Convention attendees forecast future of profession

June 25, 1998

Lawyers cited negative public perception, accessibility of the court system to litigants and ethical concerns as some of the main issues facing lawyers the 21st Century, according to an informal poll conducted during the 1998 State Bar of Wisconsin Annual Convention in Lake Geneva, WI.

The following are responses to the question,"What do you think will be the single most important issue facing the legal profession in the 21st Century?":

"I think you've seen a great growth and resurgence in the concept of lawyers defending lawyers...Malpractice in all professions is going to be one of the biggest issues. The society has become much more litigious in general. "

Atty. Fred Burnside
LaFollette & Synkin, Madison

"I think they'll be a lot of ethical issues raised, because there's going to be a tougher market for attorneys."

Atty. Rodney Alan Dewalt
Milwaukee

"More representation at less cost. We see a lot of cost cutting and pulling away, so (the biggest issue) is if we can provide more of our services for less money and continue to attract clients and build our business."

Atty. Robert Dwight Ebbe
Olson & Neeseman Law Offices, Appleton

"I would say that the biggest issue for lawyers is to become peacemakers. Lawyers should try to make peace in society through their efforts and not create destruction."

Atty. Kevin Lyons
Cooke & Franke, Milwaukee

"I think it would be arbitration. What I'd like to see is more matters arbitrated. My experience has been that clients have generally been happier, even though people never walk away happy from even a successful mediation. Just the fact of going before an competent arbitrator has always (ended up) with a more satisfied client, even after a successful litigation."

Atty. Rick Bourne
Universal Ventures Corporation, Belgium, WI

"I would think it's the effect of governmental attempts to find what matters can be tried in the private sector, rather than, perhaps, as part of a governmental board."

Atty. Arden A. Muchen
Nash, Spindler, Dean & Grimstad, Manitowoc

"It seems to me it has more to do with human nature rather than legal issues. I've been in practice for 36 years, and I see a lot more incivility, a lot more corner cutting, a lot more lack of competency, a lot more inclination to treat the profession strictly as a business. I guess that if there's anything that I would that effects the legal profession into the 21st Century is probably the same issues that faced the profession when it entered the 20th Century. It is essentially a human to human connection, and I think that, while technology has changed our practice and we have more modern conveniences, the fact is we are a human-to-human resource... And, I don't think that technology and all of the progress that's been made toward how you practice of law really is half as important as the concern we need to show for the human-to-human connection and how we handle that."

Atty. Dave Halling
Halling & Cayo, Milwaukee

"The biggest legal issue in the 21st Century facing lawyers will be the accessibility of the court system to civil litigants. I have observed in my own mediation and arbitration practice that it's becoming more and more difficult for civil litigants, both in the federal and state court systems, to access the court system for the resolution of the their disputes. This is because we are having to devote more and more resources to the criminal justice end of the system in a time when the legislatures and Congress are reluctant to expand the scope of judicial resources."

Atty. Frank Crivello
Milwaukee

" I think the biggest challenge is the same thing that it's been probably for the last fifteen years and that is the image of the legal profession...I think the public has an image right now that all lawyers are 'crooks,' and that lawyers will do anything to (get their client off). You see these lawyer shows on TV and their always pulling some trick out of the books to get a guy off, to get a criminal off. I think people are sick and tired of that. That's maybe a half of 1 percent of what actually goes on, and the other 99 and a half percent are working their butts off to represent people honestly, fairly in family matters, real estate, personal injury whatever. But I think we all get the black mark because of this half of one percent."

Atty. Donald J. Kraemer
Diamondhead, MS

"I think that one of the toughest things to do is going to be to separate in the minds of the public the process of justice from the political process. I think that basically what's gone on in Washington has really poisoned the public toward getting a fair shake in any kind of a personal dispute. It seems to be a popular opinion that you have to get the fix in or somehow jigger things in your favor or exercise some kind of spin control. The process of justice isn't like that at all. The variety of disputes that will be raised I don't think anyone can foresee, but, unless you get the basic idea that a person will be treated fairly by the courts and by the legal process we're going to have to find some other means of settling disputes."

Atty. Roger H. Weede
Roger H. Weede, S.C.