Board supports access to justice report, changes to elections rules
and bylaws, and more
At its final 2006-07 meeting in May the Board of
Governors approved the Access to Justice Report recommendations to
improve access to justice for the poor, approved changes to the State
Bar election rules, and opposed AB 31, among other actions.
State Bar elections.The
board approved the Election Bylaws Committee’s recommendations to
change the State Bar rules and bylaws to limit members to one term as
president and to designate a rotation for the nomination to the office
of president-elect among four geographic areas. The areas are: District
2, Milwaukee; District 9, Madison; District 6, Waukesha, and all other
State Bar districts. District 6 will be added following the out-state
area in every third rotation.
Committee chair Ken Knudson, Superior, told the board,
“The committee believes the geographic rotation will encourage
statewide member participation. Self-nomination still will be available;
however, members must be from the district represented in that election
year.”
The committee was appointed in 2005 by then President
Michael Guerin, following the election of Madison attorney Steve Levine
who ran by self nomination against two out-state attorneys. Levine
garnered 40 percent of the vote with the two out-state candidates
splitting the remaining 60 percent.
“After the 2005 election, some out-state members
expressed concern about the viability of future out-state candidates if
they would have to face self-nominated candidates from Milwaukee and
Madison,” says Knudson. “We believe this change offers all
State Bar members a fair chance to serve as president of the State
Bar.”
Judicial sick leave. The
board unanimously adopted a public policy position, opposing Assembly
Bill 31, as requested by the Bench Bar Committee. AB 31 proposes ending
the option for state judges to accumulate and convert unused sick leave
to post-retirement health insurance premiums.
Judge Dan Anderson, Wisconsin Court of Appeals, told
the board that the committee believes judges should not be lumped in
with other state employees when it comes to this issue. “Judges
often may be reluctant to use their available sick time not only because
it delays their calendars, but because it also creates havoc for the
litigants, attorneys, and jurors who may have been
summoned.”
He also noted that the
use of reserve judges has been sharply curtailed due to financial
constraints in many counties, and reserve judges often are not brought
in to cover the calendars of judges who are ill.
Appointments/elections. The board approved the Nomination
Committee’s recommendation to appoint Paul R. Norman, Madison, to serve as
FY 08 board chair. The chair’s term begins July 1.
The board elected the following to serve on the FY 08
Executive Committee: Thomas W.
Bertz, Stevens Point; Howard J.
Bichler, Webster; James M.
Brennan, Milwaukee; Margaret Wrenn Hickey,
Milwaukee; John P. Macy, Waukesha; and Robert W. Swain
Jr., Appleton. The president, president-elect,
past president, and one representative each from the Nonresident,
Government, Young, and Senior Lawyers divisions also serve on the
committee. Their terms begin July 1.
Grant C. Killoran,
Milwaukee, and Jessica J. King, Oshkosh, were elected to the ABA House of Delegates. Their
terms begin at the close of the 2007 ABA Annual Meeting in
August.
The board unanimously approved the appointment of
attorneys John P.Brady, Delafield; William J.
Mulligan, Milwaukee; and Deborah M. Smith, Madison, and public
member Susan Sorenson, Ripon, to the Wisconsin Trust Account Foundation (WisTAF)
board. The supreme court created WisTAF in 1986 to manage the
state’s Interest on Lawyers Trust Account program and provide
financial support for the delivery of legal services to
Wisconsin’s low-income residents.
The board unanimously approved the FY 08 annual State
Bar budget.
The minutes will be posted on WisBar after approval at
the September meeting.
