May 20, 2015 – Some say that her efforts help restore the faith in the justice system.
Thanks to Kris Wenzel, program coordinator in the State Bar of Wisconsin’s Member Services department, more than $6 million has been returned to victims of lawyer misconduct in Wisconsin.
Wenzel is the winner of the 11th Isaac Hecht Law Client Protection Award. Given by the National Client Protection Organization (NCPO), the award recognizes individuals and professional organizations that have demonstrated excellence in protecting clients in the field of law. Wenzel will receive the award at the American Bar Association’s 31st Client Protection Forum in Denver on May 29, 2015.
As a program coordinator, Wenzel has served as liaison for the Wisconsin Lawyers' Fund for Client Protection Committee for more than 25 years.
Committee members say Wenzel leads the way with her efforts to see the victims justly compensated.
“We’re all thrilled that Kris is getting this honor,” said Lindsey Draper of Wauwatosa, who is in his third five-year term on the committee. Draper is also chair of the ABA’s Standing Committee on Client Protection and a board member at-large of National Client Protection Organization, Inc.
“Kris is an extremely important and incredibly valuable person for us here in Wisconsin,” Draper said.
Raising the Limits, Changing Attitudes
The Wisconsin Lawyers' Fund for Client Protection, created by the Wisconsin Supreme Court in 1981, provides reimbursement to clients who incur financial losses from the dishonest conduct of their attorneys.
On Kris Wenzel
Nominating statements from other members of the committee include:
This award from the National Client Protection Organization is given in the memory of Maryland attorney Isaac Hecht to honor his lifetime of vigorous advocacy in support of law client protection programs throughout North America and his professional service to the legal profession. Nominations are sought for individuals and organizations throughout the U.S. and Canada.
Wisconsin Lawyers share in the efforts to make victims whole: A portion of every member’s State Bar dues finances the fund, with the amount of the assessment determined by the committee each year by Supreme Court Rule. And this is thanks, in part, to Wenzel.
When Wenzel was appointed as liaison to the Wisconsin Client Security Fund in 1991, the fund paid victims of lawyer misconduct just $126,000 over a period of two years. Through Wenzel’s efforts, the limit per claim increased from $35,000 in 1991 to $150,000 in 2010.
Last year, more than $628,000 was paid to victims, for a total of more than $6 million since Wenzel’s appointment.
This amount was possible through Wenzel’s efforts over the years to overcome constraints that severely hampered the ability of the fund to compensate victims, according to those who nominated her for the award.
Those constraints included a lack of funding, overcome via a petition to the Wisconsin Supreme Court to set the permanent per-lawyer yearly assessment and by correcting structural defects in the Wisconsin Supreme Court Rules that set an annual cap of no more than $150,000 to be kept in the fund.
The fund is now more effective at compensating victims following structural corrections to the fund that Wenzel helped engineer.
Wenzel turned skeptical lawyers into those who support the work of the fund and many now believe this is the most important work done by the State Bar, said a nominating letter.
“She has prodded and cajoled generations of committee members into recognizing and fulfilling their responsibility to clients of the legal profession, and to correct lawyer-caused injustice whenever the opportunity arises,” according to a nominating letter.
The One People Turn To
The award is typically given to an attorney or a committee, but Wenzel’s dedication and commitment through the years is worthy of the honor.
Because of her experience, Wenzel is well known in the field across the country, and acts a resource for others at the national level, said Draper.
Shannon Green is communications writer for the State Bar of Wisconsin, Madison. She can be reached by email or by phone at (608) 250-6135.
“She is the one that people turn to,” Draper said. “You can’t help but be proud of being part of her team.”
The underlying purpose of the fund and the committee is to keep the profession with an honorable name, Draper said.
And that is what Wenzel does.
“Her heart is in it. She believes in what she is doing. For her to get recognized nationally for that just thrills us,” Draper said. “The work that she does in representing the State Bar and representing all of us is incredibly important. And she does it masterfully and graciously.”
