Vol. 75, No. 5, May 2002

Commemorate, Educate, Celebrate

by Gerry Mowris

WISCONSIN LAWYERS ARE COMMITTED TO providing service to the profession and the public. We do so in many different ways - from serving on State Bar committees, sections, and boards to participating in law-related education activities to volunteering in our communities. As a profession, we have said that we want the public to understand the role of the law and lawyers in society.

Next year, we have a unique opportunity to promote the value of the profession, and have fun doing it. Everyone loves birthdays, and we have two to celebrate - 2003 is the 150th anniversary of the Wisconsin Supreme Court and the 125th anniversary of the State Bar of Wisconsin. The occasion of these two events has heightened interest in the legal history of Wisconsin. Now is the time to foster a better understanding and appreciation of Wisconsin's legal history.

Chief Justice Abrahamson and I collaboratively formed the Wisconsin Legal History Committee to help create and plan a series of events that will celebrate separately and together the anniversaries of the Supreme Court and the State Bar. In addition to members of the State Bar and the Supreme Court, we have invited representatives of the Wisconsin Law Foundation, the Wisconsin Historical Society, the Wisconsin Academy of Sciences, Arts, and Letters, and others to join us as we plan various projects to celebrate these milestones.

Proposed projects include:

• producing a legal history program for Wisconsin Public Television;
• preserving oral history of the legal profession in Wisconsin;
• creating a traveling museum display of historical legal artifacts;
• developing an educational conference on civics and legal history; and
• publishing articles in legal and nonlegal publications commemorating the most significant Wisconsin trials and supreme court cases.

We hope you will join us in improving our citizens' understanding of and appreciation for Wisconsin law, legal history, and institutions. We ask you to contribute to this effort by sharing your memories - of landmark cases, influential lawyers and judges, fundamental legal issues, and legal greats in Wisconsin. We also are seeking volunteer oral history interviewers and authors. If you are interested, please write to State Bar of Wisconsin, Legal History, P.O. Box 7158, Madison, WI 53707-7158.

Wisconsin Lawyer