Photo from September 2024 State Bar of Wisconsin Board of Governors meeting. From left: Chairperson Melodie Wiseman, Past-president Dean Dietrich, and Secretary Martina Rae Gast.

March 3, 2025 –The State Bar of Wisconsin’s 52-member Board of Governors (Board) in a virtual meeting Friday, Feb. 28, approved a motion to defer action on a proposal for a pilot project to expand lawyer access to court filings on the Wisconsin Circuit Court Access (WCCA) website.

The Bankruptcy Insolvency and Creditors Rights (BICR) Section Board presented the proposal at the Dec. 6 Board meeting. Although lawyers to a case can access court filings online in their own cases, nonparty attorneys must make copies at the courthouse. The idea would resemble online access in the federal PACER online court records system.

In presenting the issue, Past President Dean R. Dietrich said the prior director of state courts was “very troubled about this proposal” because of costs and staff time. In addition, the WCCA platform is complicated and may need work to allow the proposed access.

Dietrich made the motion that the Board “defer action at this time and request the president appoint a working group to review this matter further and report back to the [Board] in a timely manner with refinements to the proposal.”

Other governors raised concerns about abuse and security threats of electronic access, even if limited to lawyers.

Dist. 4 Gov. Julia F. Stodolka, liaison with BICR, said the section carefully crafted the proposal after two years of work and intended implementation only “as soon as practicable.”

“Bankruptcy materials often have devastating financial facts in them, and they can be misused, so there is some experience with this problem,” Stodolka said.

She recommended either approving the BICR proposal or sending it back to BICR for a longer study period.

Dist. 7 Gov. Stephen Sawyer recognized that computer access would save time, “but I do see the potential abuse,” especially with criminal complaints and motions that “are written from one side.” The public may “accept it as all true.” It would create problems of influence in jury pools.

Nonresident Lawyer Division Rep. Erik R. Guenther said he has “serious reservations about this, period.” Based on his background in national security, he said an old computer system could provide access to wrongdoers.

“What will happen, I guarantee to you, is that all of the data that is in WCCA,” even if access is limited only to lawyers, “it will go to everyone, and it will become a profit center, and it will go to malicious actors that will be subjecting seniors to more scam attempts,” Guenther said. “It will make Wisconsinites more vulnerable in ways that some of us may be able to anticipate and ways that will be far more creative.”

Responding to the question of Dist. 9 Gov. Sam Wayne if those concerns existed if only attorneys had access, Guenther said “once it is open digitally to attorneys,” it will become more available, either intentionally or by access on a lawyer’s own computer system. “It is crazy dangerous.”

Gov. Stodolka agreed that what “Gov. Guenther talks about as dangerous, of course, is dangerous.” She said, however, that BICR’s proposal was to “get started in the dangerous environment in which we live” and go through the proper testing.

Board Discusses Proposed FY 2026 Budget

The Board began discussions on a proposed budget for fiscal year 2026 (July 1, 2025, to June 30, 2026).

The Finance Committee and Executive Committee unanimously approved the budget that came before the Board.

The first round of the draft budget came in with a deficit of $772,000. Staff then went back and found $197,000 in additional revenue and $216,000 in additional expense cuts, which brought the bottom line to a deficit of $359,000.

At this point, it was safe to count on interest and dividend income, Interim Finance Director Jackie Jacobson told the Board, estimated at $234,000, reducing the deficit to $125,000.

“Our last resort is always looking at the dues revenue,” Jacobson said. The proposed increase is 2.36%, or $7, which is below the 2.9% rate of inflation. The net result is a positive budget amount of $17,000. Considering more speculative income raises that amount to $64,000. The State Bar dues would increase from $296 to $303.

State Bar President Ryan M. Billings

Billings: Budget Shows Sacrifice

“I am extremely hawkish when it comes to dues increases,” said State Bar President Ryan M. Billings. “I think we have our most important mission to be good stewards of our members’ funds entrusted to us.”

Billings said he came in as president “extremely skeptical of any dues increase.” If a budget came to him with a dues increase, he said he would “challenge every aspect of that budget,” and with this budget, he did along with the Strategic Planning Joint Review Committee, line by line, considering whether expenses could be cut or revenues increased.

“On the expense side, I will tell you that staff has cut the hard-cost expenses, in my view, to the absolute bone. The only way we could cut further is if we cut programs, and people with them, which I think is something we should be very, very, very hesitant to do as we bring on board a new Executive Director.”

Even with the proposed dues increase, Billings said, State Bar fees remain under the rate of inflation since 1983, when dues were $100, “which is worth $335 today.” During this 40-year period, the State Bar “substantially expanded our programs.”

“I think we can say with our heads held high that we have been superior stewards of the funds under our care,” Billings concluded.

Keller Dues Reduction

The Board also set at $9.80 the amount that members will be able to deduct from their dues under the U.S. Supreme Court’s ruling in Keller v. State Bar of California, 496 U.S. 1 (1990).

Under Keller and Wisconsin Supreme Court Rule 10.03(5)(b)1, the State Bar may not use compulsory dues of objecting members for activities that are “not necessarily or reasonably related to the purposes of regulating the legal profession or improving the quality of legal services.”

The State Bar must annually publish notice setting forth each member’s pro rata portion of dues that are not necessarily or reasonably related to these dual purposes. Members may elect to withhold the pro rata portion of nonchargeable dues on dues statements.

All direct state and federal lobbying activity falls within the Keller rebate calculation, even lobbying activity deemed germane to regulating the legal profession or improving the quality of legal services.

The Board’s decision in 2018 to include all direct lobbying activity in the rebate amount, as a State Bar policy, recognized and continues to recognize the concerns of members who object to the use of mandatory dues for any direct lobbying activity, regardless of what Keller permits.

The Keller rebate amount includes all direct lobbying activity, and other activities determined by the Executive Committee to be non-chargeable to membership dues given the State Bar’s well-established and highly regarded Keller process.

Other Action

Dist. 6 Vacancy. The Board elected Melissa Spindler of Hartland to fill a vacancy in District 6. Gov. Alexandra Evans resigned effective Dec. 31, 2024.

Consent Agenda. The Board approved a request from the Public Interest Law Section to amend the section’s bylaws and approved changes for the Executive Director’s job description from the Search and Transition Committee for the Executive Director.