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

To practice in Wisconsin, lawyers are required to pay $224 a year in State Bar dues, but that doesn’t buy them a meaningful look into how bar leaders spend the money.

A sham lawsuit is upending the last remaining leased tenants of the Loyalty Building in downtown Milwaukee, a longtime restaurant owner says.

Fred A. Risser introduces himself by handing out two business cards and a brief explanation for why his life no longer fits on one.

At a time when some law firms are scaling back on pro bono work, Marquette University is helping to fill a gap in Milwaukee.

The 2011-13 state budget has made it more expensive for attorneys — and, by extension, their clients — to request some standard medical data.

The 115th paragraph of a July 8 Wisconsin Supreme Court opinion consists of a single sentence: “… Justice MICHAEL J. GABLEMAN joins this concurrence.”

A Milwaukee lobbyist is accusing the city of violating the spirit of a new state law that bans local bid preferences. Richard Wanta, executive director of the Wisconsin Underground Contractors Association, said the Legislature clearly meant to ban local preferences in the 2011-13 state budget bill. The city attorney’s office mostly concurs with Wanta’s opinion. According to the budget bill, ...

The Milwaukee attorney’s office Monday reported the state budget bill had rendered unenforceable a two-year-old local bid preference ordinance. The budget, which passed in June, includes language mandating that “except when necessary to secure federal aid, a political subdivision may not use a bidding method that gives preference based on the geographic location of the bidder or that uses criteria ...

A state lawmaker said he was concerned Wisconsin wasn’t getting the best possible deal on a new lease for the State Public Defender’s office in Racine. The state has agreed to pay $950,000 over 10 years for a 5,298-square-foot office that will house 24 staff members. The office is in a strip plaza at 420 Sixth St. Sen. Fred Risser, ...

State Sen. Fred Risser might have more firsthand knowledge of eminent domain than any other member of the Wisconsin Legislature. Dane County in 2002 forced the Madison Democrat to sell his law office, at South Hamilton and West Wilson streets, for $728,800 so the county could build a new courthouse. Risser fought the sale and asked for twice as much ...