Legal professionals lost in translation

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Cynthia Herber is confident she could pass the Wisconsin bar exam in July if the Board of Bar Examiners lets her take the test.

But the veteran Mexican attorney has little sense of whether her background and qualifications meet the standards to try to get a law license in Wisconsin. In April, Herber applied for a waiver that gives foreign-educated lawyers the opportunity to take the exam, and she said she doesn’t know when she will get an answer.

Lacking specific guidelines in applying for a waiver, Herber said, she submitted transcripts of her degree from Universidad Anahuac in Mexico, a proclamation from former Gov. Jim Doyle regarding her appointment to the Wisconsin Judicial Council and anything else that would improve her chances.

“I had to make an argument as to why I should be allowed to do this,” she said. “Anything that was relevant, I included in my application so they would know I was a well-rounded individual.”

But the Board of Bar Examiners, when evaluating waiver requests, also has to deal with a lack of guidelines. That adds subjectivity to determining bar exam eligibility, given there are no specific practice, experience or education thresholds for foreign-educated lawyers to meet.

The state Supreme Court authorized the waiver process two years ago. Before the waivers, Wisconsin only let foreign-educated attorneys seek a permanent license if they had practiced in another U.S. jurisdiction for at least three years or if they had graduated from an American Bar Association-accredited law school.

BBE Chairman Jim Huston said he wants to add objectivity to the process. He said he is working on a plan to present to the Supreme Court that would streamline the process for board and applicant guidance.

That’s what the court was seeking two years ago when it created the waiver system. The waivers were designed as a temporary fix until the BBE could establish firm criteria for determining who could take the bar exam.

“The court ordered us to figure out how to evaluate these people’s credentials, and that hasn’t happened,” Huston said. “It’s happening now, so we’re going to move on it.”

He said a proposal could be ready by late summer.

Supreme Court rules allow for admission, without taking the exam, to the bar through diploma privilege or reciprocity with another jurisdiction as long as the attorney has practiced at least three years.

A reciprocity rule, for instance, could work in Herber’s favor if the guidelines for foreign-educated attorneys change.

A reciprocity rule could have helped her avoid taking the exam in Wisconsin, considering she spent 12 years practicing law in Mexico before moving to the United States in 1996. She worked as a paralegal in Pennsylvania before moving to Milwaukee, where she became a certified court interpreter in 2005.

Only a handful of foreign-educated lawyers have sought waivers in the past two years, Huston said, but they should have the same opportunities as others.

“This is not being driven by people pounding down the doors,” he said, “but the practice of law is becoming more global and it’s the right thing to do.”

At least two other foreign-educated lawyers succeeded in getting licensed through the waiver process in Wisconsin. British attorney Gail Groy passed the bar last year and was sworn in May 11. She practices with Rizzo & Diersen SC in Kenosha.

Israeli attorney Deborah Opolion-Elovic opened her own Milwaukee practice in 2010 after passing the bar. After more than 20 years of doing real estate and transactional work in Israel, Opolion-Elovic said, she deserved the opportunity to take the exam in Wisconsin.

“I’m not saying we’re better than lawyers here,” she said. “But going to law school here doesn’t guarantee you are a better lawyer than someone who didn’t.”

Eligibility requirements for how, or whether, foreign attorneys can obtain their license in the U.S. differ from state to state. Of the 29 states that have eligibility standards for foreign attorneys, 12 let lawyers take the bar exam if they are legally educated in English common law.

Part of the delay in reviving the issue in Wisconsin, Huston said, was the removal of the BBE’s then-Director John Kosobucki shortly after the court set up the waiver system in 2009.

It also takes time, he said, to determine the best way to evaluate the competency of foreign lawyers.

“We hope we’re able to satisfy the court,” Huston said. “We certainly don’t want to admit incompetent lawyers.”

Jack Zemlicka can be reached at [email protected].