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Vol. 70, No. 8, August
1997
News Briefs
Services help lawyers
overcome communication obstacles
Volunteer services offer low-cost solutions to reaching
clients with vision or learning difficulties.
Greenfield attorney John Carter frequently gets calls from fellow lawyers
seeking advice on how to handle a matter involving a blind or vision-impaired
client.
"They don't want to appear insensitive, but they want to be confident
that their clients know what they're signing," said Carter, who was
blinded 30 years ago, just before he started college.
"We don't think about it very much, but when you send a blind client
a letter in writing with no braille backup, you're telling them that you
don't have a clue about their special needs," Carter added.
Services transcribe legal material
Lawyers working with a blind or vision-impaired client can find help
from Volunteer Services for the Visually Handicapped Inc. (VSVH) of Milwaukee
or Volunteer Brail-lists & Tapists Inc. (VBTI) in Madison. These nonprofit
organizations transcribe written materials into braille or onto audiotape
for individuals and entities like schools, businesses and law firms.
Lawyers may use the services provided by VSVH and VBTI to offer clients
the option of receiving correspondence and documents in alternative forms.
The blind and vision-impaired are not the only clients who might take advantage
of this service.
"There may be more people than lawyers realize who have some kind
of learning problem that interferes with their ability to read," said
VSVH Executive Director Carol Chew, pointing out that in Milwaukee alone
some 4,000 students struggle with learning disabilities and another 13,000
people are either blind or vision-impaired. That does not include many senior
citizens who find reading difficult because of declining eyesight.
Many transcribed legal forms and texts already are available from VSVH
and VBTI. VBTI regularly transcribes power of attorney forms, according
to VBTI Office Coordinator Gail Yu.
VSVH has transcribed many legal texts for Carter, a former chief prosecutor
now in private practice, including a 150-page braille version of the Federal
Rules of Evidence for $30. Because of volunteer help, VSVH and VBTI only
ask their customers to share the cost of materials.
Service saves law student
Carter discovered VSVH's affordability and reliability when he started
college in 1968. He credits VSVH, which opened in the Milwaukee Public Library
in 1965, with nothing less than his J.D. When Carter entered law school
in 1971, no braille versions of the required textbooks were available.
"These people busted their tails to make me tapes so that I could
stay abreast of what everybody else in class was reading," said Carter.
"If it weren't for them, I wouldn't have gotten through college or
law school."
For more information, contact VSVH Inc., 803 W. Wells St., Milwaukee,
WI 53233-1436, (414) 286-3039; or VBTI Inc., 517 N. Segoe Road, #200, Madison,
WI 53705, (608) 233-0222.
Survey charts law school graduates' job searches
New law graduates' employment rate rose slightly in
1996
Last year the employment rate for new law graduates increased measurably
for only the third time since 1987, from 86.7 percent in 1995 to 87.4 percent
in 1996, according to the National Association for Law Placement (NALP)
Class of 1996 Employment Report and Salary Survey. The median starting salary
for all full-time legal jobs remained unchanged last year at $40,000.
The NALP's 23rd annual report details the employment experiences of J.D.
graduates from 168 ABA-accredited schools, encompassing 84 percent of all
1996 law school graduates. The survey found:
- Of those graduates for whom employment status was known, 76.1 percent
accepted legal and 11.3 percent accepted nonlegal positions;
- Of graduates known to be employed, 55.7 percent obtained their first
job in a law firm. This represents a slight decrease from 56.1 percent
for the Class of 1995 and is well below the high of 64.3 percent for the
Class of 1988;
- Private-sector median salaries were higher than the overall median,
at $50,000 in private practice and $45,000 in business/industry. The median
for public service positions ranged from $30,000 for public-interest jobs
to $35,000 for judicial clerks;
- The higher median in private practice notwithstanding, high salaries
in this sector were in the minority. About 35 percent of law firm salaries
were $40,000 or less; less than 25 percent earned more than $70,000;
- Almost one-third of employed women graduates took government, judicial
and public-interest positions compared to just under one-quarter of employed
men;
- About 31 percent of employed minority graduates accepted public-service
positions compared with 27 percent of employed nonminority graduates;
- Of those who accepted positions with law firms, 21.1 percent of minority
graduates joined large firms of 251 or more attorneys compared to 13.4
percent of nonminorities. About 35 percent of non-minority graduates entering
private practice took jobs in firms of 10 or fewer attorneys compared with
25 percent of minority graduates;
- Thirty percent of employed graduates landed their first job through
self-initiated contact, such as a letter, with an employer. Fall on-campus
recruiting accounted for only 16 percent of jobs taken. Law firm jobs were
more likely to be obtained through self-initiated contact than through
on-campus recruiting - 26.9 percent vs. 23.3 percent;
- Of the employed graduates for whom search status was reported, 18.4
percent indicated that they continued to seek another position. Among graduates
employed full-time in nonlegal jobs, 42 percent were seeking a different
job.
