State Bar Financials
The Numbers
Here's a look at the State Bar's audited
financial picture for FY 01, July 1, 2000 - June 30, 2001.
by George C. Brown,
State Bar executive director
EVERY YEAR THE STATE BAR financials are audited by a
certified public accounting firm and the summary of the results is
published in the Wisconsin Lawyer. The Wisconsin Supreme Court requires
this be done, as it should for a mandatory membership organization. The
Bar's fiscal year ends on June 30.
On the revenue side, only 40 percent of the State Bar's income is
derived from dues. The remaining 60 percent of revenues comes from the
sale of CLE seminars and books, advertising in this magazine, the annual
convention, and an array of smaller revenue streams, such as LRIS panel
fees, interest, and consumer pamphlet sales.
Not surprisingly, the single largest expenditure is for staff, just
as you would find in any law office or other service business. The vast
majority of staff spend their time providing direct service to members
or supporting those staff members who provide that service. For example,
you are attending a live CLE seminar about a new statute that recently
was passed into law. Your experience includes listening to the speakers,
who are members, not staff, and reviewing the materials in the seminar
notebook, and maybe enjoying a doughnut and a cup of coffee. The only
staff people you will see is the person greeting and registering you
on-site and the person introducing the program - who likely is the
seminar attorney, a staff member, who planned the program. You don't see
the meeting planner who negotiated the room contract and room set-up;
the administrative assistant who made sure the materials were printed
and available at the program; the media specialist who set up the
microphones, the PowerPoint computer, and perhaps is running the video
camera; the off-site registrar who made sure that you were registered
and will receive the CLE credits for the program by registering it with
the Board of Bar Examiners; the accounting staff who processed your
credit card and credited your account; the order fulfillment staffer who
shipped the notebooks to your location; the designer who produced the
brochure, advertisement, or article that told you about the seminar; or
even the lobbyist who worked with the State Bar section leaders to pass
the new law - the subject of your seminar - through the Legislature and
the governor.
The Bar's single largest expense this year is iMIS. That's not a
misprint. It's the name of the new association software package that
went live the week of Sept. 24. This package has provided us the
opportunity to begin to streamline operations, improve our ability to
manage information, and create a platform for the creation of a fully
functioning e-commerce system, so that when you place an order with your
State Bar over the Internet, you can be assured that it will be
processed quickly, efficiently, and accurately.
And that boils down to better member service for you.
Wisconsin Lawyer