Vol. 70, No. 10,
October 1997
President's Report
1996-97 Financial Statement
1997 Annual Report
State Bar of Wisconsin
Fiscal Year July 1, 1996 - June 30, 1997
A Year of Public Outreach and Member Service
During the past year the State Bar of Wisconsin worked to increase its
outreach to the public and consider new programs to bridge the information
gap between the general public and the legal profession. Public service
and public outreach were important initiatives that marked President David
Saichek's term, as well as his creation of two commissions that studied
the issues of the judiciary as a co-equal branch of government and the effects
of violence on the justice system.
Media initiatives such as a cable television show and radio public service
announcements assisted the State Bar of Wisconsin in demonstrating a strong
commitment to outreach and education. Successful, existing programs like
the annual High School Mock Trial Tournament kept the Bar actively involved
in communities statewide.
Meanwhile, the State Bar continued its commitment to quality member services
and products to help lawyers deliver cost-effective legal services in Wisconsin,
from CLE seminars and books to videotapes and much more. And the State Bar
expanded its leadership in the area of technology, earning several national
awards for WisBar, its home page. The Bar's CD-ROM legal research product
also gained popularity among members.
This Annual Report highlights many of the past year's activities and
programs for lawyers and the public.
Public Outreach - Understanding the Law
"Law Talk"
In June 1996 the State Bar produced its first 30-minute cable television
program, "Law Talk." The Cable and Broadcast Outreach Committee
project has grown considerably since its launch, producing more than 20
programs that have aired on public access channels in Milwaukee and Madison,
with more markets to be added.
The committee created the show to educate the public about law-related
issues and to help the public understand how to use the legal system and
how it can best serve Wisconsin citizens. The program, hosted by Iowa County
Circuit Court Judge Bill Dyke, focuses on such issues as bankruptcy, criminal
law, city government, schools, sports law, interviews with Wisconsin Supreme
Court justices and the Wisconsin Attorney General, and legal services for
the poor, among other topics.
High School Mock Trial Tournament
This year's High School Mock Trial Tournament rounds started in February
with more than 1,500 students competing in 149 teams from 105 Wisconsin
high schools. In addition to the 157 coordinators and teacher coaches, more
than 580 lawyers and judges volunteered as attorney coaches and competition
judges. In the end, Superior High School was the Wisconsin champion, beating
Rhinelander in the state finals and earning the right to compete in the
National Mock Trial Tournament in Nashville, Tenn.
Participation in the second annual Mock Trial Journalism Contest more
than doubled this past year, with 30-plus students participating to match
up their journalism skills with other Wisconsin students.
Court With Class
The State Bar, working with the Wisconsin Supreme Court,
has developed the nationally recognized Court
With Class program. Coordinated by the Law-related Education Committee,
the program earned an Outstanding Public Achievement Award from the National
Association of Bar Executives this past year.
The program brought nearly 1,000 students from 50 high schools to the
Wisconsin Supreme Court chambers throughout the school year to observe the
court in session and to speak to justices about law-related issues. More
than 20 schools are on a waiting list to participate in future events.
Courthouse Visitors Guides
Courthouses and the court system can be a confusing and intimidating
legal maze to those unfamiliar with it. The Courthouse Visitors Guide project,
another State Bar public outreach effort in partnership with the Wisconsin
Supreme Court, makes the system and our courthouses easier to use.
With the help of local bar leaders, the State Bar so far has produced
visitors guides for 35 courthouses. Each guide includes a directory of the
offices and courts located in the courthouse, their functions and phone
numbers, the courthouse's history, and a floor plan of the building or complex.
The guides also include a welcome letter from Wisconsin Supreme Court
Chief Justice Shirley Abrahamson, a brief history of the Wisconsin court
system, a diagram showing the different court levels with an explanation
of their responsibilities, and a diagram of the federal and state court
systems.
Radio public service announcements
The State Bar's Professionalism Committee has firmly established a program
of radio public service announcements. Radio stations in Rhinelander and
Eau Claire regularly air the PSAs, which are written by Wisconsin lawyers
about law-related issues of interest to the general public. Divorce, traffic
law, drunk driving, criminal law, home buying and selling, tax law and other
topics have been explored. The program will expand into other radio markets
around the state during the coming year.
The State Bar's public service announcements are also available through
WisBar on the law-related public resources homepage. Nicknamed "LegalBytes,"
each PSA is recorded in Real Audio format, allowing Internet users from
around the state to point, click and listen to helpful legal information
on their personal computers.