The report is available for $65 by contacting NALP at (202) 667-1666.
FYI
Legal administrators to certify
law office managers
The Association of Legal Administrators (ALA) offers law office administrators
the opportunity to become certified legal managers (CLM).
"The certification process will encourage members to further their
education and stay abreast of the changes in the field whether it's in marketing,
human resources or technology," said Wisconsin Association of Legal
Administrators President Cecilia Vanderlip, law office administrator at
Nowlan & Mouat, Janesville.
To earn CLM certification, qualified candidates must meet specific work
experience requirements. Principal administrators must have at least three
years of experience as a principal administrator or branch office manager
in an exempt-level position. Functional specialists such as human resources
or marketing managers must possess at least five years of experience in
an exempt-level position.
CLM candidates also must display a commitment to continuing education
and pass a comprehensive examination. The exam will test knowledge of financial
management, human resources management, the legal industry and office management
systems. The first national certification examination is set for Nov. 1
in Chicago, Los Angeles and Washington, D.C.
The costs include a $50 initial application processing fee and an examination
fee of $345 for ALA members, $425 for nonmembers. CLMs will be required
to pay $35 per year to maintain certification. Every three years CLMs will
be required to pay $150 to apply for recertification and must provide evidence
of at least 36 hours of continuing education course work during the previous
three years.
For more information about the ALA's CLM program call (847) 816-1212
or visit ALA's website.
Supreme Court to look
at gender bias in court system
The Wisconsin Judicial Conference's Special Committee on Gender Neutrality
seeks information about possible gender discrimination within the state
court system.
The committee, chaired by District III Court of Appeals Judge Thomas
Cane, was appointed last year to receive information on gender discrimination
from anyone involved with the courts including attorneys, judges and the
public.
A 1986 survey of 1,600 state lawyers, 800 men and 800 women, by the State
Bar's Participation of Women in the Bar Committee revealed that 81 percent
of the men and 85 percent of the women had observed judges behaving condescendingly
toward women and minorities; 91 percent of the women respondents and 77
percent of the men reported incidents of similar conduct by attorneys.
Please send any information you may have on gender bias incidents to
Commissioner William Mann, Wisconsin Supreme Court, P.O. Box 1688, Madison,
WI 53701-1688, (608) 266-6708.
Judge 'disconnects' jury electronics
Mark S. Gempeler, chief judge of Wisconsin Circuit Court Third Judicial
District, has pulled the plug on jurors' electronic communication equipment.
As of Aug. 1, jurors in Jefferson, Ozaukee, Washington and Waukesha counties
are prohibited from using devices such as cellular telephones, pagers, laptop
computers, scanners and recording devices without a judge's permission while
in the courtroom or the deliberation room. Most judges in the Third Judicial
District have informally prohibited such devices because they disrupt court
proceedings, according to Court Administrator Patrick Brummond.
Figuratively
Speaking
- Percentage of female attorneys who said judges sometimes or often address
them with terms of endearment or by their first names while male lawyers
are addressed as "counsel" or by their surnames, according to
a Minnesota Supreme Court Task Force survey: 33
| "One cool judgment is worth a
thousand hasty counsels. The thing to be supplied is light, not heat."
- Woodrow Wilson
in a Jan. 29, 1916 speech
in Pittsburgh. |
- Percentage of female respondents who said other lawyers addressed them
in this manner in court: 66
- Percentage of female attorneys who reported that judges commented on
their physical appearance, according to a Minnesota Gender Fairness Implementation
Committee Survey: 42
- Percentage of these respondents who said lawyers made similar comments:
59
- Percentage of these respondents who said judges sometimes or often
make remarks or tell jokes demeaning to women: 47
- Percentage of these respondents who said male lawyers sometimes or
often exhibit this same behavior: 63
Source: The Annual Survey of American Law, New York University
School of Law, Issue 1, 1996 Volume, pp. 1-26.
- Average number of cases each American federal judge has to contend
with: 416
- Percentage more cases federal judges have in 1997 compared to 1990:
23
- Number of cases pending at the end of 1995: 252,753
- Approximate number of suits pending for three or more years: 16,000
- Current spending on the judiciary: $3.26 million
- Percentage judicial spending has increased since 1991: 60
Source: Forbes, May 5, 1997, Volume 159, Number 9, p. 122. |
