President's Perspective
This is Not Your Father's Bar Association
by Gary L. Bakke
Professionally Managing Our Bar
Our Bar recently passed the 20,000-member milestone. We now officially have
20,203 members. We have three divisions – nonresident, government, and
young lawyers – with significant efforts underway to create a senior
lawyers division. We have 25 active sections, each with a chair and
board of directors.
There are more than 40 committees, including the
standing committees created by Supreme Court Rule: Professional Ethics,
Legal Assistance, CLE, and Communications. Our annual budget is about
$10 million, of which only one-third is generated by dues.
Our membership includes 2,333 solo practitioners in Wisconsin; 5,664
members of firms of two or more in Wisconsin; 2,109 government lawyers,
including judges; and 6,031 nonresident lawyers. The remaining 4,000
are in an emeritus, inactive, or another special category.
Maintaining the Bar's relevance to this extraordinarily diverse group
is a formidable task for leadership – a task that requires a renewed
focus on global policy issues facing our profession and our association.
The Bar must continually challenge itself to give value and benefit
to members. Executive Director George Brown explains this concept best:
"We must treat all members as if they are voluntary members."
Maintaining relevance and responding to member needs must be done with
the understanding that we are not a trade organization. Our mission
is much larger than merely advocating for the financial interests of
our members. As a creation of the Wisconsin Supreme Court, the State
Bar of Wisconsin is charged with fulfilling its designated purposes,
which are to assist the courts in carrying on and improving the administration
of justice and a myriad of other public interest objectives set forth
is SCR 10.02 (2). (Reprinted at page 624 of your 2000 Wisconsin Lawyer
Directory and online at www.courts.state.wi.us/html/rules/CHAP10.htm.)
Together with the Bar membership and its more than 90 employees, the
State Bar is recognized as a national leader in providing CLE books
and seminars to members, publishing a first-class monthly magazine,
maintaining a highly respected lobbying presence in the State Legislature,
and implementing numerous initiatives to improve the administration
of justice and to increase the public's trust and confidence in the
justice system.
In my travels on behalf of the Bar, I am continually impressed with
the fact that other bar associations look to the excellence of Wisconsin
as a model. The credit goes jointly to member volunteers and staff.
We have a great team.
This is not your father's bar association. We cannot be effectively
managed by part-time officers working with a committee of 50 (the Board
of Governors) that meets only five times a year. Nor will micromanagement
advance the overriding purposes for which we exist. Professional management
is essential to any organization of this size and complexity. That professional
management must be guided by a focused group of volunteers who can be
expected to devote considerable time to the task of understanding and
guiding this complex organization.
We have in place both the professional management at the staff level
and the appropriate oversight mechanism. Starting at the top, our executive
director, George Brown, is a talented "people person" with years of
experience in the Bar association. He brings his awesome knowledge of
the profession and its direction to the task of representing us to the
staff and the lay community. At the director level, Katy Duren, Betty
Braden, Joyce Hastings, Linda Barth, Pat Kelly, and Gene Goswehr bring
talent and experience to their areas. Dedicated and talented individuals
staff every department.
Oversight is the task of the Executive Committee, chaired by Jim Brennan,
and the Finance Committee, chaired by Kathleen Grant. These committees
work on a continuous basis with the staff to watch the till and assure
that our efforts are on target.
In June, the Board of Governors adopted the recommendation of the Governance
Committee, chaired by John Macy and Bob Hagness, that the Board take
a stronger role in policy making and that management oversight be delegated
to the Executive Committee for the most part. I strongly supported that
proposal. A minor reason for my support was that such a large group
cannot efficiently or effectively manage a large, complex organization.
The major reason for my support was my observation that excessive attention
to day-to-day management detail was diverting the Board of Governors'
attention from very important policy issues.
The issues on our plate include multidisciplinary practice, unauthorized
practice of law, the developing new lawyer regulation system, Ethics
2000, and quality of life and financial issues for our membership. Internal
Bar organization concerns include the need to diversify our staff to
better reflect our membership, increased competition for CLE and books,
providing case law and other information to our members, and continually
upgrading our service to members and our quest to serve the public.
These are among the issues facing our profession and the Bar that require
our leadership to rise above the need to micromanage.
Thus, you can see that the Bar's elected leadership is changing in
response to the increasing size and complexity of our organization and
our changing needs. The status quo is not an option; micromanagement
is out. Policy issues and overall direction of the Bar are receiving
increased attention. Simultaneously, more of the daily management functions
are delegated to the staff professionals consistent with the policy
objectives of the Board of Governors – always with careful oversight
by the Executive and Finance committees.
I look forward to this year and to discussions and lively debate about
the issues that are key to the future of our profession and the viability
of our organization. Contact me with your thoughts at gbakke@bakke-norman.com,
or contact your district governor.
|