Media coordinator project
From the Jeffrey Dahmer trial in Milwaukee to the Tom Monfils trial in
Green Bay and other high-profile cases in between, it is apparent that working
cooperatively with the media is in the best interests of lawyers and judges.
For the first time, the State Bar brought together media representatives
and judges at the Judicial Conference in October 1996 to foster a greater
dialogue between the judges and the media. "Let's face it, cameras
in our courtrooms and media coverage in general serve a significant public
interest," said Steve Ritt, a Wisconsin media attorney and chair of
the subcommittee that established the program. "We as legal practitioners
should do what we can to make our legal system work more effectively in
this regard," he said.
The program attracted more than 30 news directors, editors and others
from radio, television and newspapers and was repeated in an expanded format
at the Judicial Conference in 1997.
Commissions Study Violence in the Judiciary,
Judiciary as a Co-equal Branch
President David Saichek created two commissions on Violence and the Judiciary
and the Judiciary as a Co-Equal Branch of Government. Studies included statewide
public hearings to gather input from Wisconsin citizens on ways to better
improve the legal system. The recommendations from both commissions were
presented to the Board of Governors in the spring of 1997 and sent to various
state agencies and all legislators.
The Judiciary Commission report included
recommendations to develop formal communications among the three branches
of government to foster better understanding of their functions, promote
informal discussions between branch leaders at the state and county level,
increase State Bar support for local bar efforts to enhance community understanding
of the judiciary's role and create, through the Wisconsin Supreme Court,
a task force on the Quality of the Court System comprised of judges, attorneys,
legislators and citizens to consider methods for judicial assessment.
Finding practical ways to make courthouses safer was a main objective
of the Violence Commission. Members studied the financial and emotional
impact of violence on litigants, victims, families, juveniles, judges, attorneys
and courthouse staff. The commission gleaned information from Wisconsin
crime charts, circuit and small claims court filing information and state
court funding charts. The commission also gathered testimony at five public
hearings held statewide, from experts on domestic violence and through questionnaire
responses from courthouse personnel.
The commission's report contains recommendations
covering courthouse security, domestic and juvenile violence, weapons and
alternative justice programs. Those recommendations range from the simple
- teaching school children how to dial 911 - to the far more complex and
politically charged - banning the sale of so-called junk guns like "Saturday
Night Specials."
During the past year, the Delivery of
Legal Services Commission, appointed by past President John Skilton,
realized several of its 14 recommendations and proposed pilot projects from
1996. The commission studied how to bring equal justice closer to reality
for all Wisconsin citizens. The enacted recommendations include a statewide
pro bono and legal services delivery conference, recruiting and recognizing
attorneys to participate actively in pro bono work, a Brown County Courthouse
Legal Resource Information Center, and encouraging free one-half hour initial
consultations to prospective clients.
Technology- Staying at the Forefront
Law Firm Technology Survey
The State Bar's second annual Law Firm Technology
Survey, conducted to see how firms currently use computer technology
in their day-to-day work and how they think their use will change in the
near future, drew responses from 695 law firms statewide.
The survey found that word processing and document assembly still are
the computer functions law offices use most and WordPerfect remains the
most popular word processing software, although Microsoft Word is making
some gains. The DOS operating system continues to predominate in law firms,
but new computer purchases show a significant shift to Windows 95. As for
computer hardware, most law firms use the 486 PC, with the Pentium ranking
second. The survey also found almost 50 percent of the law firms surveyed
had Internet access - up from 30 percent in last year's survey - and another
11 percent planned to obtain it within a year.
WisBar and the Internet
WisBar, the State Bar's Internet site, has attracted national attention
since its inception in 1995. In fiscal year 1997, the legal.online newsletter
called WisBar "a superb example of how a bar association can contribute
to making the Internet an essential resource for lawyers and laypeople alike."
Meanwhile, the McKinley Group's Magellan Internet Directory awarded WisBar
three stars (out of four), giving the site high marks for "depth of
coverage" and "ease of exploration." In addition, WisBar
was ranked number one on Martindale-Hubble's Legal Links' "Top 10 State
Bar and Bar Association Web Sites."
To continue moving WisBar into the future, President Saichek created
the Electronic Bar Services (EBS)
Committee, continuing the work of the former Technology Resource and Ad
Hoc Technology committees. During the past year, the EBS Committee focused
on two areas: developing and managing WisBar and developing a deliberate
plan to keep the State Bar at the forefront of technological advancement.
