YEAR IN REVIEW: 2017 changes the legal landscape across Wisconsin

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From a showdown over State Bar dues to raises and retirements, there was plenty this year to keep legal professionals in Wisconsin on their toes.

Here’s a quick look back at what made headlines in 2017:

Posner abruptly retires from 7th Circuit

U.S. Appeals Court Judge Richard Posner, whose wit and opinions made him well known in the legal world, stepped down from the bench in September after more than three decades on the 7th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Chicago.

He penned the 2014 decision striking down Wisconsin’s and Indiana’s same-sex marriage bans. The same year also saw him write a scathing dissent slamming Wisconsin’s voter ID law.
Since retiring, Posner has published a book critical of his former court’s staff attorney program and has made it his mission to help litigants who can’t hire an attorney.

E-filing

Wisconsin rolled out mandatory e-filing for certain case types in 2016. It wasn’t until 2017, though, that the system was brought to all 72 counties, including some of the state’s largest: Dane and Milwaukee.

Showdown over mandatory bar dues

The Wisconsin Supreme Court held a public hearing in October on the Madison-based lawyer Steve Levine’s proposal for the high court to more narrowly define activities on which the bar may spend mandatory dues and for the bar to prepare separate budgets for mandatory dues and voluntary dues.

Levine and his supporters contend that the bar’s current practices do not go far enough to protect lawyers’ constitutional rights.

Past and current State Bar officials weighed in on the petitions at the hearing in October. By last week, though, the justices still had yet to vote on whether to grant Levine’s request.

Lawmakers approve raises for state judges

In her first State of the Judiciary Address, Chief Justice Pat Roggensack promised that her priority would be to increase pay for the state’s judges. Two years later, she made good on that promise.

Gov. Scott Walker signed a budget earlier this year that will give judges 4 percent raises over the next two years. Raises for state judges will start in June. The raises will also increase per diems for temporary reserve judges. By statute, per diems are set at 90 percent of the daily salary of a full-time judge.

Lawyers ask court to push lawmakers to increase private bar rate

Earlier this year, dozens of lawyers came to the Wisconsin Supreme Court with a bold request for the court to put pressure on the state Legislature to increase the rate paid to private lawyers who take cases from the State Public Defender’s Office.

The SPD and other entities have been asking lawmakers for a private bar-rate increase every biennium since 1995 but so far have not been successful. The rate, at $40 an hour, remains one of the lowest in the nation.

The justices voted in June to consider the proposal. However, they have deferred a hearing on the matter to the spring.

Legal community mourns Schofield family attorney

Sara Quirt-Sann, a family-law lawyer, was killed at her office in March during a string of shootings in the Wausau metro area. She was representing the shooter’s wife in a divorce.
Marathon County had relied heavily on the Schofield solo-practitioner to take on guardian ad litem appointments.

Quirt Sann, who was honored as the Woman Lawyer of the Year by the Law Journal in June, graduated from the Valparaiso University School of Law in 1999 and from the University of Wisconsin-Madison with a journalism degree in 1996. She had been admitted to practice in Wisconsin since 1999.

Trump makes nomination to long-vacant spot on 7th Circuit

President Donald Trump announced in August that he had picked the Milwaukee lawyer Michael Brennan of Gass Weber Mullins to fill a spot on the 7th Circuit Court of Appeals that has been vacant for nearly a decade.

Even so, the spot may not be filled anytime soon because Brennan was not recommended by the state’s nominating commission. Federal judge nominees in Wisconsin are normally vetted and chosen by the commission, which is run by the Wisconsin State Bar. Three or four names are given to the state’s U.S. senators, and they make a recommendation to the president. If the president approves the nomination, it goes to the full Senate for a vote.

Last week saw the Trump administration make yet another nomination, recommending the former Milwaukee federal prosecutor Gordon Giampietro for the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Wisconsin.

U.S. Supreme Court weighs in on Wisconsin property case

In March, the court heard Murr v. Wisconsin, a property case stemming from the Murr family’s challenge of St. Croix County’s decision to reject a zoning variance that would have let the Murrs sell part of their lakefront property.

The court sided with the county in June. Five months later, Wisconsin lawmakers passed legislation giving landowners the right to sell or build on substandard lots if the lots were legal when they were created.

Epic lawsuit in the spotlight at SCOTUS

The justices heard arguments in October in a trio of cases that included one out of Wisconsin – Epic v. Lewis. The case stems from a dispute between a former technical writer and his employer, the medical-software company Verona-based Epic Systems Inc.

A decision in those three cases will settle a dispute over whether certain prohibitions on class-action lawsuits come into conflict with cornerstones of employment law.

Race for Wisconsin Supreme Court kicks off

The election will be held April 3 and there will be a primary on Feb. 20. Milwaukee County Circuit Judge Rebecca Dallet, Madison attorney Tim Burns and Sauk County Circuit Court Judge Michael Screnock are all running for the spot.

No freedom yet for Dassey, Avery

Brendan Dassey and Steven Avery, Wisconsin inmates feature in the Netflix series “Making a Murderer,” saw their appeals move forward this year, though not necessarily in their favor. Dassey and Avery were sentenced to prison in 2005 for the murder of the photographer Teresa Halbach. Avery insists the police framed him.

A federal magistrate judge overturned Dassey’s conviction last year, ruling that detectives had taken advantage of Dassey’s youth — he was 16 at the time — and learning disabilities to coerce his confession. A three-judge panel from the 7th Circuit upheld the magistrate’s ruling in June. But the state asked for a review by the full 7th Circuit — leading to a 4-3 decision in November upholding the conviction and finding the confession voluntary.

Avery, on the other hand, mounted a challenge in state courts, contending he has new testimony that warrants a new trial. However, Sheboygan County Circuit Court Judge Angela Sutkiewicz rejected his bid in October and a month later rejected his request for reconsideration. Avery has appealed the ruling.