'Wisconsin Lawyers Make a Difference' TV series expands, Bar seeks
lawyers who epitomize community service
September 27, 2005
The State Bar's "Wisconsin Lawyers Make a Difference" TV series is
headed to Milwaukee and southeastern Wisconsin. The Bar seeks
nominations of lawyers or groups of lawyers who demonstrate exemplary
commitment to community or pro bono service to feature in a 30-second TV
vignette to air in southeastern Wisconsin beginning in January 2006.
Nominations are due Oct. 28.
The TV spots are part of the State Bar's long-term effort to educate
the public about the value lawyers bring to their clients and their
communities as expert advisers, problem solvers, and community
servants.
Nominees must have engaged in community or pro bono service
activities that have had a significant, positive impact on an
individual, group, or community. The TV spot is not intended to be a
commercial for a lawyer's practice, nor is the State Bar seeking
examples of the routine delivery of legal services.
Two TV spots will begin airing in northern Wisconsin from Oct. 15 to
Dec. 15 reaching 28 counties. TV spots aired from April to September
2004, reaching 23 counties in southern and central Wisconsin. Spots also
aired statewide during the men's Badger basketball games from December
2004 to March 2005. From January to March 2005 spots aired in the La
Crosse/Eau Claire viewing areas. At that time, the La Crosse County Bar
Association (LCBA) partnered with the State Bar to produce a custom spot
promoting La Crosse County lawyers' involvement in Jim's Grocery Bag, a
local food pantry program named in memory of its founder, a La Crosse
attorney. By partnering with the State Bar, the LCBA doubled its
exposure to the public by using the Bar's media buying power.
"Television offers an effective means to communicate to the public
that as lawyers we are expert advisers, problem solvers, and are
actively involved in our communities," notes Public Image Committee
Chair Ann Brandau. "We will rotate to the Green Bay-Fox Valley in the
spring of 2007, which will complete our first full rotation statewide.
In 2008 we will begin a new rotation."
To date the State Bar's TV spots have highlighted the efforts of
attorneys working with Habitat for Humanity; volunteering as leaders of
a local fire department and a search and rescue dive team; providing
assistance in family law, child support, and domestic abuse matters to
poor families who cannot afford to hire a lawyer; providing real estate
law and local government law expertise to develop a soccer park
benefiting thousands of children; helping with legal needs in the
aftermath of a devastating tornado; creating a legal clinic, which
offers the public free advice on a variety of issues; creating Legal
Grounds Wisconsin®, a free legal coffee house offered monthly at
the Merrill Public Library to Judicare-eligible clients; and providing
representation to public defense cases for more than 25 years.
The State Bar introduced its Branding the Profession initiative in
the spring of 2002 to educate the public about the value lawyers bring
to their communities. The initiative uses the three key qualities the
public values most about lawyers - expert advice, problem-solving
skills, and community service - in communications to the public.
For more information about the branding initiative, contact Teresa Weidemann-Smith at (800)
444-9404, ext. 6025, or (608) 250-6025.
More information on
Branding and nomination criteria.