It is clear that Wisconsin lawyers are turning in increasing numbers
to the Internet in general and to WisBar in particular for information.
By the end of FY 1997, WisBar visitors accessed almost 200,000 pages per
month, up from more than 40,000 pages accessed when the site was launched
in January 1996. This feature-rich site offers:
- 24-hour access to current supreme court and court of appeals decisions;
- the full text of the Wisconsin Lawyer and other State Bar publications,
complete with links to related cases and statutes;
- noncredit CLE seminars recorded in Real Audio format;
- hundreds of links to the Internet's best legal and governmental resources;
- online ordering and registration for CLE books, seminars and State
Bar products;
- legislative updates;
- current local court rules; and
- access to information on State Bar member services and benefits.
LOIS CD-ROM Legal Research
The LOIS CD-ROM research product resulted from the partnership between
the State Bar and Law Office Information Systems (LOIS) to bring members
a Wisconsin law library on CD-ROM at a competitive price. The CD-ROM includes
all Wisconsin primary law, including the Wisconsin Statutes, administrative
code and supreme court and court of appeals decisions. Subscribers also
may purchase CLE Books on the same CD. The service is updated frequently.
Sales of the LOIS CD-ROM legal research product remained steady during
the past year. In addition, customer satisfaction remained very high. In
a survey conducted during the summer of 1997, 57 percent of those responding
indicated that LOIS was comparable, while 29 percent said LOIS was superior
to competing products with respect to disk content.
CLE Seminars and Books
Continue Commitment to Quality
Seminars
State Bar CLE Seminars offered nearly 60 program titles during the past
year, presented in 13 live teleseminars, 65 live seminar events and 455
video replay dates, and involved more than 200 volunteer lawyers.
Seminar registrations for the year totaled more than 13,500, and the
most popular single program title was "Ethical Issues in the Real World,"
generating more than 1,700 registrations.
During FY 1997 the seminar program established successful cosponsorships
with the Wisconsin Chapter of American Board of Trial Advocates and the
Corporate Practice Institute in Milwaukee. The partnerships will continue
in the future.
Books
It was a great year for State Bar CLE Books, the most successful publishing
year in its 14-year history. CLE Books worked with more than 300 volunteer
authors and reviewers who put in countless hours producing several new publications.
Five new books were published, including Wisconsin Juvenile Law Handbook,
Guardianship and Protective Placement for the Elderly in Wisconsin, Advising
Older Clients and their Families (Vol. I), Wisconsin Rules of Evidence:
Pocket Edition, Wisconsin Criminal Code and Selected Traffic Statutes. CLE
Books also produced the Wisconsin Probate Document Assembly Program, a powerful
computer program that helps lawyers manage informal estate administration,
which is a companion to the best-selling Wisconsin Probate System: A Forms
and Procedures Handbook.
In addition to new products, CLE Books supplemented another 25 books
and published new editions of 11 books. The new editions included: Annual
Survey of Wisconsin Law, The Attorney's Guide to the Seventh Circuit Court
of Appeals, A Guide to Wisconsin Statutes of Limitations, Hiring and Firing
in Wisconsin, Wisconsin Guide to Citation, The Wisconsin Rules of Evidence:
A Courtroom Handbook, Wisconsin Discovery Law and Practice and four statutory
code books.
CLE Books continues to publish many books with accompanying forms on
disk and added several books to the collection already available on the
LOIS CD-ROM.
Along with the quantity came quality. CLE Books won a national award
for excellence in publishing for Hiring and Firing in Wisconsin, a 170-plus
page, softcover reference book, written by attorneys Brad Backer, Kim Patterson
and Rob Sholl.
Other State Bar Activities
Judge of the Year Award
During fiscal 1997 the State Bar Bench-Bar Committee solicited nominations
statewide for the first "Judge of the Year" award, honoring judicial
excellence. Eau Claire County Circuit Court Judge Thomas Barland was given
the honor. The committee also is developing a Jurist Lifetime Achievement
Award.
Government relations
State Bar members and the government relations team were very active
on legislative issues during the past year. The Lawyers Legislative Action
Network, the Bar's local grassroots program, doubled in size with more than
400 attorneys now participating.
