Vol. 76, No. 11, November 2003

Mail: More E, Less Snail

by George C. Brown,
State Bar executive director

In 1995, State Bar leadership and management worried whether the State Bar could afford this new thing called the Internet and a Web site, whatever that was.

Only six years before, upon the insistence of President Gerry O'Brien, the State Bar acquired its first fax machine. In the early 1990s, the Bar spent $20,000 providing members with toll-free dial-up access to an electronic bulletin board system as an early experiment in electronic information sharing. Later, in 1995, those same technology leaders - Gary Sherman of Port Wing, Mark Pennow of Green Bay, Bob Hagness of Mondovi, and John Lederer and Jim Jaeger of Madison - were urging the Bar to create a Web site. How could the Bar afford this?

The State Bar now has two Web sites. That fledging Web site, WisBar, has earned various national awards and is undergoing a major restructuring to make it more dynamic and user friendly. The first of these improvements, WisBar's new Marketplace, now makes it easier to locate and purchase State Bar products or register for CLE seminars. In September, more than one million pages of material were accessed through WisBar, a record-setting month for traffic. In addition, more than 5,100 attorneys subscribe to WisBar's CaseLaw Express, receiving free weekly case law updates by email.

LegalExplorer, the State Bar's public site, launched three years ago. Today, consumers access 44,000 pages from the site monthly, looking for basic legal information and referrals to lawyers. Nearly half of all referrals to the Bar's Lawyer Referral and Information Service now come through this Web site.

Live Webcasting of State Bar CLE seminars began this fall, with nearly 200 lawyers tuning into the October ethics program from the Bar Center or their own computers.

Today, the Bar is facing the same question it did in 1994, only in reverse. How can the Bar continue to mail information to members when it can deliver it electronically more cost-effectively? To save money and speed delivery, sections, divisions, and committees are beginning email delivery of their newsletters. State Bar Grassroots program members and various sections regularly receive email "practice alerts" about new laws that substantially affect their practices. And members receive monthly by email the 60-Second CLE Update announcing upcoming seminars; this means less State Bar mail in your mailbox each month.

Electronic delivery is our future. I receive four professional newsletters a month; none of them arrive by mail. The State Bar has email addresses for only 70 percent of its members. If you haven't already, I encourage you to provide your email address to the State Bar so that you will continue to receive information important to your practice.

Wisconsin Lawyer