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

I’ve been talking to lawyers and searching the Web in my quest for the best free Twitter applications for attorneys. Here’s what I learned. The first application you should check out is HootSuite, www.hootsuite.com. Jeffrey C. O’Brien, of Mansfield, Tanick ...

I recently spoke at a conference and got two reminders about some Marketing 101 basics. The first reminder came when someone spoke to me after my presentation. “I need everything that you talked about,” he said, “and once I get ...

Amicus Attorney Small Firm Edition 2009 is a legal practice management application targeted at small firms. Gavel and Gown Inc., its publisher, is a well-established player in the legal software market and has been around since the early 1990’s. The ...

Here’s a story I’m sure you’ve heard a thousand times before: A middle-aged, middle-class attorney gets divorced, and moves out of his house in the suburbs. Still saddled with a large mortgage and confiscatory property taxes on a house in ...

There has been a great deal of discussion over the past six months about the Obama Administration’s crackdown on offshore tax havens used by U.S. citizens to avoid paying income tax. U.S. Bancorp (UBS), Lichtenstein, Switzerland, Report of Foreign Bank ...

The Cash for Clunkers program has come and gone, and like most, if not all, government interferences in the market, its primary effect has been to transfer wealth from the poor and powerless to the wealthy and influential. Consider its ...

In the Chicago office of Foley & Lardner, partner Donna Pugh characterizes herself as a heavy user of marketing tools to develop clients. “I’m constantly thinking of unusual ways to engage clients and prospects,” says Pugh, who works in the ...

I’m writing this month’s column at 5:00 a.m., which means that the potential for wit and humor is out the window. Nevertheless, while this column may be a bit sleepy, it is packed full of essential information – specifically, how ...

For all of human existence, the greatest minds of the ages and cultures have wrestled with the question: What are we here for? Contemplating our place in the universe is the stuff of amateur and sophisticated philosophers alike. When lawyers ...

On Sept. 11, Milwaukee attorney Alan D. Eisenberg defended himself before the Wisconsin Supreme Court, which is considering whether to sanction him for his conduct in filing a frivolous lawsuit. He said that he feared the hearing would be the ...

Are you a candidate for Linux? Take this simple test. When you have computer issues, do you prefer to seek help from the person in the neighboring office rather than an online forum? Do you like your technology as “out ...

INSURANCE (in-shuur-ents), n. 1. An agreement by which one party (the insurer) commits to do something of value for another party (the insured) upon the occurrence of some specified contingency; esp., an agreement by which one party assumes a risk ...

The countdown to the public release of Windows 7 has started — the official release is scheduled for October 22. I have been working with betas and release candidates of Windows 7 for the past several months, and it looks ...

With the recession hurting revenue, cutting expenses is the most feasible way for law firms to preserve profitability. But some expenses are better targets than others. For example, canceling meetings that bring people together for training, sharing of best practices, ...

The question of whether Wisconsin’s diploma privilege violates the dormant Commerce Clause by discriminating against out-of-state law students and law schools is back before the district court. The issue the court must decide, on remand from the Seventh Circuit, is ...

“Every man who says frankly and fully what he thinks is doing a public service.” So says Leslie Stephen, a 19th Century British philosopher. Saying frankly and fully what one believes, while not being public service on all counts, contributes ...

Theodore J. “TJ” Perlick-Molinari is an associate with the Birdsall Law Offices S.C. in Milwaukee, where he has committed himself to the defense of people charged with serious criminal and drunk driving offenses. He represents Dist. 2 on the Board ...

Imagine if the federal government indicted someone for a victimless crime that in no way affected interstate commerce or any other legitimate federal interest, but no Article III judge would hear the case. That would be the situation if every ...

So much to your children’s embarrassment, you’re on Facebook for fun and maybe marketing, too. Want to really annoy your kids? Embrace Web. 2.0. You’ll soon be all over the Web, and probably even getting new clients along the way. ...

As almost any family law attorney can attest, manipulative payors exist. Unfortunately, due to a recent decision from the Wisconsin Supreme Court, their gamesmanship may continue. Christensen v. Sullivan, 2009 WI 87 (July 21, 2009), concerned a 2006 order of ...

Believe it or not, some lawyers are getting new business from new clients, and when they do they may face an issue that, if not handled properly, could stop new business before it starts. The issue: whether to charge a ...

I’m so excited. The Wisconsin State Bar is updating its logo and slogan. It seems like just yesterday that they came up with the slogan, “Expert Advisers. Serving You.” For whatever reason, what was good enough a few years ago ...

Congress is exceeding its Commerce Clause powers again. This time, it’s S. 909, the “Matthew Shepard Hate Crimes Prevention Act,” which was recently passed by the Senate. Congress actually invokes two sources of authority for the law: to guarantee citizens ...

Just about every time I interview an attorney and ask what he or she does for fun, the answer invariably is “travel.” If that’s your interest, you might want to visit Bing.com the next time you’re searching the Web. The ...

There is no shortage of allegations of investment fraud since the stock market tanked last year. Last month attorney Marc Dreier was sentenced to 20 years in prison for heading a Ponzi scheme that caused investors to lose more than ...

Law firms are not exempt from the legal requirements to operate a workplace free from discrimination. That means ensuring that characteristics other than an individual’s skills, experience and knowledge do not become factors in making employment decisions — including layoffs ...

While family lawyers were sleeping, two bullets were dodged. Or, more accurately, one bullet was dodged and one deflected for the time being. Last week, I summarized the family law portions of the recent Supreme Court decision in Tensfeldt v. ...

For insight into the legal profession’s current troubles, compare the career experience of lawyers with that of doctors. In the medical profession, interns work with older practitioners, learning both practice and client/patient communication skills. Eventually, the young physician takes over ...

The opinions issued by the Wisconsin Supreme Court are too long. John J. Kircher, a professor at Marquette Law School, recently calculated that, since 1978, the average length of their opinions has quadrupled. The court’s longest opinion in 1978 took ...

As I look back at my columns so far, it’s occurred to me that I might be starting to sound like your mother. So rather than nagging you about having a good attitude and not drinking too much, I’ve decided ...