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Vol. 73, No. 7, July 2000 |
![Legal News & Trends]()
Court targets September for new system
The new lawyer regulation system that replaces the Board of
Attorneys Professional Responsibility (BAPR) is anticipated to
go into effect in September 2000.
Wisconsin SCR Chapters 21
and 22,
which describe the state's lawyer regulation system, were
redrafted at the request of the justices after they agreed on
a tentative new framework for lawyer discipline in January. Details
are in process, but the system outlined at the supreme court's
open conference May 19 and 22 includes:
Phone seminar scheduled
A State Bar CLE phone seminar on the new lawyer regulation
system is scheduled for Friday, Sept. 22, from noon to 1 p.m.
The speakers will be Jim Martin, interim administrator of the
Office of Lawyer Regulation (OLR), and William Weigel, OLR staff
attorney. For further information, call the
State Bar at (800) 728-7788 or (608) 257-3838. |
If the new Chapters 21 and 22 go into effect in September,
the court will invite written comments on the new system over
the ensuing six months and hold a public hearing on the rules
in April 2001.
The new rules are expected to be adopted and available around
mid-July and published in the September 2000 Wisconsin Lawyer.
More information is available on WisBar
or the state courts' Web
site.
Additional mandatory court forms effective July 1
Standard court forms that are required for use by parties
and court officials in civil actions go into effect July 1, 2000.
These mandatory forms for small claims, family, and other civil
proceedings join the criminal and juvenile forms that became
effective Jan.1, pursuant to Wisconsin Supreme Court Order
98-01.
The July 1 forms also include 28 revised and two new versions
of probate forms for informal probate, summary settlement, summary
assignment, and other matters. Absent from the July additions
is the parenting plan form, which the Records Management Committee
(RMC) withdrew pending further development.
Since the juvenile and criminal forms were posted earlier
this year, many have been enhanced to allow the expansion of
some fields to an unlimited number of lines.
Order
98-01, which was supported by the RMC, the Director of State
Courts Office, the Wisconsin Clerks of Circuit Court Association,
and the Wisconsin Juvenile Court Clerks Association, created
section
758.18 of the Wisconsin Statutes. The section provides for
adopting standard forms for use by parties and court officials
in all civil and criminal actions and proceedings in the circuit
court. The order also created sections 971.025
and 807.001,
mandating standard forms in Children's Code and Juvenile
Justice Code proceedings and civil actions, respectively. Proponents
of mandatory forms sought to standardize and maintain all state
court forms to be consistent with Wisconsin statutory and case
law and compatible with the growing trend toward automation.
Standard court forms are available
online in PDF and MS Word. For background and information
on using standard court forms, visit the circuit court forms
page cited or see the December
Wisconsin Lawyer.
NBTA schedules July exam, honors first class certified
The National Board of Trial Advocacy (NBTA) will administer
its 41st exam to certify attorneys as specialists in civil, criminal,
and family law trial advocacy July 29, 2000, in Milwaukee and
36 other locations. The daylong essay exam, which is one part
of NBTA's certification application, tests practical knowledge
of trial practice, ethics, and evidence relative to the specific
certification area. It evaluates applicants' knowledge of
the substantive law and their ability to evaluate, handle, and
resolve model controversies.
NBTA recognizes original members. This year marks the 20th
anniversary of the nonprofit NBTA's certification program,
which is designed to provide an objective measure of skill and
expertise in trial advocacy. Two Wisconsin attorneys - Robert
L. Habush of Habush, Habush, Davis & Rottier, Milwaukee,
and Robert W. Lutz of Lutz, Burnett, McDermontt, Jahn & King,
LLP, Chilton - are among 62 members of NBTA's inaugural
class who will be honored at a reception the evening preceding
the July exam.
For further information regarding NBTA certification, call
(617) 720-2032, or visit the Web
site.
2000 Law Firm Technology Survey: MS Word use continues to
rise
WordPerfect remains the predominant word-processing software
used in Wisconsin law firms, but the use of Microsoft Word continues
to grow. According to the recently issued State Bar of Wisconsin
"2000 Law Firm Technology Survey," the percentage of
Wisconsin law firms using MS Word for Windows has increased from
28 percent in 1998 to 38 percent today. However, the State Bar's
fourth annual technology study also cites an increase in the
use of WordPerfect from 41 to 45 percent in the same period.
The report further notes that while one-fifth (22 percent)
of survey respondents plan to upgrade their current word-processing
program in the coming year, only 6 percent plan to switch to
a different word-processing package. Six in 10 firms changing
word-processing programs are going to Microsoft Word.
The State Bar's "2000 Law Firm Technology Survey"
is based on 607 responses to a questionnaire mailed to a representative
sample of 1,773 firms. A report on survey results will be published
in the August 2000 Wisconsin Lawyer.
Comfort with email confidentiality grows
As email use becomes more widespread, it is gaining acceptance
as a means of attorney-client communication. According to a March
1999 ethics opinion published by the American Bar Association's
Standing Committee on Ethics and Professional Responsibility,
barring special circumstances, a lawyer does not violate a client's
confidentiality by transmitting documents to or about the client
via unencrypted electronic mail.
Because the mode of transmission affords "a reasonable
expectation of privacy" from a technological and legal standpoint,
the committee believes that the same privacy accorded U.S. and
commercial mail, land-line telephonic transmissions, and facsimiles
applies to Internet email.
Lawyers have an obligation to take reasonable steps to protect
confidential client information against unauthorized use or disclosure;
however, the obligation does not require an absolute assurance
of privacy in a communication medium, the committee found.
Although states' earlier ethics rulings focused attention
on email's potential susceptibility to unauthorized interception,
"The ABA opinion is consistent with the opinions of most
authors and ethics committees today," says Dean R. Dietrich,
member of the State Bar of Wisconsin Professional Ethics Committee.
"It recognizes that email communications are a part of everyday
client communications and that email is as confidential as conventional
mail. Wisconsin lawyers can be comfortable using email for all
but the most confidential client correspondence and documents,
such as letters summarizing trial strategy and drafts of asset
purchase agreement."
The full text of ABA Formal Opinion No. 99-413, "Protecting
the Confidentiality of Unencrypted E-mail," is online.
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