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March 21, 2007

To:    Assembly Committee on Elections and Constitutional Law
Re: Opposition to AJR 30 and AJR 31, Exempting Attorneys from Belonging to the State Bar

The League of Women Voters of Wisconsin is opposed to AJR 30 and AJR 3l as inappropriate subjects for constitutional action.

In Wisconsin, the Supreme Court by rule requires all practicing attorneys to belong to the State Bar of Wisconsin and pay bar dues. A portion of those bar dues is used to provide legal services to the indigent.

Practicing attorneys must complete thirty hours of continuing legal education in specified time periods and the Bar Association is the venue for much of that legal education. This continuing education requirement, as it does in other licensed professions, provides a level of quality assurance for consumers.

The League has long supported the public defender program in the criminal justice system but there are many other legal issues confronting the poor. The portion of the bar dues going to support legal services to indigents must be viewed as an appropriate expenditure, since surely attorneys understand the importance of quality legal representation, especially for those who have no resources.

The citizens of the state of Wisconsin would not be well served by enactment of AJR 30 and AJR 31.