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

For decades, Wisconsin courts have deferred to administrative agencies’ interpretations of law. In a recent decision - Tetra Tech EC, Inc. v. DOR, the Wisconsin Supreme Court effectively ended this practice: “We have also decided to end our practice of deferring to administrative agencies’ conclusions of law.”

Tagged with: DeWitt Ross & Stevens

Family wealth disputes are not confined to the estates of entertainment superstars.

Tagged with: estate planning Reinhart Boerner Van Deuren

In all the years I have practiced law I have seen many lawyers run for public office and often win.

Tagged with: Ethics Hupy & Abraham Michael Hupy

Last week, a Pennsylvania grand jury documented 70 years of concerted efforts by Catholic bishops in that state to conceal more than 1,000 cases of child sexual abuse by priests – including rape, sadomasochism and producing child pornography.

Tagged with: sexual abuse

Recreational marijuana may never be legal in Wisconsin.

Tagged with: marijuana

Does glyphosate, the active ingredient in the widely used weedkiller Roundup, cause non-Hodgkin lymphoma? This question is at issue now in a lawsuit in San Francisco Superior Court. Hundreds more claims have been cleared to proceed in a federal multi-district lawsuit.

It’s 11 a.m. on a due date and I’m procrastinating, staring at my phone instead of my computer. This past month has been a mess, between deadlines and family health issues and summer school, with weddings and day trips and a conference thrown in for good measure. A three-hour hearing turned into six yesterday in a windowless basement room, and my lower back is screaming at me for sitting in the same wobbly government-issue chair in the same position for too long. Still, a stupid phone game is what I’m capable of handling right now.

Tagged with: Halling & Cayo Stacie Rosenzweig

Since the European Union’s General Data Protection Regulation, also known as the GDPR, went into effect on May 25, 2018, many companies all over the world have brought their privacy policies up to date to comply with the regulation.

Tagged with: GDPR General Data Protection Regulation

Judge Brett Kavanaugh's nomination to replace retiring Justice Anthony M. Kennedy on the U.S. Supreme Court comes at a tense moment.

Tagged with: Brett Kavanaugh

President Donald Trump's hard-line stance on immigration took an unconstitutional turn on Sunday.

Tagged with: Immigration

The Wisconsin Supreme Court voted in June 2017 to begin conducting deliberations on the state court system’s formal rules behind closed doors.

Tagged with: Closing Arguments Wisconsin Supreme Court

Limit the stain of money on decisions by the justices.

Tagged with: Shirley Abrahamson Wisconsin Supreme Court

The U. S. Supreme Court sidestepped the issue of whether a Colorado baker discriminated against a gay couple seeking a wedding cake and instead decided that the baker had been treated unfairly by the commission adjudicating the discrimination charge.

Tagged with: Bench Blog Jean DiMotto

Shirley Abrahamson, the longest-serving Supreme Court justice in Wisconsin history, was often revered or despised depending on one's political viewpoint.

Tagged with: Shirley Abrahamson

When Shirley Abrahamson leaves the state Supreme Court next year, she will leave a legacy to remember.

Tagged with: Lester Pines Shirley Abrahamson Wisconsin Supreme Court

The teenager who shot and killed eight students and two teachers this month at a Santa Fe, Texas, high school got his weapons — a shotgun and a .38-caliber pistol — from his father.

Tagged with: guns

The Supreme Court voted last week to strike down the Professional and Amateur Sports Protection Act. Sports gambling is not now legal nationwide, but the ruling allows states to pass their own laws to make it so.

Tagged with: gambling U.S. Supreme Court

In State v. McAlister a majority of the Wisconsin Supreme Court struggled to appropriately define cumulative evidence and introduces a contrived definition of recantation.

Tagged with: Bench Blog Emily Mueller Jean DiMotto State v. McAlister

Facebook recently divulged that the personal data of up to 87 million users may have been improperly shared with a third party.

Tagged with: Facebook personal data privacy

Wisconsin added another chapter to its litigious history of skirmishes with lawmakers over releasing copies of public records under the state's open-records law last week.

We legally defend, with our tax dollars, our elected officials when they are sued for actions taken as part of their official duties. That's only natural and fair; the elected official shouldn't be personally liable for good-faith discharge of his or her duties.

Tagged with: Dale Kooyenga

The Wisconsin Legislature has made important new rules for civil litigation, implemented new periods of limitations and repose, and made other significant changes to state law.

Tagged with: Civil Procedure

We lost two outstanding Americans last week — nationally, former first lady Barbara Bush, and here in Wisconsin, the trailblazing civil rights champion Vel Phillips.

Tagged with: Vel Phillips

Truth is stranger than fiction. The compelling facts in State v. Torres arose in Sheboygan County in 2014. Dorian Torres was the son of divorced parents, Emilio and Shelly.

Tagged with: Search and Seizure

Gov. Scott Walker tweeted a warning to fellow Republicans on Election Night last week: "Tonight's results show we are at risk of a (hashtag) #BlueWave in WI. The Far Left is driven by anger & hatred — we must counter it with optimism & organization."

Tagged with: Michael Screnock Rebecca Dallet

In a state with a mandatory bar, it’s perhaps inevitable that the dues lawyers must pay to practice law should become a subject of debate from time to time. Wisconsin has been no stranger to these controversies. In recent years, ...

Tagged with: Closing Arguments Jon Erik Kingstad Keller Keller dues Michelle Behnke

Anyone needing further proof of the need to reform Wisconsin's juvenile corrections system was given 18.9 million reasons last week.

Tagged with: DOC settlement Sydni Briggs

The courts have been busy lately reviewing federal trademark law. Understanding new decisions and recent trends is important for all growing businesses, since company brands, logos, and slogans are oftentimes their most valuable assets.

Tagged with: Intellectual Property

Adams Outdoor Advertising leased three billboards near the Dane County Regional Airport. Before the expiration of the lease, Adams Outdoor Advertising sought to renew it.

Tagged with: Bench Blog Jean DiMotto

Even by the low standards that President Trump has set for selecting his judicial nominees, Gordon Giampietro, the president's pick to fill an open federal judgeship for Wisconsin's Eastern District, is an exceptionally bad prospect.

Tagged with: Gordon Giampietro