Wisconsin Law Journal – WI Legal News & Resources Wisconsin Legal News & Resources

TODD RICHMOND Associated Press MADISON, Wis. (AP) — An American Indian tribe in northern Wisconsin filed a federal lawsuit Wednesday asking a judge to block another band from expanding a competing casino, arguing the project violates both tribes’ gambling compacts with the state. The Ho-Chunk Nation wants to add hundreds of slot machines, table games, a restaurant and a hotel to ...

MADISON, Wis. (AP) — A former Wisconsin sheriff’s deputy who killed his wife and sister-in-law but was found not legally responsible because of his ailing health has died. Attorney Jessa Nicholson Goetz represented ex-deputy Andrew Steele during his trial. She says the 42-year-old died Tuesday at UW Hospital in Madison of complications from Lou Gehrig’s disease. Investigators say Steele fatally ...

Attorneys find U.S. Supreme Court oral argument energizing, tiring

Federal defenders prepare for appearance before U.S. Supreme Court

The proposed amendment to the state constitution that will be on the Nov. 7 ballot has attorneys from many areas of practice considering its purposes and potential effects. The amendment would create a section of article XIII of the state constitution that would provide that “only a marriage between one man and one woman shall be valid or recognized as ...

The proposed amendment to the state constitution that will be on the Nov. 7 ballot has attorneys from many areas of practice considering its purposes and potential effects. The amendment would create a section of article XIII of the state constitution that would provide that “only a marriage between one man and one woman shall be valid or recognized as ...

Many Wisconsin legal observers familiar with the federal Class Action Fairness Act of 2005 seem to agree that it is likely to divert some class actions from state courts into federal courts. But recent interviews reveal a divide in their assessments of whether that would be a generally positive development, and if so, for whom. Bernard T. McCartan, who is ...

Firm sees benefit to marketing women in IP practice

Many lawyers seeking employment in the types of law traditionally considered public interest work soon discover that the market for those positions is tight. But even those who find jobs may wonder whether they can afford to take them. Wisconsin’s two law schools are helping to make it easier for their graduates to consider public interest positions. Christopher J. McKinny, ...

More members of the general public may serve in the lawyer discipline process if the Wisconsin Supreme Court approves rule changes proposed in a petition the director of the Office of Lawyer Regulation filed in early November. Among other revisions, the petition proposes an increase in the goal for the proportion of non-lawyer membership in district committees to two-fifths, up ...

Imagine it is two years after a fire. The original theory that the toaster caused it is now toast, following a thorough examination by a new fire investigator. Can the real cause still be identified? That could be impossible if the entire scene was not documented promptly after the fire, according to Andrew R. Carpenter, a senior engineer with Exponent, ...

The case has been stayed for at least a few months while the parties brief an insurer’s motion for summary judgment, but Eichenseer, et al. vs. Madison-Dane County Tavern League, Inc., et al., has already had 15 minutes of fame. The lawsuit, filed in March, alleges that more than 20 downtown Madison taverns conspired to eliminate Friday and Saturday evening ...

Overcoming trial challenges

“They’re not the easiest cases to try, just about everybody on a jury owns a dog and likes dogs and sees themselves in the position of the defendant.” Lynn R. Laufenberg, Laufenberg & Hoefle, Milwaukee Dog-bite cases dominated the discussion during the annual summary of developments in general negligence and insurance law at the Wisconsin Academy of Trial Lawyers summer ...

“[T]here effectively is going to be no separate award for pain and suffering damages between the time that the injury occurred and the time of the death, regardless of how prolonged that period might be” Lynn Laufenberg Laufenberg & Hoefle S.C. The shadow of Burnett v. Alt is hampering the prosecution of medical malpractice and even personal injury cases as ...

Milwaukee County officials’ attempt to avoid a budget crisis in the courts through an increase in state funding of guardian ad litem and interpreter costs stalled in the Legislature this month. The county hoped to receive about $2 million from legislation that would have increased court fees. The generated funds would approximately have equaled the difference between what counties would ...

In what might be one of the most important discovery disputes in the state since State ex rel. Dudek v. Circuit Court, the Wisconsin Supreme Court may soon determine whether a lawyer responding to a discovery request can independently waive the attorney-client privilege by producing privileged documents to opposing counsel. During oral argument in Harold Sampson Children’s Trust, et al. ...

Fewer of those deemed sexually violent persons may win supervised release from commitment if the provisions in a bill before the state Assembly become law — and that’s as it should be, according to one of the bill’s authors. State Sen. Mary Lazich (R-New Berlin) told the Assembly Committee on Criminal Justice at a public hearing last week that studies ...

A little more than a year after the merger of three of the firms providing civil legal assistance to the poor in Wisconsin, the merged entity is suffering the effects of staff cuts in 2003, the consolidation of two of its offices and the impending closing of another office. According to John Ebbott, executive director of Legal Action of Wisconsin ...

“I see very little that goes on within this law firm that should not be openly discussed and communicated with associates. They are very much the future of the law firm, and the sooner we get them thinking like they’re owners or ought to be owners of the firm, the better off we’re going to be.” Richard J. Canter The ...

A budget row between Milwaukee County and the court system there evolved this month into a broader campaign that is headed for the State Capitol. Court and county officials resolved, at least for now, court leaders’ objections to County Executive Scott Walker’s proposed courts budget by jointly supporting an amendment that restores most of the court positions that were to ...