High court to let lawyers earn CLE credit for pro bono work

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The Wisconsin Supreme Court on Wednesday approved two rules changes meant to encourage lawyers to provide pro bono legal services.

Under the first rule, attorneys could get one continuing legal-education credit for every five hours of pro bono legal work they perform but no more than six credits in a two-year reporting period.

Justice Michael Gableman had proposed letting attorneys instead claim one credit hour for every four hours of pro bono work and no more than eight in a two-year period.

“It would be a good recognition not only of the value but also recognition of the fact that representing a client is an intense situation,” Gableman said.

The court ultimately decided against adopting his motion.

Eleven states, including Minnesota, Ohio and New York, already let lawyers get continuing legal-education credit for pro bono work.

In Wisconsin, though, lawyers cannot get credit for pro bono work.

The rule change approved Wednesday would instead let them get credit, but only for pro bono work received from a civil legal-aid service, such as Legal Action of Wisconsin or Judicare. Additionally, the work would have to be performed for a client who lacks the means to pay for legal representation. Generally, organizations that provide civil legal-aid service screen clients to make sure they meet certain income requirements before referring them to an attorney.

The Supreme Court justices voted unanimously Wednesday to adopt the proposed rule change, including a provision that prevents lawyers from using pro bono work to earn credits needed for license reinstatements, reactivations and readmissions.

The second rule change approved last week would give in-house attorneys who are registered but not licensed in Wisconsin greater ability to provide pro bono legal services.

So-called registered in-house lawyers often work for companies in Wisconsin even though they don’t hold an in-state license. Although licensed in other states, they are not allowed to appear in court without first getting pro hac vice permission and cannot sign pleadings. The state has about 300 attorneys who fall into this category.

Under Wisconsin’s current rules, registered in-house attorneys can only provide pro bono legal services through a legal-aid society. The proposal adopted Wednesday would instead let lawyers represent a charitable organization or perform similar work without the need to have a legal-aid organization step in as an intermediary.

The court voted 5-2 to adopt the rule change. The dissents came from Justice Ann Walsh Bradley and Justice Shirley Abrahamson, who said they supported the proposals in a general way but nonetheless voted against them because of concerns over the way they had been drafted. Bradley and Abrahamson are widely believed to form the liberal minority on the state’s Supreme Court and often find themselves in opposition to the five-justice conservative majority on the court.

Despite Wednesday’s votes, the new rules are not yet official. The justices still need to issue a final order. Should that happen, the new rules will take effect Jan. 1. Follow @erikastrebel