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There are frequent reminders for lawyers in Continuing Legal Education (CLE) programs and articles on the importance of civility among adversaries. Civility, like all good lessons, should flow from the top down, as children learn from their parents. In law, that means civility starts with the judges and court commissioners.

Having just emerged from a busy election season, Wisconsin is already turning its attention back to the polls where control of the state Supreme Court hangs in the balance.

After a gubernatorial election, the first job of the governor in the first year of the new term is unveiling the two-year state budget plan.

In a body blow to open and transparent government and the ability of citizen watchdog groups and journalists, the Wisconsin Supreme Court ruled 4-3 last summer that a Waukesha community group, Friends of Frame Park, was not entitled to attorney fees after suing the city of Waukesha for public records that the city later released before being ordered to do so by a court.

Wisconsin Republicans’ move to effectively render a recent state Supreme Court ruling moot is welcome news and should be embraced across party lines.

For a number of years, I’ve put together a family law cases update program for the American Academy of Matrimonial Lawyers, the State Bar Family Law Section and the state family court judges. 

Since late 2019, sales of recreational marijuana have begun in two of Wisconsin’s neighboring states, while a third appears poised to legalize the substance soon.

The dismissal of a complaint against one of the candidates for the Wisconsin Supreme Court seems appropriate to us, given the underlying accusations. But it should most definitely be a reminder to all those involved in the courts that there’s a great deal more to their credibility than just to be cognizant of the law.

I have found that video does not provide a unified, objective window onto the truth. Rather, jurors may perceive the depicted events differently – based, among other factors, on how the video is presented in court.

There’s reason to be concerned about some of the responses in the UW System’s survey of student views on free speech, but we’re not convinced the results are as revealing as some might claim.

Elon Musk has claimed he believes in free speech no matter what. He calls it a bulwark against tyranny in America and promises to reconstruct Twitter, which he now owns, so that its policy on free expression "matches the law." Yet his grasp of the First Amendment – the law that governs free speech in the U.S. – appears to be quite limited. And he's not alone.

As an increasing number of elementary, middle and high school students in the U.S. have begun to identify as transgender, school leaders have struggled to figure out how to respond, and how – and whether – to communicate about their actions to parents.

Many people in Wisconsin are under the impression that the disastrous probe into the state’s 2020 presidential election conducted by former state Supreme Court Justice Michael Gableman is over, as are its costs to taxpayers. They’re wrong.

On Jan. 19, the Wisconsin Assembly gave a final approval to a proposed constitutional amendment that would, they claim, make it more difficult for violent criminals to get out of jail on bail. The proposal will go before voters where it will undoubtedly be ratified in the April 4 election.

A good judge is going to disappoint you sometimes.

On Jan. 5, the Federal Trade Commission released a Notice of Proposed Rulemaking for a new rule that would prohibit employers from including noncompete clauses in agreements with employees and independent contractors.

College admission tests are becoming a thing of the past.

The art of storytelling is the primary skill of a trial lawyer. The old paradigm that we argue cases in court is misleading. The adversarial system is a storytelling contest. Facts, science and logic inform our stories, but the story is the thing. So, what is a story?

With the Wisconsin Legislature gearing up, there’s a lot to get done. In discussions at our office this week we thought of something we’d like to see legislators do, but it might take a bit more time than most legislative tasks.

Here's some simple advice for the state Legislature, whose members were sworn into office last week: Represent the will of the people.

One of my favorite columns is to review family law cases and legislation from the prior year. It gives me yet another opportunity to express my thoughts on the good and the bad that occurred. Fortunately for me as a columnist, there was enough bad to make this column (hopefully) somewhat entertaining as “good” tends to be boring.

As ever, 2022 was a roller coaster year for open government.  

In August 2021, the United States evacuated more than 76,000 Afghans who had aided the U.S. and the international community in their Afghanistan mission.

Metro Milwaukee’s concentration of workers employed in STEM occupations is a competitive strength, but it lags peer metros on other metrics including productivity, household income, exports, and venture capital funding.

People often believe that having a will alone avoids probate after death. This is simply not true. Avoiding probate requires you to take active steps so that you don’t have to go through the time-consuming process.

Dearly beloved, we gather here today to celebrate federal protection for same-sex marriage.

One of the ugly parts of our legal system is the politics of electing judges. With an election for a Supreme Court justice in 2023, the ugliness has gotten an early start.

The U.S. House of Representatives approved the the Respect for Marriage Act – a law that codifies both interracial and same-gender marriage – on Dec. 8, 2022.

In front of the U.S. Supreme Court justices on Dec. 5 was 303 Creative LLC v. Elenis – a major case regarding LGBTQ rights and free speech.

On Nov. 6, the United States Supreme Court heard oral arguments in Brackeen v. Haaland, a case which presented numerous constitutional and legislative issues regarding the Indian Child Welfare Act or ICWA.