Monday, November 06, 2006

First, kill all the lawyers?

Don't know why I thought of this just now (at 6 in th am). It was probably my habit of scanning through my pic files and coming across the shot above which I took on some island. And, of course, I thought of the Bar Association (work with me here, I'm not fulling awake yet).

Here in Wisconsin, we have the Office of Lawyer Regulation (OLR), a board that evaluates complaints made against attorneys and recommends its findings to the Wisconsin Supreme Court (Remind me to tell you about the time the Chief Justice called me...but I digress). The panels on OLR are mostly made up of attorneys, however, there are a few lay members in each group. I am such a member.

Over the 3+ years I have served, I have been most impressed with the legal profession's conduct in this area. First, they thoroughly investigate the complaints gathering evidence and statements from all involved (and, they do this all for no fee, as do I). The appointed investigators for a complaint prepare reports which we then evaluate and, then, decide whether or not there has been a violation of the Wisconsin codes. If there is, we make a recommendation that can range anywhere from a private reprimand to suspension of a license. This all goes to the Supreme Beings in Madison who make the final call.

In all my dealings with this group, I have found them to be fair. They have often held their noses when evaluating a colleague of questionable repute and deciding that, at least this time, nothing wrong had occured. I have also seen them find that some of the area's icons have performed a violation and to recommend consequences I have always found appropriate.

Now, this may all seem like an odd topic for this site, but it states at the top that this is a place for musing. And besides, I need to think positively to get through what I fear will be the most gag-invoking day of compaign ads this season. So ignore my famous, if offensive, quote at the top of the page. Instead, let's all work together and kill all the politicians.

Paddle safe...

DS

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