PINNACLE™

 

 

Dear Atty. D'Angelo,

Given your role as a leader within the State Bar of Wisconsin, we would like to provide you with information about upcoming changes within the Bar, and to invite your participation and support.

CLE from the State Bar is changing, and we hope you will help shape its future. As the practice of law becomes more specialized, practitioners need specialized learning opportunities. In post-Convention and other surveys, members have requested that the Bar respond to this need with more focused and relevant CLE. This need, combined with declining attendance levels at the State Bar’s Annual Convention, has provided an opportunity for the Bar to evaluate how to best meet our members’ need for more focused CLE.

In response, the recently renamed PINNACLE Seminars Division of the State Bar of Wisconsin will be producing two new CLE institutes in 2011. The first of these is the Litigation and Dispute Resolution Institute, to be held May 5-6, 2011 at the Frontier Airlines Center in Milwaukee. The second institute, Real Estate and Business Law, will include the State Bar’s Annual Meeting and will take the place of the Annual Convention. It will be held on June 9-10, 2011 at the Kalahari in Wisconsin Dells. These institutes are the first of a number of PINNACLE institutes that will be held each year.

What are we trying to accomplish?
Our goal with this change is to fulfill members’ requests for more focused, in-depth, and thorough seminar content combined with social events that offer relaxed, informal opportunities to interact with friends and colleagues who have similar professional interests.

What do we think these institutes will look like?
We will develop these institutes collaboratively with a Planning Committee, which will include experienced attorneys who work in the pertinent practice areas. The institutes will:

  • be multiple days in length (often two days)
  • include up to several related areas of practice
  • consist of a mix of sessions organized in focused tracks and general plenary sessions
  • feature entertaining social and networking events
  • include exhibitors of relevant products and services

Please see the link below for a completely hypothetical example of what the schedule for the Litigation and Dispute Resolution Institute might look like. It is an illustration only, since no decisions have been made about actual topics that will be part of the institute. It is intended to illustrate how practice areas might work together to produce mutually interesting programs for a particular institute.

Hypothetical Institute Schedule

We value your input, feedback, and expertise
As we plan these institutes, we are looking to members to help us develop the direction, CLE topics, social activities, and other key events. Right now, we are especially seeking ideas for topics and speakers for the first two institutes, as well as members to participate on the institutes’ Planning Committees. As might be expected, we are looking for members who are recognized for their knowledge, skill, and experience in a related area of practice.

How to learn more
Please use the links below to access details of why the State Bar asked its PINNACLE Seminars Division to create the institutes and the ways we invite you to participate to help make them a success for members.

Rationale and format for new CLE institutes

Ways to participate in the new institutes 

Thank you for your consideration. Please distribute this message to members of your organization for their review. We look forward to hearing from you soon.

Sincerely,

Lynne Kroll
Seminars Division Manager, PINNACLE
State Bar of Wisconsin
lkroll@wisbar.org
(608) 250-6187
(800) 444-9404, ext. 6187 (toll-free)