Vol. 75, No. 6, June
2002
Letters
Letters to the editor:
The Wisconsin Lawyer publishes as many letters in each issue as space
permits. Please limit letters to 500 words; letters may be edited for
length and clarity. Letters should address the issues, and not be a
personal attack on others. Letters endorsing political candidates cannot
be accepted. Please mail letters to "Letters to the
Editor," Wisconsin Lawyer, P.O. Box 7158, Madison, WI 53707-7158, fax
them to (608) 257-4343, or email them to wislawyer@wisbar.org.
Lawyers are judged on performance, not slogans
I am writing to ask some questions that apparently have never been
asked regarding the slogan campaign by the State Bar designed to improve
our image. Our executive director, in his April column, states that our
slogan will improve our image in order that we can compete better in the
marketplace.
Has anyone ever thought about the image of Wisconsin plumbers and
whether they have a slogan? Until now, I have to confess that I haven't.
Could it be that these professionals have never felt a need to worry
about slogans and their image for the simple reason that they have no
competition? Let's face it, if you need your sewer fixed, you are going
to call a licensed Wisconsin plumber.
As I understand it, you have to be a licensed Wisconsin lawyer to
practice law here in Wisconsin. Therefore, we don't have any
competition. So my question is, Why do we need to blow our horns about
the expert advice and service ability of Wisconsin lawyers? Are we a
product or a commodity?
Apparently, according to our director, this program is based on the
success of the accounting profession, where they have spent millions of
dollars to remake their image from that of "bean counters" to "trusted
business advisers." Trusted by whom? Are the State Bar leaders aware of
the recent publicity regarding Enron and the leading accounting firm in
the nation? Apparently the accountants in that case went far beyond
their traditional "bean counting" role and generated a million dollars a
week in fees while they were providing "trusted business advice."
Perhaps if they had done their jobs, the Enron advisees would not have
been able to perpetuate the scam that they have to this point gotten
away with.
I believe the only image that the organized Bar needs to be concerned
about is the image that each of us projects to our clients. Like
plumbers, we are judged upon our performance, not upon slogans touting
generic "Wisconsin lawyers." Such a program benefits only the
advertising agencies and media that have been able to sell it to our
leadership. How much is this going to cost us anyway?
Thomas J. Kelly
Spring Green
Atty. Kelly is correct when he states that Wisconsin lawyers are
judged "upon our performance, not upon slogans." The research behind the
branding campaign supports the fact that the majority of people who have
contact with a Wisconsin lawyer come away with a favorable impression.
But branding is not sloganeering and the people this effort is trying to
reach are the third of Wisconsinites who have no impression of lawyers.
Lawyers face competition every day from other professionals for tax,
real property, estate planning, corporate, and other "traditional" legal
work. Nonlawyers represent people before various state tribunals outside
of the courts. More than half of all divorces in Wisconsin are handled
pro se. In other states, GAL work can be handled by non-lawyers.
Successfully branding lawyers as expert advisers who solve problems and
serve the community will educate the public about the value of lawyers.
Doing so may help overcome this competition as well as those annoying
lawyer jokes.
George Brown
State Bar Executive Director
Saluting the Bar for supporting lawyers called to service
The December Wisconsin Lawyer finally caught up with me at
Eagle Base, Bosnia-Herzegovina, and I read "Military Lawyers: A Sense of
Duty" with great interest. I was particularly pleased to see a mention
of my old friend Judge Jim Eaton. I'm here finishing up a tour as part
of the 29th ID and SFOR 10.
Although a member of the Wisconsin Bar, I live and work in Virginia.
Nonetheless, I'd like to applaud the Bar for its efforts in supporting
Wisconsin lawyers who are called upon to serve and for the great
programs that are available to the rest of those soldiers in Wisconsin
who are now participating in military operations all over the world.
Serving those who serve is still a high calling, and I salute
everyone connected to the program. Great job.
Bruce A. Pagel, Lt. Col.
Tuzla, Bosnia-Herzegovina
A lawyer's lament
Editor's Note: This letter was sent anonymously to the Wisconsin
Lawyers Assistance Program. We are reprinting a modified version in the
hope that other lawyers will seek help - or at least a sympathetic ear.
To learn more about WisLAP, visit www.wisbar.org/bar/wislap.html,
or call (800) 543-2624. Your confidentiality is respected.
* * *
I am so tired of working until midnight every night or feeling guilty
about not working until midnight when I only work until 10:30, long
after my colleagues and staff have gone home and are sleeping or
enjoying time with their families and loved ones. I am so tired of
coming back to the office after the lights in the hallway have shut off
and having to pay extra-careful attention so I don't make a mistake,
even though I am exhausted. I am so tired of working so hard and
worrying about work every waking minute that my health, my eyesight, and
my dick no longer mean anything to me.
I am so tired of busting my ass so my unreliable or counterproductive
employees can get paid instead of me. I am so tired of risking my home
and my family's financial future each day because my law partner won't
put his financial ass on the line like me. I am so tired of not being
able to let up for a moment lest my competitors devour the shambles of a
business I have left.
I am so tired of being controlled by domineering clients who demand
the moon and then either don't pay or think they're doing me a favor by
paying me bottom-feeder rates to put up with their egocentric shit. I am
so tired of not having the time, resources, or energy left to do better
for the clients who actually deserve it.
I am so tired of the ever increasing, never ending, unbearable,
unbeatable stress that makes me want to go back to bed the moment I get
up, and makes me want to go to sleep every hour of the day. I am so
tired of it that I just want to cry. But I can't - I have to get back to
work now.
(Sorry for unloading on you in this way, but if I can't send this to
you then I don't know where else to send it. These are the first honest
words I've expressed in a long time and throwing them away would have
broken my heart. Thank you for existing; I mean that truly.)
Mandatory pro bono reporting isn't necessary
In response to President Mowris's pro bono message in the April
Wisconsin Lawyer, my firm, since its inception, has done
adoptions as its pro bono obligation, among other things, free of
charge. We don't consider it necessary to "toot our own horn" regarding
our pro bono work. If that's the intent of mandatory pro bono reporting,
it's wrong.
If the intent is to show the public how much pro bono work Wisconsin
lawyers do to enhance our reputation, that can be accomplished with
voluntary reporting without establishing another expensive State Bar
bureaucracy for that purpose. As professionals, can't we be counted on
doing something simply for the sake of doing it without turning it into
a mandatory requirement?
Michael L. Eckert, Rhinelander
Wisconsin Lawyer
