President's Perspective

Partnering Combines Resources
to Increase Results

By Steven R. Sorenson

Partnering has become a cliché of the '90s. Just as we have heard about corporate downsizing, team management, employee empowerment and other

This past summer I challenged Wisconsin lawyers to embark on a new program of aggressive involvement within their communities and their profession. A significant part of this challenge involves creating effective and efficient partnerships. Partnering, which Webster's dictionary defines as "the cooperative involvement of one or more parties in a single purpose," is a worthy goal of the State Bar. Effective use of partnering can provide the catalyst for the Bar to accomplish community and professional service projects, thus satisfying the goals and objectives of the State Bar's Project Vision strategic planning process.

This past month I experienced firsthand an example of successful partnering. The State Bar Joint Committee with the Wisconsin Realtors^TM Association met with the Wisconsin Realtors Association's Attorney Committee. The result of these two associations pulling together was a "white paper" policy statement analyzing a recurring problem in real estate practice that affects both real estate professionals and lawyers. The action plan allows real estate professionals, lawyers and representatives of the Land Title Association to effectively partner in creating proposed statutes and regulations to meet the concerns of all three professional groups. This type of partnering avoids future potential problems, allows for the combined financial and personnel resources and provides a united front that should effectively move the measures through the Legislature and regulatory agencies.

Recently, the newly established Equal Justice Coalition developed its mission statement that commits to partnering between the legal business and legislative communities. Here a societal problem, which obviously could not be met by the resources available to any one of the organizations, is being attacked by a coalition that represents the partnering of diverse organizations that often are viewed as protagonists. Another example of partnering is the Wisconsin Supreme Court and the State Bar combining their resources and efforts to improve the administration of justice by supporting public service programs like Brown Bag Lunches with the Court, Volunteers in the Courtroom and the Sesquicentennial Celebration.

Another example of partnering is the Midwest Solo and Small Firm Practice Conference to be held next April in La Crosse. Many solo and small firm practitioners avoid national conferences because they often require extensive travel, too many days out of the office and lofty expenses. In recognizing this difficulty, the partnering agreement between the Midwest bar presidents led to this Upper Midwest conference, which will be accessible to many more solo and small firm practitioners at a significantly lower cost than the national programs. This partnering effort combines resources with the efficiencies of local involvement, providing an excellent forum for an under-serviced group of lawyers. As the boundaries between states continue to melt away, such partnering programs need to become an inherent part of every state bar association.

There are more examples of State Bar-supported partnering that deserve our accolades, including: the joint efforts of the Board of Attorneys Professional Responsibility and the State Bar; the ethics and practice programs for Wisconsin lawyers by the State Bar and WILMIC; the State Bar and Wisconsin Medical Association jointly drafting guidelines about the ethics of expert testimony; and the interaction between lawyers and the accounting community regarding tax issues.

Partnering should not stop with the State Bar. We need to look to more localized programs.

At a Project Vision meeting of the Winnebago County Bar, the suggestion was floated that local projects could be better handled if partnering became a part of a local bar association's vision statement. The group suggested the bar consider working with the local Chamber of Commerce to develop public service programs and with the public schools to meet the needs of the community's young people. This type of local involvement, which mirrors the State Bar's cooperative programs with the Department of Public Instruction and the Attorney General's office, are classic examples of where lawyers can have an impact in their local communities by partnering their local bar associations with other local organizations. This type of cooperative venture is to be encouraged. The Winnebago County Bar Association should be congratulated on its foresight and the model it will present to other local bar associations. Other local and specialty bar associations that further successful partnering also should be congratulated.

As advocates, it is not always easy for lawyers to appreciate the advantages of partnering. However, it is incumbent in today's world that we recognize the need for this type of cooperation. Recently, the State Bar has advocated the creation of a Wisconsin Legal Information Network. The idea behind this network is cooperation. The effort seeks to combine the resources of the U.W. Law School, Marquette University Law School, the State Law Library system and the State Bar to provide legal information at little or no cost to the general public and to lawyers, judges, clerks and related professionals. Concern has been expressed as to the advisability of such a program; territorialism is mentioned. Some try to measure contribution to determine the benchmarks of equality in such a partnering program. Those most closely involved with the program have not been persuaded by any of these considerations, but others, who see their role as supervisory, question involvement by wondering, "what's in it for us?" and "is our share disproportional in light of other contributors?" Still others view the concept of sharing through a proprietary screen wondering, "If one partners, does one give up too much turf in exchange for too little benefit to one's constituents?" This type of provincial attitude must not thwart projects without which many societal and professional needs will go unmet.

Although I believe the Wisconsin Legal Information Network will be a reality, I am concerned about other partnering programs that have a less rosy future. In October the Wisconsin Legislature missed an opportunity to continue what had been a tremendously successful partnering arrangement between the State Bar and the Legislature. For several years legal practitioners with unique expertise worked hand-in-hand with the Legislature and other interested organizations to draft legislation that would have been delayed for years but for the voluntary efforts of lawyers and the State Bar. Now that those drafting privileges no longer exist, this partnering program will become a historical footnote unless reversed. With fewer lawyers involved in the legislative process, the need for these voluntary services is acute.

The hope is that we continue to recognize the need of working together on projects to improve the administration of justice and service to the public. We need to reinforce and strengthen our relationships with the Wisconsin Legislature and the Governor's office. We need a partnership agreement that recognizes the advantages to the public in maintaining the State Bar's drafting privileges. We need to expand cooperative programs with our local business associations, our Chambers of Commerce, our Kiwanis and Rotary clubs, our churches and similar organizations. We need to encourage and support the lawyers that work on partnering programs within the school systems, courthouses, community centers and other organizations whose goal is to prevent juvenile crime and educate our youth.

Partnering is a bright light that can lead us successfully into the future. Partnering will make our organization a stronger, more responsive part of the Wisconsin landscape. Remember, the whole is greater than the sum of the individual parts in a partnering effort; the result is greater, too.