Wisconsin State Bar Wins Fight Over Dues-Funded PR Campaign

A federal appeals court has upheld the Wisconsin State Bar's use of mandatory dues to pay for a public image campaign in 2007.
A group of Bar members challenged the use as a vilation of their First Amendment Rights and lost before an arbitrator and a federal magistrate judge before taking their case to the 7th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals.

In a ruling last week, a three judge panel too sided with the bar, finding the PR campaign was "germane" to the State Bar's legitimate purposes of improving the quality of legal services, and therefore could be supported with mandatory dues.