State Bar Ethics Resources

To help its members know and comply with supreme court rules governing attorney conduct, the State Bar of Wisconsin has developed these resources:

• Ethics Hotline ­ call ethics consultant Keith Kaap at (800) 444-9404, ext. 6168, or (608) 250-6168 all day Wednesday; and at (608) 629-5721on Monday, Tuesday, Thursday, and Friday mornings;
  
  
• Formal and Informal Ethics Opinions ­ State Bar members can request written opinions from the Professional Ethics Committee. The opinions are based on the submitted fact situations;
  
  
• Ethics Opinions online
  
  
• Wisconsin Ethics Opinions, published by State Bar CLE Books, contains the complete text of every opinion issued by the Professional Ethics Committee since 1954 ­ including Formal and Informal Opinions and Memorandum Decisions. Updated annually. 600+ pages, 1990, $60 plus tax and shipping (includes 1998 supplement).

For more information about these resources, please contact the State Bar at (800) 728-7788 or (608) 257-3838.

For the most part, the ethics rules apply to lawyers using the Internet just as they apply to lawyers in other settings.

Generally, ethics committees that are dealing with these issues are applying existing rules and principles to the new medium, rather than developing new rules.