WLJ Wisconsin Law Journal Blogs News

New Blog in Town

Mon, 08 Sep 2008 15:41:49 CDT

The bloggers here at Wisconsin Law Journal are happy to welcome a new blog to the Wisconsin legal community.

Back To School: Today's Psychology Reading List

Mon, 08 Sep 2008 14:18:38 CDT

You know August is really over when the new Personality And Social Psychology Bulletin lands in the feed reader. It's the only scholarly journal I see where I regularly want to read everything, no matter how dense the writing is. (And it's dense.) Samples from the October issue, with my abstracts of the authors' abstracts:

A Sinking Feeling

Mon, 08 Sep 2008 13:27:23 CDT

Milwaukee attorney Michael M. Berzowski doesn’t own a yacht. So news that he had taken out a $391,000 loan on a 48-foot Sea Ray vessel came as a bit of a shock.

Home School State Laws

Mon, 08 Sep 2008 09:25:14 CDT

The Home School Legal Defense Association maintains a nice page on their website summarizing the various state home schooling laws.

Attorneys fees must be calculated before they are challenged

Mon, 08 Sep 2008 09:13:24 CDT

Suppose some federal judge rules in favor of your opponent, and orders that your client reimburse his opponent’s attorney fees. There is no need to wait for the amount of fees to be set; you can appeal the ruling on the merits, and the issue of whether attorney fees were properly awarded, can’t you? You just invoke the court’s “pendent appellate jurisdiction,” right?

Five Good Blogs To Start September

Mon, 08 Sep 2008 09:02:37 CDT

I really recommend an August recess.

Congress does it, the whole country of France does it, and this year Deliberations tried it.

Ever Changing Internet ? Same Evaluation

Mon, 01 Sep 2008 09:35:31 CDT

.I was reviewing articles I had written years back and came upon one that I had written for Midwest Paralegal’s KeyNotes back in early 2000. Yep, over eight years ago. It was about evaluating web sites – my favorite topic. I found it interesting that the Internet has changed so much over the last eight years, but the majority of my article still held true.

In defense of law reviews

Mon, 01 Sep 2008 09:27:32 CDT

A recent post at Prawfsblog by Professor Adam Scales, who teaches torts at Washington & Lee, asks the question, “Are Law Reviews Useful to Lawyers?”

Google Suggest will be Default

Mon, 01 Sep 2008 09:03:22 CDT

Google announced that their “Suggest” product will now be incorporated into your searches. Have you noticed it yet when you search? (As of this writing, it is working in Classic Google, but not on my iGoogle page). Google Suggest is sort of like auto-fill.

The One and Only

Mon, 25 Aug 2008 16:55:23 CDT

When you are the only person to apply for a job, chances are pretty good you might get it. But Judge Kitty K. Brennan, the lone applicant for the vacant appellate court seat in District 1, was a likely a lock, regardless of the competition.

EDGAR database to become IDEA

Mon, 25 Aug 2008 09:29:40 CDT

The SEC announced that they will be replacing the EDGAR database with a new system called IDEA.

No Fan of Violence

Mon, 18 Aug 2008 14:30:26 CDT

I’m all for rivalries, but when they result in a broken jaw, it serves a reminder of how foolish they can be.

Do we support those the justice system fails?

Mon, 18 Aug 2008 13:25:46 CDT

Driving around the other day, I was listening to a news story on the radio about the lack of support exonerated inmates receive in Michigan once they are released from prison.

Bureau of Justice Statistics

Mon, 18 Aug 2008 09:51:02 CDT

The Department of Justice maintains a statistics page worth looking at. The page has statistical reports on crime, prosecution, corrections, law enforcement, sentencing, criminal records, and others. Many of the pages include graphs and annual reports. A topic’s initial page offers key data with links to more detailed reports. Each topic also includes a listing of relevant publications summarizing data collected.

Law Reviews Online

Mon, 18 Aug 2008 08:57:25 CDT

The University of Southern California’s law library has a nice little listing of law reviews that are available online. The index provides the name of the review (with an active link), a brief summary discussing its subject matter, and a code notation explaining what information is available. These notations include F for full-text, A for abstracts, T for table of contents, and S for subscription information. They also clearly indicate when the site was last updated.

Whats missing here?

Mon, 11 Aug 2008 13:30:27 CDT

The Wisconsin State Bar is going to be showing roughly 700 commercials during the farce that is the Beijing Olympics. Obviously, an organization formed in part to protect human rights and the rule of law should refuse on principle to have anything to do with games held in a nation as repressive and authoritarian as China.

Wish you could find their 800 number?

Mon, 11 Aug 2008 09:46:59 CDT

Occasionally, it can be a challenge to locate a company’s toll free number. I thought I would share a couple of Web sites that might help you find that information.

Pigskinned

Mon, 11 Aug 2008 09:39:00 CDT

It’s always been a source of great debate – should girls be allowed to compete in predominantly male sports?

National Conference of State Legislatures

Mon, 04 Aug 2008 09:53:50 CDT

The National Conference of State Legislatures is a “bipartisan organization that serves the legislators and staffs of the nation's 50 states, its commonwealths and territories.” Their website also provides researchers with a tremendous amount of information on state and federal issues. I recommend making a stop at this site when looking for legislative summaries, reports, 50 state surveys, etc. The NCSL site addresses a significant number of topics including criminal justice, labor, environmental issues, education, commerce, etc.

Can you hear me now?

Mon, 04 Aug 2008 09:36:50 CDT

As someone who detests cell phones – never sent a text message, never will – it was interesting to see a judge take a stand against providers.