DMV Driving Records Request Form - The private bar are now able to access this information through the SPD webpage with a username and password, to obtain client driving records.

State Bar, Law Practice Management Assistance Program - information about the Bar committee looking into a program to assist solo/small firm lawyers.

Recognizing the Private Bar - At the last meeting it was suggested that the SPD make more of an effort to recognize the work of the private bar. Committee members were provided with copies of postings from the ACD News web page over the last several months about efforts of our private bar partners around the state. It was announced that discount coupons will be offered to private bar for the 250 most active private bar members. Private bar attorneys who have been active on the SPD lists for more than 20 years will be recognized in the conference book and by a poster outside the main conference room. The SPD plans to give private bar attorneys SPD pins to show that they are part of the mission of the agency.

List Servers/Forum Information - SPD is in the process of developing discussion forums for use by the private bar and staff. The five main forum topics tentatively chosen are: Drug Cases, General, Juvenile/TPR, Sentencing and Sexual Assault. If the forums get sufficient use, SPD can purchase a license and increase the number of forum categories. It was suggested that the forums could be enhanced from the five subject areas to expand and set up regional forums, e.g., in Milwaukee, Madison, LaCrosse, etc.

Forums were chosen over listservs because of IT security issues within the SPD computer system. It was suggested that SPD contact the State Bar about setting up a listserv. WACDL recently had the Bar set up a listserv for very little money.

OLR Grievances - AT the last meeting the committee asked what the SPD could do to assist private bar members when they receive a grievance on an SPD case. Materials have been posted on the SPD web site to assist in responding to OLR grievance. The SPD is willing to provide a "nuts/bolts" training to the private bar on representing private attorneys through the OLR grievance process. Committee members agreed it would be a good training program to be offered to the private bar, possibly at next year's SPD Fall Conference.

Budget Report - The recently passed state budget has a deficit in the appropriation for payment of private bar bills. The SPD will be reporting to the legislature and Governor regularly on this problem. A chart of SPD Trial Openings by month was provided to the committee which shows that cases appointments (both staff and private) continue to rise.

Private Bar Payment Cycle Time - All the invoices from mid-March to the end of June have now been paid. ACD tracks the number of days an invoice is in ACD before being sent to the Dept. of Administration for payment. As of August 1, it takes ACD about 19 days to process a paper bill. This does not include the time a bill is in the local office. It takes ACD about 4 days to process electronic bills. A total of 48% of the private bar are now online billers. Of the 100 most active private bar members, 65% are billing online.

Private Bar Recruitment/retention - The committee receive the recruitment/retention plan at its last meeting. ACD is tracking the number of attorneys joining and leaving the lists. ACD also tracking the number of new certifications granted and certifications cancelled. There has been a net gain in attorneys and certifications fin each of the last five months.

All committee members agreed that these materials/reports provide very useful information and want to continue to have this information shared with the committee.

General Discussion Issues:

Posting Committee Information - The committee was asked if the notes of the meetings should be posted on the web site. Everyone agreed that the Private Bar Committee minutes should be posted on the webpage for other private bar members to read and that the committee member's names, phones #'s and email addresses should also be posted. It was decided that a draft of the minutes would be circulated to committee members by email for corrections before posting. Meeting dates and location will also be posted. Private bar attorneys can contact the committee members to bring discussion items to the meeting.

Online Billing - There was a discussion about how to encourage more attorneys to sign up for online billing. Word of mouth was effective in the beginning. The SPD will demonstrate the system at the Fall conference.

The issue of being kicked out in the online system after 20 minutes is very frustrating. ACD will work with the IT staff to address this issue. We will be posting a list of troubleshooting solutions on the webpage for users.

A question was raised if the "down time" for the online system (from 9:00 -9:30 pm) each night can be changed. ACD will check with IT.
Discussion was brought up that misdemeanor contractors previously had to submit a listing of all cases with dispositions, etc., with their Request for Proposals prior to this year's contracting proposals. Contractors were relieved that this information is now available in report format to the Assigned Counsel Division staff. At some point, this information will hopefully become available to the private bar to view online.

Contracting - At the previous meeting there was dissatisfaction expressed with how ACD addresses withdrawals from contract cases. ACD provided the committee with the current system for making partial payments on contract withdrawal cases.

The current policy is:

It was suggested that the payment on withdrawal issue would not be a big issue if those cases were not counted in the contract maximum. The current contract has language that specifically counts withdrawals towards the contract maximum and does not allow "replacement" cases. However, the contract also has language that allows an individual contractor and ACD to enlarge the maximum number of cases by mutual agreement if a contractor is at or close to the maximum.

Reimbursement for collect calls was also raised at the last meeting. This might be allowed in the FY05 extensions. Providing intake services was another issue raised at the last meeting. ACD may offer reimbursement for intake responsibilities in the FY05 extensions.

Case appointment process- The SPD will be working on ways to improve the appointment process. The agency will be conducting a survey of the private bar asking for their input. The survey will be available on the web or in paper form at the SPD Fall conference. The committee was asked for help in formulating items that should be addressed in the survey.

Examples of items suggested:
Improve the timeframe in getting the case/appointment papers
What info is need when accepting an appointment
Satisfaction of types of cases and clients appointed to the private bar.
Why attorneys take appointments
County vs. regional certification

It was asked if the county certification eligibility rule can be modified or looked at in the future. ACD advised the appointment process would be examined from beginning to end, including certification rules. Travel costs are a major consideration.

A debate occurred as to whether attorneys might waive the $25 hourly travel fee for cases out of their county. Several members said it was disrespectful to suggest that attorneys would waive the travel fee or do pro bono work on these cases. The attorneys already do so many other things above and beyond that should already be considered "pro bono" work.

Other - Tom Reed and Robin Dorman of the Milwaukee trial office attended the meeting and responded to some questions about local office practices.

Another area of concern raised by the committee was who represents the interests of the private bar in discussions between the SPD and other parts of the justice system. The SPD will work on training its management to do better at including the private bar in planning for and participation in those meetings.

The next meeting will be at the SPD Fall Conference, on Thursday, October 9th, from 12:00 - 1:30 pm. The location will be either at the Hilton or the Milwaukee Trial Office conference room.

Meeting adjourned at 12:00.