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

There are a variety of resources available when looking for Presidential documents.

Tagged with: Bev Butula

Just when you thought it was safe, more disappointing news came out this month about our state Supreme Court.

Tagged with: G.A.B. Government Accountability Board Michael Best & Friedrich Michael Gableman Supreme Court Wisconsin Democracy Campaign

Now that, after an 11-year hiatus, I've returned to being a full-time courthouse rat, people ask me what's the biggest difference.

Tagged with: The Dark Side Ziemer

Previous posts in this series have examined the latest available incarceration data from Indiana, Minnesota, and Wisconsin. This post considers historical data. I’m particularly interested in the impact of a major change in sentencing law that was adopted in Wisconsin in 1998.

Tagged with: Blawg Log Greipp O'Hear Truth-in-Sentencing

The cost of malpractice insurance is an issue for every lawyer. Annual malpractice premiums cost thousands of dollars, often straining the ability of small firms and sole practitioners to purchase when premiums approach 10 percent or more of their income on a product they likely will never need.

Tagged with: Insurance malpractice

A while ago I realized that sometimes I’m a walking advertisement. The Nike swoosh on my running gear, the Bucky Badger sweatshirt and the Rolex crown on my watch.

Tagged with: Legal Cents marketing

The State Bar of Wisconsin taxes its members and then refuses to completely reveal how that money is spent.

Tagged with: dues George Brown State Bar Wisconsin State Bar

If dictionaries were written by lawyers, one of the definitions for “frustration” would say “finding a case directly on point, but being unable to cite it because it is unpublished.”

Tagged with: citation David Ziemer The Dark Side Wisconsin Court of Appeals Wisconsin Supreme Court Ziemer

Did you know that UW Milwaukee is home to the American Geographical Society Library? I had the pleasure of hearing one of their librarians speak yesterday. The talk was a fascinating exploration of the library’s physical and online collection of maps, atlases, journals, and photographs.

Tagged with: Bev Butula

Am I right to assume that Organized Baseball today would reject an application from a well-funded, well-organized independent league that wanted to join the National Association?

Tagged with: Blawg Log Hylton O'Hear

I had been generally aware that some congressmen who don’t like the First Amendment and who particularly dislike the U.S. Supreme Court opinion in Citizens United v. FEC, 130 S.Ct. 876 (2010), wanted to get around the decision by passing a constitutional amendment to overturn it.

Tagged with: First Amendment Lochner v. New York The Dark Side Ziemer

Several months after first proposing sweeping changes to streamline the union representation election process in June – the so-called “quickie election” rules – the National Labor Relations Board has approved a more modest, scaled back set of reforms.

Tagged with: Elections Krukowski & Costello National Labor Relations Board NLRB

It may be as accurate to say that Wisconsin’s lower imprisonment rate leads to its lower crime rate, as it is to say that Wisconsin’s lower crime rate leads to its lower imprisonment rate. There is probably a certain amount of truth to both propositions.

Tagged with: Blawg Log O'Hear

Delegation can be a touchy subject for business owners.

Did you know that the Wisconsin Department of Public Instruction maintains a wonderful resource called the Wisconsin Digital Archives?

Tagged with: Bev Butula

Confusion continues over the new Department of Administration rules announced December 1 which require advance permits for many demonstrations held within the Wisconsin State Capitol.

Tagged with: Blawg Log Fallone

This year, July 20 was a day that came and went seemingly unworthy of note in the world of employment law.

Tagged with: Job Cites Supreme Court

Clifford Winston, a senior analyst at Brookings, recently expounded on a truly subversive thought: By requiring lawyers to have a law degree and pass the bar exam, the profession seeks to restrict the supply of new lawyers and thus perpetuates a monopoly.

Tagged with: Ed Poll Lawbiz Coaches Corner

When a jury is selected to try a case, the trial judge has the responsibility to ensure that the jury's verdict is based on three things, and three things alone.

Tagged with: Blawg Log Dimotto O'Hear trial

Lawyers need to keep their tempers in check no matter how frustrating it can be dealing with judges who tend to move to the beat of their own drummer.

The first two months of 2011 brought Wisconsin a new Legislature, a new governor and a wave of tort reform.

Tagged with: Daubert expert testimony tort Tort Report Torts

Many of us maintain a LinkedIn account for business networking. Some of us utilize this tool to post articles of professional interest; others include speaking engagements or conduct polls on relevant topics.

Tagged with: Bev Butula LinkedIn

If my first year of law school was any indication, first year law students are looking ahead to final exams during the coming weeks with some trepidation.

Tagged with: Blawg Log free speech Law school Scott Walker

A Connecticut judge recently ordered a divorcing couple to share their Facebook and other online social media passwords.

Tagged with: divorce Family Law Gregg Herman Loeb & Herman Social media

On Monday, the U.S. Supreme Court agreed to hear a case that gives the Court an opportunity to clarify a longstanding ambiguity in harmless error law.

Tagged with: Blawg Log O'Hear

An ancient witticism goes something like this: The children are the future … And that’s why I stockpile so much ammunition.

Tagged with: The Dark Side Ziemer

Law firm management can talk all it wants about policies, procedures and infrastructure, but results are what matter.

The role of business counsel is complex. Counsel is not only responsible for producing a legal and enforceable negotiated agreement, but also to try and get the best deal for clients while conducting the negotiation in a way that reflects positively on them.

Tagged with: Practice Management

T’is the season for my annual look at what’s hot on the gift list for techno-lawyers. After a completely unscientific poll of my legal colleagues and a healthy dose of my own bias, here are my 2011 recommendations.

Tagged with: Ron Phillips

The Government Printing Office recently announced the release of its first mobile application.

Tagged with: app Bev Butula