Board tackles issues from 17-year olds legal
status to proposed amendments to Wisconsin Constitution, and more
At its March 9 meeting, the Board of Governors
voted on Wisconsin Trust Account Foundation (WisTAF) Task Force
recommendations, adopted a public policy position supporting legislation
to raise from 17 to 18 the age at which persons are subject to adult
court, and opposed several proposed constitutional amendments, among
other actions.
WisTAF. The board approved the
WisTAF Assessment Task Force’s request to prepare and file a
petition with the supreme court to amend SCR 13.045. The petition will
seek to allow attorneys the option of certifying on their annual dues
statement a donation of $50 or more to a law-related civil legal service
entity, other than WisTAF, provided the entity has eligible programs for
the purposes specified in SCR 13.03(2)(a)(1). The petition also will
seek to include judges as payers of the WisTAF assessment.
The board opposed task force recommendations to:
permit credit for nonresident members for similar home state
assessments; allow members to provide pro bono services instead of
paying the assessment; and modify the amount of the assessment owed
based upon years of practice. The board did not vote on a provision to
establish a separate fund to manage the assessment.
The task force was appointed in 2006 by then
President Michael Guerin to analyze all issues related to the supreme
court’s order to collect $50 annually from all active-licensed
attorneys to provide funding for civil legal services for people who
cannot afford attorneys.
Committee members include: James Boll Jr., Madison,
chair; Tom Basting, Madison; Andrew Chevrez, West Allis; Rex Ewald,
Monroe; Ken Knudson, Superior; Steve Levine, Madison; and John Macy,
Waukesha.
Juvenile versus adult.The
board adopted a public policy position at the request of the Children
and the Law Section supporting legislation to raise from 17 to 18 the
age at which persons are subject to adult court.
Section members Eileen Hirsch, State Public Defenders
Office, and Ginger Murray, Lawton & Cates, both of Madison, spoke to
the board.
“For better than 100 years, 17-year-olds were
initially brought into the juvenile system; however, in 1996 Wisconsin
enacted a law that said all 17-year-olds in the criminal system would
automatically be charged as adults,” Murray said. “The
initiative to treat kids under 18 as kids and not as adults is not new.
In 2002, the ABA resolved seven different positions regarding juveniles
being treated as juveniles. They based their resolution on a 2001 report
of the Task Force on Youth and the Criminal System of the ABA Criminal
Justice Section. The American Medical Association agrees. Wisconsin is
one of only 13 states that currently treat kids under 18 as adults for
criminal
purposes.”
Gov. Eugene Gasiorkiewicz, Racine, said he had spoken
to several district attorneys in his district and not all of them favor
this legislation. He said, “They want to make it epistemologically
clear that they are talking about individuals who volitionally decide to
break the law.” He urged the board to consider that there are
other probationary matters that can be reduced down for these kids.
“There is expungence,” he said. “Before we consider
changing legislation that has been working for 10 years, we need to
address those issues.”
Hirsch acknowledged that district attorneys are mixed
on this issue but pointed out, “This legislation does not prevent
kids from being waived to adult court on serious crimes, and the most
common category of 17-year-olds charged with crimes is disorderly
conduct.”
The Criminal Law Section actively supports this
legislation and the Public Interest Law Section supports it in
principle.
Constitutional amendments. The board opposed, 36 - 2, three
proposed amendments to the Wisconsin Constitution prohibiting the
Wisconsin Supreme Court from assessing lawyers to pay for civil services
to poor people, prohibiting the Wisconsin Supreme Court from requiring
attorneys to join or pay dues to the State Bar or any bar association,
and requiring the Wisconsin Supreme Court to open its case conferences
to the public and publicly notice issues to be considered. All three
joint resolutions were originally circulated by Rep. Sheryl
Albers.
President-elect Thomas Basting expressed his concern
that these proposed amendments are direct attacks on the supreme
court’s authority to regulate the practice of law.
“They are in direct opposition to the stated
policy decisions of the State Bar, especially the position that the Bar
opposes any attempt to transfer the regulation of the Bar from the
supreme court to other branches of government,” said
Basting.
“The constitution is not the place for such
details which attempt to address issues of such narrow impact of one
segment of our population,” said Basting. “I urge the board
to oppose these amendments.”
Administrative law judges.The board opposed a Social Security Administration
administrative law judge (ALJ) petition seeking State Bar judicial
membership status.
State Bar active status members must pay full dues and
certain court fees, complete 30 hours of continuing legal education
(CLE) credit, and file a report with the Board of Bar Examiners (BBE)
certifying their completion of CLE credits. Judicial members pay
two-thirds of the dues amount and no fees to the supreme court and must
complete judicial education credits (JEC) as certified by the Judicial
Education Commission.
The federal ALJs who filed this petition have
been claiming judicial status on their annual State Bar dues notice.
Upon taking judicial status they fall off the BBE certification list and
thus are not completing any CLE or JEC hours.
A public hearing is scheduled before the supreme court
on April 12 at 9:30 a.m.
Audit Committee.The board unanimously approved the
Finance Committee’s recommendation to create an audit committee
that would be primarily responsible for assessing the integrity of the
Bar’s financial statements, the independent auditor’s
qualifications, and reviewing the annual audit that is currently
reviewed by the Finance Committee. The purpose of creating this separate
function is to provide greater integrity to the audit process and is in
keeping with the recommendations arising out of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act
regarding best business practices.
Other actions.The board
set the fiscal year (FY) 08, July 1, 2007 - June 30, 2008,
Keller dues at $5.25 per
member, under the standard set in SCR 10.03(5). Under Keller, the State Bar cannot use
compulsory dues of objecting members for political or ideological
activities that are not reasonably related to regulating the legal
profession or improving the quality of legal services.
The board approved President-elect Thomas
Basting’s appointments to the Nominating Committee for the FY 08
board chair. Committee members include James Boll Jr., Madison, chair;
Thomas W. Bertz, Stevens Point; and Marsha M. Mansfield,
Madison.
The board referred the Section Leaders Council and
Legislative Oversight Committee recommendations on section
administrative and lobby fees to the Executive Committee.
The minutes will be posted on WisBar after approval at
the May board meeting.