The Bar's volunteers spent more than 2,000 hours contacting their legislators
and reviewing bills. When added to the government relations team's time,
the total time lobbying for the State Bar was more than 4,300 hours for
the first six months of 1997 alone. The Bar was active on issues such as
judicial substitution, child custody, adoption laws, truth-in-sentencing
and court funding. Members also worked on major statute rewrites on construction
lien laws, transfer fees, nonprofit laws, garnishment and probate.
Lawyer Dispute Resolution
The State Bar's Professionalism Committee developed the Wisconsin Lawyer
Dispute Resolution Program, which uses voluntary mediation and arbitration,
to protect the interests of clients and help resolve professional and economic
disputes that may arise when a law firm dissolves or one or more attorneys
leave a firm. Administered by the State Bar, the program relies upon the
services of mediators and arbitrators who are paid a set hourly fee by the
parties. The program will be operational by January 1998.
Mentor Council
The Mentor Council helps new
lawyers and law students adapt to the profession so they can be of greatest
service to the public, a credit to the profession and achieve balance in
their personal and professional lives. Under the program, experienced lawyers
and judges are recruited statewide to act as mentors for new lawyers and
law students.
During fiscal 1997 the Mentor Council:
- brought practicing lawyers to the Marquette and U.W. law schools to
paint a realistic picture of the various career choices available to law
students;
- organized a tag-along program for students and new lawyers; and
- developed seven videos to provide a wider audience with the same information
given by individual mentors on a one-to-one basis.
Local bar relations
The annual Wisconsin Bar Leaders Conference was held in conjunction with
the Bar's Midwinter Convention in January.
More than 40 local and specialty bar leaders attended the conference, which
focused on creating opportunities for bar leaders to learn and share information.
Each year the State Bar funds local and specialty bar public service
projects that can be replicated by other bars. During fiscal 1997, the Bar's
Local Bar Grant Competition Committee awarded
more than $10,000 in grants for various projects, which include brochures
on landlord/tenant law, Wisconsin Chippewa Indian off-reservation treaty
rights, restitution/collection, preventing violence towards children, and
the marriage and the family program; handbooks for volunteer lawyers on
a wide range of family law and domestic abuse issues; and a training program
for parents and foster parents of children with special needs, and their
rights.
Clients Security Fund
The Clients Security Fund was established in 1981 to help victims of
dishonest lawyers. The maximum reimbursement a victim can receive from the
fund is $75,000.
During FY 1997 the Clients Security Fund Committee acted upon nine claims.
Of those, five were approved for payment, three were denied and one was
deferred for further consideration. Total funds available to the committee
during the fiscal year were more than $224,000. The five claims approved
for payment totaled more than $11,000.
In April the supreme court approved an amendment to the Client Security
Fund (CSF) rules, raising to $7 on their dues statement Wisconsin attorneys'
assessment to support CSF. The amendment will make it possible to raise
the fund's sufficiency level from $150,000 to $200,000.
Resolution of fee disputes
The State Bar's client/attorney
fee dispute arbitration program is a service to the public and lawyers
of Wisconsin. During FY 1997 more than 400 clients, attorneys and judges
contacted the State Bar for program information, resulting in 57 applications
received for arbitration hearings.
Wisconsin Trust Account Foundation/IOLTA Account
The Wisconsin Trust Account Foundation became a tenant in the State Bar
building in December 1996. The foundation manages the Interest on Lawyers
Trust Account (IOLTA) program in Wisconsin, which uses the interest paid
on lawyers' trust accounts to fund legal services, pro bono and other law-related
programs.
Revenue for the program has increased by almost 50 percent over 1995,
resulting in projected 1998 grants of $1.4 million. That compares to $1.15
million for 1997, and represents a 65 percent increase over grant totals
for 1996. The increase dramatically reverses the trend in declining interest
begun in 1992. WisTAF grants are made with funds raised through IOLTA, a
program hit hard by declining interest rates and higher account charges
and fees.
"The turnaround was possible because many banks agreed to waive
service charges and transaction fees on IOLTA accounts," said WisTAF
President James Martin. The State Bar worked with WisTAF to ask banks to
waive these charges to help raise the desperately needed funds.
Wisconsin Lawyers Assistance Program
Approximately one in 15 Wisconsin attorneys, or 7 percent, sought help
for stress or chemical-dependency problems through State Bar programs during
the past seven years.
The Wisconsin Lawyers Assistance Program
(WisLAP) provides lawyers with needed confidential help and counseling services.
WisLAP's new outreach effort during the past year sent volunteer speakers
to local bar associations, young lawyers' groups and even law school classes.
