Bench Bar 2000

By Susan R. Steingass

From Jan. 26 - 28, 2000, the Wisconsin Judicial Conference and the State Bar of Wisconsin will hold a joint conference at the Midwest Express Center in Milwaukee. Mark your calendars for this unique opportunity for the Bench and the Bar to come together to discuss, formally and informally, our common issues and concerns.

This is the third time we have come together for such a conference. The idea of a joint meeting first came to fruition in 1988 under the leadership of Wisconsin Supreme Court Chief Justice Nathan S. Heffernan and State Bar President Gerald O'Brien. The announced intention of the conference was to provide a unique opportunity to meet and discuss the major issues judges and lawyers face in administering justice and practicing law.

The experiment was such a success that in 1994, under the leadership of Chief Justice Heffernan and State Bar President Pamela E. Barker, a joint conference again was held in Milwaukee. Judges and lawyers took advantage of this networking opportunity. The conference planners acknowledged the need for such an exchange since, in the day-to-day lives of lawyers and judges, each rarely had the opportunity to understand the others' viewpoint and to explore solutions together.

The plenary session of the 1994 conference highlighted mutual exploration of problems and solutions. It began with a brief joint meeting of all bench and bar conference participants. The participants then broke into small groups formed by self-selected discussion areas. The discussion areas included such timely topics as the lack of civility in the legal system, the negative public image of the justice system, the juvenile justice system and childrens' best interests, the claimed "litigation explosion" and other methods of problem solving, gender stereotyping in family court cases, racial bias in the criminal justice system, and how lawyers and judges can work together on the local level to improve the justice system.

Each small group was assisted by two facilitators ­ one a judge and one a lawyer. The facilitators served as a catalyst for the development of ideas generated by each group. The sessions were lively, blunt, creative, and solution-oriented. Each group's work product was printed and published to all participants after the convention.

We're going to do it again! For now, the year 2000 conference is in the earliest stages. A committee of lawyers and judges is being formed for the planning process. The conference will occur under the leadership of then State Bar President Leonard Loeb and Wisconsin Supreme Court Chief Justice Shirley S. Abrahamson. The collaborative planning process between the judges, the lawyers, the Office of Judicial Education, and the State Bar in itself has merit. But more important is the opportunity the joint conference gives all of us to to meet together in the spirit of cooperation, to talk and to know each other better, personally and professionally.

The year 2000 is a uniquely fitting time for such introspection and collaboration. Our justice system is challenged on all fronts. Our profession is under siege. The negative image of lawyers predominates. Myths and stereotypes abound. Judges too often fall victim to a political process that lacks a basic understanding of the independent decision-making process.

We in Wisconsin are greatly aided in looking at these issues by work already done. Past President David Saichek had the foresight during his tenure to appoint a commission of judges, lawyers, academics, and lay people to examine the core issue of the necessary independence of the judiciary. The excellent report of this commission serves as a center point for the examination of this important issue, a core concern that I hope will be taken up at the joint conference in the year 2000.

This year the American Bar Association also will be looking at judicial independence and public trust and confidence in our justice system. ABA President Phillip S. Anderson has made nationwide debate on these issues the cornerstone of his term. He recently convened the first of three national symposia, the first entitled "Bulwarks of the Republic: Judicial Independence and Accountability in the American System of Justice." There, scholars, the bench, the bar, and the public met to discuss the tripartite system of government and the critical role of an independent judiciary in it.

The second of the three national symposia will address current public perceptions of the justice system. The last, on public trust and confidence in our justice system, will be co-sponsored by the ABA, the Conference of Chief Justices, the Conference of State Court Administrators, and the League of Women Voters. It will be held on May 13 - 15, 1999, in the District of Columbia and will be attended by teams from every state, with professional and lay members appointed by the chief justice of that state.

Following this last meeting, the teams will return to their home states to begin their own statewide efforts to identify problems and lay the groundwork for positive steps to restore such public confidence as has been lost in our justice system.

Obviously, when we meet together, bench and bar, in the year 2000, we will have much to talk about, these issues included. It is wonderful to again have a chance to do that, to address the issues that bind judges and lawyers as co-servants to our justice system.