A national legal reform group has asked the Wisconsin Supreme Court to make all complaints against lawyers public.

James Turner, executive director of the group called Helping to Abolish Legal Tyranny, asked the court this month to open up a lawyer disciplinary system that now functions mostly in secret because of a high-court rule.

''The Wisconsin disciplinary system relies on the legal system to police itself,'' Turner wrote. ''The evidence shows that this is not working.''

Complaints against lawyers are made public only if the lawyers are publicly reprimanded or prosecuted by the Board of Attorneys Professional Responsibility. The board resolved 1,256 complaints last year and 34 were made public. The board kept secret the names of 18 lawyers who were privately reprimanded and 82 others who received minor warnings.

Other states also keep most complaints secret, while only Arizona, Florida, Oregon and West Virginia make all complaints public at some point in the disciplinary process.

Oregon is the most open state, with all complaints and investigations public from the moment a complaint is filed. The Oregon system has been open since 1976 when the Oregon Supreme Court said the complaints were subject to the state open records law.

Jeff Sapiro, head of the Oregon disciplinary system, said openness has worked well and is overwhelmingly supported by the Oregon State Bar.

''It's been a system that's worked really, really well for us,'' Sapiro said. ''People can come to their own judgment as to whether we're doing a good job or a bad job. My view is that secrecy breeds suspicion and we've been able to dispel that.''