Helpline volunteers take calls from members and their families, and from
fellow lawyers or coworkers affected by an attorney's problems. For stress-related
problems, dial (800) 543-2625. For substance abuse issues, call (800) 254-9154.
Conventions
The State Bar's 1997 Midwinter Convention
attracted nearly 1,000 attorneys to Milwaukee's Hyatt Regency and Wisconsin
Center.
In addition to the CLE programs and numerous networking opportunities,
the Midwinter Convention hosted authoritative speakers, including Wisconsin
Attorney General James Doyle, Dean of the Ohio State University Law School
Gregory Williams and West Virginia University Law Professor Forest Bowman.
The convention also featured the Distinguished Service Award, given to
the Bar's first executive director, Phil Haberman, several other volunteer
awards and the first Judge of the Year Award that went to Eau Claire County
Circuit Court Judge Thomas Barland.
More than 700 attorneys attended the June 1997
Annual Convention, also held in Milwaukee. Speakers included Detroit
Mayor and former Michigan Supreme Court Justice Dennis Archer and former
Green Bay Packer star and member of last year's Super Bowl Championship
team Sean Jones.
Ripon attorney Steve Sorenson was sworn in as the State Bar's 42nd President
in June. In addition, Golden Gavel awards were given to several media representatives
to recognize their work in covering legal issues, and 10 Presidential Awards
of Excellence and several other awards were presented to recognize volunteer
contributions during the year.
At both conventions State Bar sections sponsored a variety of social
functions and educational programs, including sessions on new techniques
for expanding access to justice, demonstrations on legal resources available
on the Internet and the usual plethora of CLE programs.
New toll-free MemberLine
In early 1997 the State Bar established a nationwide, toll-free "24-hour
MemberLine." The service gives members the chance to phone comments,
questions and even requests for State Bar materials into a special voice
mailbox at any time of the day or night (1-800-444-9404, ext. 6000). Callers
do not have to identify themselves, but can do so if they'd like a response.
The MemberLine gives members another opportunity to phone Bar staff for
prompt service. The messages left on the MemberLine are retrieved by State
Bar staff each day.
Court actions on the practice of law
Again this past fiscal year, the State Bar was proactive on issues affecting
the practice of law in Wisconsin, which led to several Wisconsin Supreme
Court rulings.
In October 1996 the supreme court ordered a revision of a court rule
to permit lawyers to hold themselves out as specialists if they are so certified
by American Bar Association-approved programs. The rule change was based
upon the State Bar's petition on specialty certification and a related late-1996
public hearing.
In late 1996 the Wisconsin Supreme Court denied a State Bar petition
seeking licensing of foreign legal consultants, ruling that the petition
was not entirely consistent with the ABA's 1993 Model Rule for Licensing
of Legal Consultants. The Bar had proposed a system, to be administered
by the Board of Bar Examiners, to allow lawyers licensed in other countries
to have restricted practices in Wisconsin. The goal also was to help Wisconsin
lawyers gain reciprocal practice rights in other countries.
In March 1997 the Wisconsin Supreme Court agreed to a Judicial Council
proposal requiring lawyers who serve as guardians ad litem for minor children
to earn six specialized CLE credits per four-year period, with a lifetime
maximum of 30 credits. The education requirements take effect in 1999.
Also in March, the court removed a roadblock to more state lawyers combining
their areas of expertise and forming group practices. The court's so-called
"limited liability ruling" on a State Bar petition filed in October
1995 allows Wisconsin attorneys to form limited liability organizations.
The protection against vicarious liability may encourage attorneys to form
group practices, which can benefit consumers especially in rural areas.
Looking Ahead
As the fiscal year closed, the State Bar of Wisconsin was engaged in
more public outreach programs than ever before, becoming partners and developing
relationships with high school and law school students, businesses, social
service agencies, legislators, courthouse officials, legal services groups
and many others.
The State Bar also is looking ahead to the 21st century with an eye on
providing more cost-effective and efficient practice tools for lawyers.
Technology will continue to offer lawyers many new ways to provide legal
services to clients, and the Bar is committed to helping lawyers use those
tools.
How will the Bar approach the next century in its commitment to member
services and helping lawyers practice? During the next year, President Steve
Sorenson expects Project Vision to address
that question. This long-range strategic planning initiative is exploring
everything the Bar does, from committee, section and division work to Bar
services and products offered to lawyers. |