Theory to Practice (and the Lovely Results)

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 have to got to say that the public response to our program — and more importantly, the response of the people we have helped in the past year to stay in their homes — has been more than gratifying. 

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Curb Your Enthusiasm

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 consultant on my side told me, we can’t play nice when the other guys play nasty. I couldn’t argue with her. It’s a classic game of hawks and doves. To paraphrase Justice Scalia, if one side fights freestyle, the other cannot adhere to the Marquis of Queensbury Rules.

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The Wisconsin Supreme Court: It’s June Madness!

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 disciplinary proceeding involving Justice Gableman. You can watch it here.

We can expect to see a lot from the court in the coming weeks. It generally tries to wrap up its term by the end of June or the first part of July and generally will decide all cases argued during the term.

There are over forty cases that have been argued this term and have yet to be decided. While they are all important in their own way, some address major unresolved legal and policy questions, including the validity of the Wisconsin marriage amendment, Milwaukee’s sick pay ordinance, and the legislature’s $ 200 million dollar “raid” on the Patients Compensation Fund. It will address the Gableman case and a number of interesting criminal cases.

I expect to be busy.

Cross posted at Shark and Shepherd.

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