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President's Perspective
Reviewing Our Disciplinary System
The Bar has an opportunity to aid the Wisconsin Supreme
Court in providing a lawyer discipline system that protects the
public and enforces high professional standards for lawyers.
By Leonard L. Loeb
The State Bar has an opportunity to work with the supreme
court, the ABA, and the public to design changes in our system
of lawyer discipline to meet the needs of the public and preserve
our Wisconsin traditions.
The Board of Attorneys Professional Responsibility was a high-profile
issue during the recent supreme court election. Some of the powers
that be felt very strongly that improvements were necessary,
in that the system had been under study for a period of time.
The court asked the ABA Standing Committee on Professional Discipline
to review the structure of our current disciplinary system and
make specific recommendations.
The State Bar should be manifestly involved with the supreme
court in reaching the ultimate solution as to lawyer discipline
if it is to work. State Bar President-elect Gary Bakke represents
the Bar in this endeavor in that he will also be involved in
its implementation.
The ABA's preliminary recommendations appear to be a
revision of our current system. Hopefully, they will make full
use of all the knowledge and information that Gary Bakke can
provide before they issue their final report so that we can be
united in making recommendations to the court so as to protect
the public and maintain the high professional standards of our
profession. (The preliminary report is available
on WisBar.)
We, as a State Bar, have a duty to help build and perpetuate
a system that will work in Wisconsin. Our disciplinary system,
however modified or revised, must continue to ensure that lawyers
are effectively disciplined for ethical violations. President-elect
Bakke said it best, "My reputation as a lawyer and all of
that of my colleagues depends on a totally ethical bar."
We want and need a system that protects the public and continues
to maintain a high standard for the profession.
The court will probably be making changes in lawyer discipline
in an attempt to improve the current system. Hopefully, a full
opportunity will be given to all interested entities to thoroughly
study the preliminary report and provide needed input before
a final report is submitted to the court.
We look forward to having the court work in concert with the
Bar on this critical issue. We trust that it and the ABA people
will work with the Bar in a cooperative manner so as to provide
a disciplinary system that is custom fitted to meet the unique
requirements of the public and the legal profession in Wisconsin
so as to continue our high professional standards.
Let us all act expeditiously, but above all deliberately and
without a unilateral rush to judgment.
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