I may be dipping my toe into scalding water here, but I find fascinating the battle over what the future holds for the State Bar.

The legal slugfest over the mandatory bar I will leave to the lawyers. My fascination rests with the resulting impact of a recent gambit by Steven A. Levine, former State Bar president. His most recent lobbying efforts seemingly have designs on dismantling the mandatory nature of bar membership by creating optional dues support for the bar’s image committee.

In a recent interview with the Wisconsin Law Journal, Levine called for a dues reduction for the cost of supporting the State Bar Image Committee.

According to the article, Levine contends that public image promotion does not fall within the definition of “regulating the legal profession or improving the quality of legal services.”

As a purveyor of public relations counsel, I certainly advocate for the importance of image. But, I do so with a caveat: Buyers of public relations, advertising and marketing campaigns have a reasonable expectation that measurable return on investment should be established between the client and the counselor.

Admittedly, I don’t know the combatants on either side of the mandatory bar issue, and I’m not advocating for one side over the other. Rather, I’m discussing the role of image, or what we might call a brand, in establishing a value proposition in the marketplace. Part of the value equation of legal services, or any other service for that matter, certainly involves quality.

The reasoning goes something like this: One’s reputation or image is akin to a brand.

The image of a profession, product or service, which is partially based on quality, therefore contributes to the value assigned to that brand by the consumer. And, as we will see in the following illustrations, brand value in some cases is worth millions and even billions.

“The Origin of Brands” by Ries & Ries and published in 2004 valued Coca Cola’s assets at $24.5 billion and its brand valuation at $70 billion.

The Washington Post published a 2006 article on branding noting that corporate book values — physical assets, cash on hand, etc. — accounted for only about one-third of the stock market capitalization of the top 150 U.S. companies, down from three-quarters two decades prior. The article concluded that corporate value now centered on intangible assets, such as patents, databases, know-how, and brands.

In a 2001 article on enterprise value, CFO Magazine found branding and positioning alone contributed up to 7 percent toward enterprise value, equal to the impact of financial strength.

Business Week in 2005 noted companies that gained the most in value focused ruthlessly on every detail of their brands, honing simple, cohesive identities that are consistent in every product, in every market around the world, and in every contact with consumers.

These examples are among countless indicators that repeatedly demonstrate the power and importance of brands continues to strengthen and evolve. The value of a brand is shaped by consumer experiences with that brand. Communicating that experience through advertising, public relations and marketing channels — both internally and externally — is imperative to building and sustaining a strong brand experience and the value associated with it.

I will leave you with one final illustration that hits closer to home for attorneys. In the last Gallup poll ranking reputation for ethics and honesty among professions, lawyers ranked in the bottom third, just above elected officials, car salesman, and, yes, my profession as well, with lobbyists ranked dead last.

Okay, this falls into the “nice-to-know” category, but does it contribute to the bottom line?

We all can agree that quality of service certainly can be impaired by a lack of ethics and honesty, which easily could lead to a loss of reputation, resulting in an inability to sustain profitability.

Whether you are a billion dollar corporation with billions more in brand equity or a law firm with a reputation that drives referral business, rest assured, image — or whatever you choose to call it — contributes to the bottom line.