and division meetings. For both in-town and out-of-town lawyers, there will be a large boardroom and office space for conducting depositions, holding meetings, and returning phone calls.

But how are we to pay for our new Bar Center? The budgeted cost of the building is $4.65 million. The sale of the current building provides $1.1 million and cash from investments another $1.3 million. That leaves $2.25 as the remaining cost. Your Board of Governors voted to commence a one-time-only, statewide fundraising campaign to raise at least $1.5 million, with an aspirational goal of retiring the debt entirely.

Nathan Fishbach, chair of the Board of Governors, agreed to chair this campaign, and retired Chief Justice Nathan S. Heffernan agreed to serve as honorary chair. Attorney Dean Dietrich of Wausau is leading the northern regional campaign and attorney Jim Friedman from Milwaukee the southern campaign. Trina Haag serves as campaign coordinator and is assisted by other staff members too numerous to mention by name.

The volunteer effort is spearheaded by a Campaign Cabinet composed of 30 people from every corner of the state, representing small to large firms, solo practitioners, young lawyers, government lawyers, nonresident lawyers - in short, all of us. These individuals in turn have recruited literally hundreds of volunteers in their task areas to ask their fellow lawyers to contribute as well.

The campaign will be short but intense. The Past Presidents Campaign and the Board of Governors Campaign have already raised more than $100,000, even before the regional campaigns are underway. The Campaign Cabinet itself has pledged virtually 100 percent participation.

Since the Bar Center is for all of us, the structure and focus of the campaign is designed to involve as many people as possible. Contribution levels are designed to permit every member to give and to be recognized accordingly. Payment methods are designed to be flexible and to make contributing as painless as possible.

The backbone of this campaign is the 100% Club. This club will include all firms, solo practitioners, and government agencies whose members contribute at least $100 a year, each year, payable over three years, or $300 per person. Their names will be engraved on a 100% Club wall prominently displayed in the foyer of the new Bar Center. Every single person who contributes in any amount also will be recognized in a leather-bound Honor Roll Book on permanent display in the main lobby.

Payment methods are flexible. Contributions may be tax deductible, either as business expenses or charitable contributions. Pledges can be made in lump sums but paid out over a period of years. Contributions are gratefully received in whatever amount, by cash, pledge, stock transfer, or bequest.

Individuals or groups are invited to give more if they can. A recognition wall on the main floor will name contributors who pledge between $500 and $10,000. Those who give $10,000 or more join the Founder's Club and will have their names engraved on the second floor gallery that rings the rotunda. Individual offices, interior wings, the main foyers, the computer training center, assembly halls, and the rotunda can be named for contributors who are able to give even larger amounts.

The boardroom will be named for our past presidents and funded by their contributions. The Assembly Hall will be named for past and present members of our Board of Governors and funded by the proceeds of their campaign.

There is power in our numbers. Our contributions, however made and for whatever amount, are what counts. This is our Bar Center. It serves our needs. Please, when you are asked to make a gift, give as generously as you are able.

If you want to participate, or want more information, please contact Trina Haag at the State Bar at (800) 444-9404, ext. 6025 or visit the fundraising campaign web site.

Wisconsin Lawyer