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

The Wisconsin Innocence Project (WIP) does not offer formalized services to exonerees, because that’s not its area of training or expertise. “But it depends on the individual case,” says WIP co-director, Professor Keith A. Findley. “We do what we can. ...

Mike Piaskowski spent five and a half years behind bars for a crime he didn’t commit. But even after a federal judge overturned the conviction in 2001 due to insufficient evidence, in many ways Piaskowski is still a prisoner of ...

State offers little support for exonerated individuals

Ohio voting case similar to Wisconsin’s

Does anyone remember reading Tumey v. Ohio, 273 U.S. 510 (1927), and Ward v. Village of Monroeville, 409 U.S. 57 (1972), back in law school? Has anyone come across them doing research while practicing law? Probably not. In Tumey, the ...

Divorce is often a tricky venture even in good economic times. But one thing family law attorneys could usually bank on was that their client’s assets, especially real estate, would find a buyer in a relatively short amount of time. ...

Law partner at Devereux Murphy sees the package blow up

Court says employee must feel harassed to be harassed

Change would only allow citing cases issued after July 1, 2009

Supreme Court hearing set for Oct. 14

The Wisconsin Judicial Commission has filed a complaint against Justice Michael J. Gableman for an ad that ran during the 2008 Supreme Court race. Alleging that the ad contained “false statements” and a “misrepresentation of the facts,” the commission’s complaint ...

The U.S. District Court in the Western District of Wisconsin has issued what appears to be first opinion in the country since D.C. v. Heller, 128 S.Ct. 2783 (2008), to consider whether the federal ban on possession of firearms by ...

“Don’t be greedy!” It’s a demand that we’ve all heard and made before. But rarely is the cost as great as that in a recent case from federal court in Illinois — more than $6.5 million. Steven Manning was a ...

Crime lab complaint calls for independent investigation

The Wisconsin Judicial Commission’s complaint against Justice Michael J. Gableman for an ad that ran during the 2008 Supreme Court race was a step in the right direction, according to a University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee professor. Alleging that the ad contained ...

Webcam is computerized communication

A proposed ordinance, which would require all non-government employers in the city of Milwaukee to provide up to nine days of paid sick leave annually, has some attorneys feeling a little queasy. The referendum will appear on all Milwaukee ballots ...

Nov. 22 is a big day for attorney Michael A. Lutz. For the 45th year, he will celebrate the start of the gun deer hunting season with his father on a slice of land near his native Shawano. But Lutz ...

Specialty court programs provide alternatives to incarceration

Three women lawyers reflect on their battles with breast cancer

Even though new Chief Judge Jeffrey A. Kremers is working through the Milwaukee County budget process for the first time, he is all too familiar with the annual reductions to court operations proposed by County Executive Scott Walker. In his ...

The recently concluded term of the U.S. Supreme Court provides new opportunities for criminal defense attorneys in defending their clients. In cases ranging from equal protection challenges to Second Amendment rights, Attorney Paul Rashkind, supervisory federal defender for the Southern ...

On the day a state grant was to expire, the Milwaukee County District Attorney’s Office learned that an additional $50,000 in funding will be provided for its witness protection program. According to lead investigator David Budde, the funding, which was ...

Assisting a relative in committing suicide is not a bar to recovering under his will. The relatives in the case deny that they assisted a suicide, and no charges were ever brought alleging that they did. But the Wisconsin Court ...

Since 1995, the Wisconsin State Public Defender’s Office has been unable to secure an increase in the compensation rate for private bar attorneys. So the agency is taking a slightly different approach with its next budget proposal – reduce the ...

In a prosecution for sexual assault of a child, the state may ask an expert witness about typical signs indicating that a child has been “coached” to make a false allegation, and whether the child exhibits such signs. However, prosecutors ...

The director of legal services for the Menominee Indian Tribe of Wisconsin usually keeps an eye on cases involving the tribe he represents, or Seventh Circuit cases involving other Native American groups. However, earlier this summer, he was also paying ...

Limited liability companies (LLCs) can’t appear in federal court without an attorney. The Seventh Circuit held on Sept. 26 that, as is the case with corporations and partnerships, one of the costs of organizing a business in that fashion is ...

Attorneys underutilize social networking Web pages

The state’s code of professional conduct for attorneys permits current Attorney General J.B. Van Hollen to sue one of his current clients, the Government Accountability Board (GAB). But whether it’s a proper use of his power is yet to be ...