Newsletter, May 2001

Bankruptcy Legislation

The legislation, as of this writing, has not been sent to the conference committee. Nevertheless, we are assessing our current procedures to prepare as much as possible for change. We are particularly concerned about ensuring timely and responsive access to our services. If the legislation becomes law, we will attempt to provide you with as much advance notice of new procedures as possible in future issues of this newsletter and on our website. To help you prepare, ABI will hold a series of three teleseminars May 22, 24 and 25.

The sessions will focus on (a) consumer bankruptcy, (b) business bankruptcy and (c) tax, appeals and administrative issues.

The hour-and-a-half-long seminars will allow members to learn about the new law in the comfort and convenience of their own office. The teleseminars will feature national experts as speakers (Hon. Eugene Wedoff, N.D. IL) and will be approved for CLE/CPE credit. Call ABI at (703) 739-0800 for more information or check the website at: www.abiworld.org

Electronic Case Filing

The project schedule calls for staff automation and educational training to occur this summer. We recently received the computer equipment necessary to manage the behind-the-scenes database issues. And, several conference calls have already been conducted to identify planning milestones. We will begin working on customer training and support issues this summer.

The current project plan also anticipates focus group meetings with the bar in the fall. For those of you who have generously offered to participate, we will be contacting you later this summer.

We plan to offer short (2-3 hour) hands-on familiarization sessions for attorneys and law office staff in Madison and Eau Claire, possibly on Saturday mornings or weekday evenings, depending on the general preference. We will be seeking CLE credit for these sessions. Please email us at the address at the end of this newsletter or call me, Diana Rahn or Brenda Brommer, to let us know your thoughts.

Marcia Anderson

Computer Based Training (CBT)

In order to facilitate your understanding of Electronic Case Filing, we have obtained and will be adding an on-line CBT tutorial to our website. It is designed to provide an overview of the basic features and introduces some new terminology. You will be able to access the CBT on May 14th. If you have any technical problems accessing the tutorial or have questions about the technology, please call either office and ask to speak to a member of the automation staff (Madison: Andy Bach, Matt Schaefer or Terry Payne; and Eau Claire: Dana Bauer)

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