The State Bar of Wisconsin publishes an extensive collection of legal manuals, treatises, and practice resources used across the state by attorneys, legal professionals, and public users.
As part of its mission, the State Bar also drives one of the most significant Continuing Legal Education (CLE) programs in the United States, supporting thousands of attorneys who must complete CLE requirements every two years.
With more than one hundred evolving publications, complex document layouts, and a large readership exceeding 10,000 users, the State Bar of Wisconsin needed a modern publishing foundation for its digital library, designed to integrate seamlessly with its existing ecosystem. Rather than replacing the State Bar’s website, learning channels, or commerce tools, Norma provided the structured publishing layer for long-form legal content, enabling consistent output, better discoverability, and smooth interoperability across platforms.
This is the story of how Norma helped transform the way the State Bar of Wisconsin publishes and delivers its online books.
A Complex and Growing Publishing Challenge
The State Bar’s CLE Publications Program plays a central role in helping Wisconsin attorneys meet mandatory professional development requirements: 30 hours of CLE every two years, including ethics credits. These learning activities rely heavily on reference guides, practice manuals, and benchbooks produced by the State Bar of Wisconsin.
However, the publications produced by the State Bar of Wisconsin were managed through fragmented workflows:
- Content existed simultaneously in Word files, PDFs, and older structured formats
- Supplemental updates and new editions required significant manual intervention
- Complex layouts (tables, multi-level outlines, forms) made consistency difficult to maintain
- Cross-references and metadata needed greater standardization
- The platform had to support a diverse readership, from attorneys to non-lawyers
With frequent updates, a large content library, and growing user expectations, the State Bar of Wisconsin needed a solution that could support a diverse digital publishing ecosystem, integrating with existing web, authentication, and commerce channels while enabling the future evolution of its CLE program.
Setup an interoperable, accessible, and scalable digital library integrated with the State Bar’s website, authentication, and online store.
Convert CLE publications into structured content to improve editorial efficiency, strengthen consistency, and enhance the reading experience.
Why Norma Was the Right Fit
Norma provided a modern publishing layer purpose-built for long-form legal content, with interoperability by design. It offered:
- Structured HTML display for multi-chapter manuals
- Direct import from standardized Word files
- Mobile-friendly, accessible publication output
- Automatic table of contents and advanced navigation tools
- Robust full-text search across CLE publications
- Support for cross-references, forms, tables, and attachments
- Integration-ready: supports Single Sign-On (SSO), enterprise search tools, and online stores, so Norma fits into an existing ecosystem rather than replacing it
Together, these capabilities brought advanced publishing features to a complex and evolving environment, while preserving existing channels and systems.
Books UnBound is a centralized gateway to the State Bar of Wisconsin’s digital library. This interface enables attorneys and the public to explore a large catalog of CLE publications through full-text search, filters, and structured content organization.
Transforming CLE Publications Through Norma
- Building a Consistent Publishing Workflow
Lexum collaborated with the State Bar of Wisconsin to:
- Consolidate all CLE titles into standardized Word templates
- Harmonize formatting, metadata, and structural rules
- Enable ZIP-based chapter ingestion for large manuals
- Help editors manage bookmarks, cross-references, and styles
2. Supporting the Structural Demands of Legal Manuals
Norma interactive online manuals viewer was configured to preserve and enhance:
- Multi-level hierarchical navigation
- Large and complex tables
- Supplemental notes and chapter updates
- Embedded resources such as forms or data tables
- Cross-book linking and internal references
3. Strengthening Discoverability and Integration
Implementation work focused on:
- Evaluating modern SSO pathways
- Enabling internal indexing tools such as SharePoint
- Preparing metadata for external research linkages
- Ensuring consistent accessibility across all CLE materials
4. Delivering a High-Quality Experience for CLE Users
Norma now supports:
- Attorneys completing CLE requirements
- Participants in seminars and on-demand courses
- Public users accessing introductory content
- Organizations relying on the State Bar of Wisconsin’s publications for daily operations
Structured reading experience for a CLE manual in Books UnBound, powered by Norma. The interactive table of contents and chapter-based navigation make long, complex publications easier to consult, while ensuring a consistent, accessible user experience tailored to legal professionals.
A Stronger, More Sustainable Future for CLE Publications
By adopting Norma, the State Bar of Wisconsin successfully modernized its CLE Publications. Norma provides the structural flexibility, accessibility, and workflow efficiency required to maintain a large, evolving library of legal materials.
Today, Norma stands as a central cornerstone in supporting Wisconsin’s legal profession, ensuring that attorneys and the public have reliable, high-quality access to the resources they need to learn, practice, and stay compliant with CLE standards.
Access the State Bar of Wisconsin Books Unbound library (free sample chapters only):
