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Rules proposal would let attorney-mediators draft settlement documents in family cases

By: Erika Strebel, [email protected]//October 17, 2016//

Rules proposal would let attorney-mediators draft settlement documents in family cases

By: Erika Strebel, [email protected]//October 17, 2016//

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The Director of State Courts is asking the Wisconsin Supreme Court to adopt a rule change that would let lawyers who are mediators draft the legal documents that result from family-law-related mediations.

The petition, which was filed Friday, is the result of work by the Planning and Policy Advisory Committee, which helps the high court and the Director of State Courts set and administer long-term goals for the state’s court system.

Under the high court’s current rules, lawyers who are mediators may not draft the legal documents that parties need to get judicial relief. Yet nothing stops non-lawyers who are mediators from preparing those documents.

The petition proposes a rule change that would let lawyer-mediators draft those documents as long as the attorney maintains a neutral position and the parties give informed consent.

The petition is part of an attempt to reduce the number of family-court litigants who do not have legal representation. According to the petition, 70 percent of family-court litigants do not hire lawyers, and 95 percent of family-court cases are resolved through written settlement agreements.

The court tried to alleviate that in 2010 by creating a rule that allows attorneys to provide limited-scope representation to certain clients. Limited-scope representation allows attorneys to represent clients for part of a legal proceeding rather than all of it.

In 2013, the court expanded the rule, hoping to encourage more lawyers and litigants to use limited-scope representation. However, the courts have seen few attorneys or litigants take advantage of it.

The Supreme Court will discuss the petition at its next open-rules conference, which is scheduled for Oct. 24. A public hearing has not yet been scheduled.

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