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

The U.S. Supreme Court has changed course after nearly 50 years by deciding that the touchstone of Fourth Amendment jurisprudence is trespass to a property interest, not reasonable expectation of privacy.

Tagged with: Bench Blog Court of Appeals Florida v. Jardines Fourth Amendment GPS Jean DiMotto Milwaukee County Circuit Court

When justly convicted Wisconsin inmates are released, they walk out of prison armed with a written plan for re-entering society and the phone number of at least one state employee who will guide them through the transition.

Tagged with: DNA editorial Forest Shomberg Innocence Project

I’ve been a longtime Dropbox devotee for sharing large files and collaborating on projects. It’s free and easy to use.

Tagged with: American Bar Association smartphones

Good news! Someone you went to high school with and doesn’t understand what kind of law you practice has endorsed you on LinkedIn!

Tagged with: LinkedIn

Summer vacations and long weekends at the cabin or campground are being replaced by meetings and social events. That can mean only one thing: it’s time to start networking.

Tagged with: networking

Too many lawyers — including some very good ones — don’t prepare witnesses adequately because they fail to understand that being a witness is dramatically different than anything else the client has experienced.

Tagged with: witness

Remember that defendant I wrote about on Wednesday who was representing himself in his incest trial? Well, on Thursday he threatened to call the FBI on Milwaukee County Circuit Judge David Borowski.

Tagged with: David T. Prosser David Ziemer Judges

In a new court of appeals case, the doctrine of mutual mistake in a home sale contract meets a motion for sanctions based on frivolous claims.

Tagged with: Bench Blog breach of contract Court of Appeals Jean DiMotto Kevin Martens Kitty Brennan

Five weeks. Three lawsuits. One trial.

Tagged with: Annette Kingsland Ziegler Patience Drake Roggensack

Most lawyers take pride in zealous advocacy on behalf of their clients.

Tagged with: Ed Poll Lawbiz Coaches Corner Rules of Professional Conduct

e-Discovery Assistant is a subscription-based iPad app that was introduced in July. The application is the brainchild of former Quarles & Brady partner Kelly Twigger, who founded ESI Attorneys, a firm specializing in e-discovery and information law, in 2009.

Tagged with: Bev Butula e-discovery Kelly Twigger Quarles & Brady

I know parents sharing a bed with their kids is a hotly contested issue. When I lived in Pensacola, Fla., the area’s medical examiner put her face on multiple billboards that essentially said “Don’t do it. It’s dangerous and I should know, I do the autopsies.”

Tagged with: N. Patrick Crooks Shirley S. Abrahamson Wisconsin Supreme Court

Milwaukee recently saw its 11th co-sleeping death this year. In response, County Supervisor Mark Borkowski suggested state legislators enact new laws that would permit prosecutors to bring “manslaughter” charges against parents who cause the death of a child through co-sleeping.

Tagged with: Anthony Cotton co-sleeping Kuchler & Cotton Mark Borkowski On the Defensive

After almost 20 years as a jury consultant, I have seen, talked about and/or been a party to many types of jury research; some great, some terrible and a lot in between.

Tagged with: Jury jury selection

It is not the strongest of the species that survives, nor the most intelligent that survives, Charles Dawin said. It is the one that is the most adaptable to change.

Prenuptial agreements designed to govern a future divorce are strange animals.

Tagged with: Family Law Gregg Herman JoAnne Kloppenburg Loeb & Herman Todd Bjerke

It will be interesting to see how likely a soon-to-be-proposed bill regarding state Supreme Court term limits fares as it makes its way through the Legislature.

Tagged with: Eric Heisig

A recent LA Times column describes a twist in medical fees. A specialist, in this case a cardiologist, is charging a premium retainer fee for accessibility. And that’s just access, not treatment.

Tagged with: Ed Poll Lawbiz Coaches Corner Rules of Professional Conduct

I missed Constitution Day last week. What I didn’t miss however, was the release of a new iOS app for the Constitution Annotated (also known as the U.S. Constitution: Analysis and Interpretation).

Tagged with: Bev Butula Constitution

It’s been said that most people hate lawyers in general, but love their own.

Tagged with: Jane Pribek Joel Aziere Legal Cents Stafford Rosenbaum LLP

When someone is called as a witness in any kind of legal matter, it’s usually a new and disturbing experience.

Tagged with: Department of Justice witness

When there’s no objection to jury instructions, how can they be faulty enough to warrant reversal?

Tagged with: Bench Blog Court of Appeals Dennis Cimpl Jean DiMotto Joan Kessler Milwaukee County Circuit Court

In criminal prosecutions, defendants often feel as if they are fighting an impossible battle.

Tagged with: Anthony Cotton DEA Kuchler & Cotton National Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers On the Defensive U.S. Supreme Court Wisconsin Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers

Fifty-two counts of alleged misconduct are pending against attorney Bridget Boyle-Saxton.

Tagged with: Bridget Boyle-Saxton OLR State Bar Wisconsin Supreme Court

When a settlement is reached between the parties, there often remains much in the way of details to iron out.

Tagged with: McCoy Leavitt Laskey settlement

One of the most successful and pervasive small-business sectors is one many people (often including those who are in it) don’t even think of as a business: the single-practitioner law firm.

Tagged with: CLE Ed Poll Lawbiz Coaches Corner

Should Wisconsin legislators have complete immunity to lawsuits while they are in office and perhaps beyond?

Tagged with: J.B. Van Hollen Leah Vukmir open records law

As noted in my previous column, there are enormous gaps between a witness’s real-world experiences and those in the strange world of being a witness.

Tagged with: Expert witness

New Securities and Exchange Commission rules that go into effect Sept. 23 offer benefits, but require additional duties for securities issuers.

Tagged with: Murphy Desmond SEC

The WHA Information Center, a subsidiary of the Wisconsin Hospital Association, provides access to a variety of information.

Tagged with: Bev Butula