Mar

31

The Other Final Four

Posted by: | March 31, 2009 | Leave a Comment

The semifinal round of this spring’s Jenkins Moot Court Competition took place last night. As previously described, sixteen top students from the Appellate Writing and Advocacy Class were invited to compete in the Jenkins Competition, in teams of two. Last week, that field of eight teams was narrowed to four. Last night’s arguments narrowed the [...]

Mar

30

Rule of Law in Iraq and Afghanistan: Building a “Culture of Rules” From the Bottom Up

Posted by: | March 30, 2009 | 1 Comment

On March 27, President Barack Obama addressed the nation regarding his proposed “Development, Diplomacy and Defense” approach to addressing the “increasingly perilous” threat of Al Qaeda.  Although his plan includes increased military presence in Afghanistan, he also emphasized the importance of developing the institutional infrastructure from the “bottom up” so that local actors will invest [...]

Mar

30

Seeking a Practical Age Discrimination Standard

Posted by: | March 30, 2009 | Leave a Comment

In Gross v. FBL Financial Services, Inc., being argued Tuesday, March 31, the Supreme Court will address how to analyze mixed-motive claims under the Age Discrimination in Employment Act (ADEA). Nothing less than meaningful access for employment discrimination plaintiffs to relief under Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1991 (CRA of 1991) is [...]

Mar

29

Seventh Circuit Week in Review: Crook Impersonates Cop, Cop Impersonates Teenager

Posted by: | March 29, 2009 | Leave a Comment

The Seventh Circuit had only two new opinions in criminal cases last week, with both focusing on sentencing issues.  The first, United States v. Abbas, clarified the harmless error doctrine as it relates to mistaken sentencing calculations.  The second, United States v. Nagel, considered the constitutionality of a ten-year mandatory minimum for enticement of a minor.  By some coincidence, [...]

Mar

28

Fame v. Accuracy in Persuasion

Posted by: | March 28, 2009 | 1 Comment

Columnists in both the New York Times and Newsweek in the last few weeks have discussed how often we tend to be persuaded by people who are just plain wrong.  And, as a follow-up to our media and conflict resolution conference last week, it was interesting to realize what part the media plays in helping the [...]

Mar

27

The Concise Gibberish of the Law

Posted by: | March 27, 2009 | 6 Comments

If you like thinking about the way lawyers use words and how and why that usage is different from the way normal people, er, I mean, non-lawyers use words, take a moment this Friday afternoon to read Language Log’s take on the New Jersey case of a slip-and-fall verdict overturned because a law professor subsequently wrote [...]

Mar

27

First Dog Fighting, Now Pensions

Posted by: | March 27, 2009 | Leave a Comment

In to the glamorous world of ERISA and pensions, former star quarterback Michael Vick now finds himself (via ESPN.com): The federal Department of Labor is accusing imprisoned NFL star Michael Vick of illegally withdrawing more than $1.3 million from a pension plan . . . . The department says Vick made a series of prohibited [...]

Mar

25

Jenkins Moot Court Competition Finalists Prepare for Final Arguments This Thursday, April 2

Posted by: | March 25, 2009 | Leave a Comment

The semifinal round of this spring’s Jenkins Moot Court Competition took place last night.   As previously described, sixteen top students from the Appellate Writing and Advocacy Class were invited to compete  in the Jenkins Competition, in teams of two.  Last week, that field of eight teams was narrowed to four.  Last night’s arguments narrowed the competition [...]

Mar

25

International Media & Conflict Resolution Conference

Posted by: | March 25, 2009 | 1 Comment

Last weekend, we hosted a truly special gathering of scholars and practitioners in the areas of media, journalism, international relations, communications, psychology, law, and dispute resolution. I will be blogging a few more times about the conference, abstracts, and upcoming issue of the Marquette Law Review on the symposium, but wanted, for now, to post a [...]

Mar

25

Wisconsin Supreme Court Accepts Three New Cases, Including a Case That Will Determine Whether a Crime with No Sexual Component May Trigger Sex Offender Registration Requirements

Posted by: | March 25, 2009 | Leave a Comment

  Today the Wisconsin Supreme Court accepted three new cases for review, two criminal cases and one civil case. One of the criminal cases, State v. Smith, 2008AP1011, asks the court to determine whether the sex offender registration statute, Wisconsin Statute section 301.45, is unconstitutional in its application to a defendant whose crime, false imprisonment [...]

Mar

25

Hot Potato Conflicts

Posted by: | March 25, 2009 | 1 Comment

I recently taught about successive conflicts in my ethics class, and there could be no better timing than the Fish & Richardson case to explain the hot potato scenario.  The “hot potato doctrine” means that firms are generally prohibited from dropping smaller clients (like hot potatoes) in order to pick up more lucrative clients. Apparently, [...]

Mar

23

New Issue of Marquette Intellectual Property Law Review Is Here

Posted by: | March 23, 2009 | Leave a Comment

Thanks to the outstanding work of its editors and staff members, the Winter 2009 issue of the Marquette Intellectual Property Law Review has just been released to the public! The issue opens with an article from Professor Jerome H. Reichman, the Bunyan S. Womble Professor of Law at Duke Law School, on “Rethinking the Role of Clinical Trial Data [...]

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