Jun

21

Memories of Sensenbrenner Hall (Part 1)

Posted by: | June 21, 2010 | 4 Comments

As the Law School community prepares to leave our current home and move into a new facility, it seems appropriate to pause and recall some of the memorable events that have taken place in Sensenbrenner Hall over the years.  Professor Jack Kircher shares the first of what we hope will be many faculty memories recounting the various classroom surprises, distinguished [...]

Jun

18

From M’Naghten to Hinckley to Clark: “The Incredible Shrinking Insanity Defense”

Posted by: | June 18, 2010 | 1 Comment

In 1843, Daniel M’Naghten (left) killed the secretary of the Prime Minister of England.  Medical evidence introduced at his murder trial indicated that he suffered paranoid delusions, leading to his acquittal and eventually to judicial recognition of something like the modern insanity defense.  After a period of expansion in the mid-twentieth century, the insanity defense has been progressively [...]

Jun

17

Judge Kenesaw Mountain Landis: Marquette University Law Professor?

Posted by: | June 17, 2010 | 1 Comment

One of the legends of the Marquette University Law School is that Judge Kenesaw Mountain Landis, the first commissioner of organized baseball, was once a professor at the school. As it turns out, the story is true, at least sort of. When the Marquette University College of Law opened for its first full year in [...]

Jun

17

Theory to Practice (and the Lovely Results)

Posted by: | June 17, 2010 | Leave a Comment

This morning our Marquette Foreclosure Mediation Program was singled out as a primary reason that the Mayor of Milwaukee won a public policy award for “Innovative Response to Economic Downturn” from the Public Policy Forum, and last week the MFMP won “Lawyer of the Year” from the Milwaukee Bar Association. Not a bad week! I [...]

Jun

17

Curb Your Enthusiasm

Posted by: | June 17, 2010 | Leave a Comment

I’ve met Democratic Party Chair Mike Tate.  Mike was nice enough to speak to my Election Law clase and was candid, informative and entertaining.  I have to confess that I like the guy. I appreciate that the boys and girls that do this kind of work (on my side as well) aren’t playing beanbag. As a [...]

Jun

17

The Wisconsin Supreme Court: It’s June Madness!

Posted by: | June 17, 2010 | Leave a Comment

Yesterday, I had the privilege to join retired Judge David Deininger (a current member of the Government Accountability Board) and host Steven Walters (former chief of the Journal Sentinel’s Madison Bureau) on Legally Speaking, a production of Wisconsin Eye. We discussed the division on the Wisconsin Supreme Court and related issues, including recusal and the [...]

Jun

17

Are “Clean Election” Schemes Headed to the Supreme Court?

Posted by: | June 17, 2010 | Leave a Comment

In a recent piece in the Harvard Journal of Law & Public Policy, I predicted the “lonely death” of public campaign financing. The point was that public financing schemes that provided what are often called “rescue funds,” i.e., additional public money for candidates who face an opponent (or independent opposition) that has spent more than [...]

Jun

16

“Rah-Rah-Ah-Ah-Ah, Roma-Roma-Ma-Ma, Gaga, Ooh-La-La”: Persona, Authenticity, and the Right of Publicity Now

Posted by: | June 16, 2010 | 4 Comments

Yesterday, I posed the following questions: What is identity? As we define the right, should we only protect a person’s authentic identity (name, likeness, voice, etc.), or do we protect that constructed identity? Are Madonna’s many personas as valid as Janet’s one? These questions of authentic and constructed personas are still very much an issue [...]

Jun

16

When Did the Milwaukee Law School Actually Begin?

Posted by: | June 16, 2010 | 2 Comments

For many years, the program for the Marquette University Law School commencement has identified the Law School’s origin with the establishment of the Milwaukee Law Class in 1892. In fact, in 1992, the law school celebrated its centennial based on this assumption. According to the conventional account, the Milwaukee Law Class was begun by a [...]

Jun

15

“Greta Garbo, and Monroe, Dietrich and DiMaggio”: Persona, Authenticity, and the Right of Publicity Then

Posted by: | June 15, 2010 | Leave a Comment

Summer is here and, much to my joy, videos are back! The confluence of Lady Gaga, Glee, OK GO, and You-Tube has reminded us of the great art form of the 1980s, the video, a four- to five-minute presentation of a lip-synched musical song in which dance-choreography was more often than not a crucial element. [...]

Jun

15

Negotiating Punishment in the NFL and the NBA

Posted by: | June 15, 2010 | Leave a Comment

Every few months, there is a new media feeding frenzy surrounding a star athlete for something he has done or said off the playing field.  The allegations of sexual assault against Ben Roethlisberger provide just one recent example.  Although off-the-field misconduct may sometimes result in serious legal liability (see Plaxico Burress), the most damaging sanctions are often [...]

Jun

11

The BP Oil Disaster and College Conference Realignment: Evidence of the Need for Greater Governmental Oversight

Posted by: | June 11, 2010 | 4 Comments

Thursday’s announcement that the University of Colorado will move from the Big 12 Conference to the PAC 10, and the rumored move of Nebraska from the same conference to the Big 10, appear to be setting off a tsunami of conference switches that threatens to leave the landscape of college sports dramatically different from what [...]

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