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

Taxes remain one of the certainties in life but a new interpretation by the Internal Revenue Service could have clients – and lawyers – paying even more if they aren’t careful.

Tagged with: IRS

As the expression goes, “the clothes make the man.”

Tagged with: EEOC Family and Medical Leave Act religious discrimination Title VII

Lawyers are supposed to be great orators, but oftentimes, fear gets in the way, said oral advocacy professor Molly Bishop Shadel.

With health insurance costs on the mind of all employers, a way to cut expenses and get healthier employees sounds like a good option.

Tagged with: Americans with Disabilities Act National Labor Relations Act Title VII

September was a busy month for attorneys guiding doctors, hospitals, medical providers and those that do business with them.

Tagged with: Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act

A lost summary judgment motion. A lowball offer to settle. The denial of an appeal. Lawyers frequently are the bearers of bad news.

Tagged with: Practice Management

When the U.S. Supreme Court in June struck down part of the federal Defense of Marriage Act, it left many unanswered questions.

Tagged with: Defense of Marriage Act DOMA U.S. Supreme Court

Changes in the latest edition of the American Psychiatric Association’s diagnostic manual are likely to have an effect in the courtroom.

Tagged with: ADA Americans with Disabilities Act PTSD

A lost summary judgment motion. A lowball offer to settle. The denial of an appeal.

Lawyers have an ethical obligation to understand risks.

Tagged with: American Bar Association Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act

For years, employers have struggled with correctly classifying workers as employees or independent contractors.

Tagged with: DOL Fair Labor Standards Act IRS

Lawyers are concerned that discovery is getting out of hand.

Tagged with: e-discovery electronic discovery

Ever-evolving and constantly growing, electronic discovery presents a variety of challenges for litigators.

Tagged with: e-discovery

With the release of a final set of proposed changes to the Model Rules of Professional Conduct, the American Bar Association’s 20/20 Commission completed its work last month.

Tagged with: ABA

A decision from the U.S. Supreme Court that a seminal Sixth Amendment rights case is not retroactive has provided clarity for attorneys while dashing the hopes of thousands of defendants.

Tagged with: 7th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals Clarence Thomas Elena Kagan Ruth Bader Ginsburg Sixth Amendment U.S. Supreme Court

Does a food allergy constitute a disability under the Americans with Disabilities Act?

Tagged with: ADA Americans with Disabilities Act

The price of protecting client confidences will cost defunct law firm Dewey & LeBoeuf almost $1.4 million.

Tagged with: Bankruptcy

Less than one year after a federal court judge issued a seminal electronic discovery decision blessing the use of computer-assisted review, the technology is already appearing in courts across the country.

Tagged with: e-discovery

Wondering what apps to try and what ones to skip? Check out this roundup of the latest legal apps worth considering.

Tagged with: app PACER

The prospect of investing in technology strikes fear in the hearts of many sole practitioners and small firms.

So much of an individual’s life now appears online, including bills, Facebook accounts and photo-sharing websites. But what happens to those assets when a person dies?

Tagged with: estate planning

In March of this year, the U.S. Supreme Court extended the right to effective counsel to the plea stage of criminal proceedings in a pair of cases, Lafler v. Cooper and Missouri v. Frye.

Tagged with: Anthony Kennedy U.S. Supreme Court

There are a number of ways cloud computing can benefit a solo or a small firm legal practice.

Reflecting the always-changing world of technology, electronic discovery presents new challenges for lawyers in 2013. At the forefront: social media evidence, smartphone data and the judicial blessing of a new form of discovery review.

Tagged with: e-discovery smartphone Social media

A paperless law office can provide a more efficient, flexible and cost-effective practice.

A federal jury in New York weathered Hurricane Sandy to award a plaintiff almost $10.5 million after she developed necrosis of the jaw from taking Zometa.

Tagged with: drug makers

Lawyers still making their way along the learning curve of social media evidence may struggle to find guidance from court opinions.

Tagged with: job discrimination Social media

The Eighth Amendment’s prohibition against cruel and unusual punishment does not preclude a mandatory life sentence for dealers who possess a smaller quantity of crack cocaine than the quantity of powder cocaine necessary to trigger a similar sentence, the 7th Circuit has ruled.

Tagged with: 7th Circuit 7th Circuit Court of Appeals Crack cocaine drugs Eighth Amendment U.S. Court of Appeals U.S. Supreme Court

A defendant can be found liable for induced infringement of a method patent if it has performed some of the steps of a claimed method and induced other parties to commit the remaining steps, or if it has induced other parties to collectively perform all the steps of the claimed method, the Federal Circuit ruled.

Tagged with: Patent infringement

The duty to take more active anti-suicide measures arises only when the risk is imminent, the 7th Circuit has ruled, affirming summary judgment for state officials who treated a teenager who hung himself while in a youth detention facility.

Tagged with: 14th Amendment 7th Circuit suicide