Dec

5

Greetings From Your December Alumni Blogger!

Posted by: | December 5, 2011 | Leave a Comment

As I’m sure many of you have read, there have been numerous articles lately discussing how in the current economic climate some clients are refusing to pay for work done by first year associates. These articles often go on to criticize law schools in general for inundating students with legal theory only, and not preparing [...]

Print Friendly

Nov

27

Trying to Get Away From Lawyers? Wisconsin May Not Be Such a Bad Place to Be

Posted by: | November 27, 2011 | Leave a Comment

The United States Bureau of Labor Statistics calculates what it calls the “location quotient” for individual occupations.  This statistic is computed on a state-by-state basis and reflects the percentage of a jurisdiction’s population employed in a particular job or profession. The “location quotient” looks at the place in which the job is performed and not [...]

Print Friendly

Nov

17

Tackling the Unauthorized Practice of Law in Wisconsin Today

Posted by: | November 17, 2011 | 2 Comments

Professor Michael McChrystal once pointed out that in the State of Wisconsin, the penalty for working as a beautician without a license is not much different from the penalty for practicing law without a license.

Print Friendly

Nov

13

Typography for Lawyers

Posted by: | November 13, 2011 | 1 Comment

“The four most important typographic choices you make in any document are point size, line spacing, line length, and font, because those choices determine how the body text looks.” Matthew Butterick, Typography for Lawyers: Essential Tools for Polished and Persuasive Documents, “Summary of Key Rules” (2010). Does that sentence make any sense to you? If [...]

Print Friendly

Nov

4

Three Mentors

Posted by: | November 4, 2011 | Leave a Comment

When I was attending law school, I always heard about the importance of having mentors.  I recall Professor Fallone quipping about his professor, Archibald Cox, and encouraging my Constitutional Law class to adopt heroes in the law.

Print Friendly

Nov

3

Pro Bono: A Lot to Celebrate

Posted by: | November 3, 2011 | Leave a Comment

Last week, as part of the American Bar Association’s coordinated effort to showcase the great difference pro bono makes, we hosted our third annual Pro Bono Celebration.  This gave us opportunity to highlight some of our community partners.  We celebrated with balloons and cake in the conference center and heard from Beth Cordes Thompson, Director [...]

Print Friendly

Oct

20

The Face in the Window

Posted by: | October 20, 2011 | Leave a Comment

John Luther Bryant was a happy guy as he drove down the dusty roads of rural Pickens County, Alabama.  Life was good on the family farm where he and his spinster sister, Miss Grace Bryant, worked to scratch out a living and raise enough food and chickens to support themselves while enjoying the peace and [...]

Print Friendly

Oct

4

Appearing Before the Court

Posted by: | October 4, 2011 | Leave a Comment

[Editor's Note: This month faculty members share their favorite brief writing or oral argument tip. This is the first entry in the series.] When people ask me about the most helpful tip I can give for writing a brief and appearing in front of the Wisconsin Supreme Court, my answer is always “preparation, preparation, preparation.” [...]

Print Friendly

Sep

16

Law Firms Are Not Run Like Businesses

Posted by: | September 16, 2011 | Leave a Comment

I remember my first “real” interview after I graduated from MULS (this phrase may explain my lack of success in OCI).  One thing the managing attorney said to me continues to stick out in my memory, especially now that I have started my own mediation firm.  “Firms are not run like businesses.”  He stated this [...]

Print Friendly

Sep

13

Growing Pains

Posted by: | September 13, 2011 | 2 Comments

I recently had the opportunity to re-read the personal statement I submitted with my Marquette Law School application, now almost three years ago, for one of my current classes.  While many things had changed—for example I am now far less idealistic, definitely less “bright-eyed and bushy-tailed,” and no longer have a passion for criminal law—the [...]

Print Friendly

Sep

2

Four Easy Pieces: Organization

Posted by: | September 2, 2011 | Leave a Comment

It’s the beginning of another academic year, and therefore it’s a good time to discuss the mechanics of writing and research. These are topics I cover briefly with students who take seminar classes from me, but I thought they might be useful to a broader audience. In a series of a few posts, I’m going [...]

Print Friendly

Aug

16

Dean Howard Eisenberg in His Own Voice

Posted by: | August 16, 2011 | 4 Comments

One of the activities that many of us faculty members undertake during the summer months is to clean out some drawers and shelves. While recently tackling that chore, I was thrilled to find an old tape from a 1999 conference we put on at the law school on “Spirituality and Work.” I had forgotten that Dean Howard Eisenberg [...]

Print Friendly
« previous entries — keep looking »