A Better Internet? Lawyers’ Ethics? The Quality of Criminal Justice Today? New Marquette Lawyer Magazine Looks at Major Legal Questions

Marquette Lawyer Summer CoverNearly everybody uses the internet every day and, for many us, all day long. It is ubiquitous and, looked at from a long-term perspective, an amazing part of our lives. It is also far from perfect. Can it be made better?

A core aspect of addressing that goal is the prime focus of the Summer 2023 issue of Marquette Lawyer magazine. In the cover story, “The Past’s Lessons for Today: Can We Get to a Better Internet?,” James B. Speta, the Elizabeth Froehling Horner Professor of Law at Northwestern University, looks at whether common-carrier principles could be applied, in an artful and appropriate way, to combat domination of the internet by a small number of giant platforms. Speta’s piece is an essay version of the Robert F. Boden Lecture he delivered at Marquette Law School this past academic year.

Speta’s analysis and suggestions are accompanied by responses from eight other legal academics with a wide variety of experiences and perspectives (in order of presentation):

  • Kate Klonick, St. John’s University
  • Ashutosh Bhagwat, University of California, Davis
  • Sari Mazzurco, SMU Dedman
  • Eugene Volokh, UCLA
  • Howard Shelanski, Georgetown
  • Tejas N. Narechania, University of California, Berkeley
  • Eric Goldman, Santa Clara University
  • Bruce E. Boyden, Marquette University

The presentation is capped by thoughts from Congressman Ro Khanna of California, a leading figure in policy discussions about improving the internet. Khanna offers his ideas in an interview with Speta.

The full set of pieces on internet issues may be read by clicking here.

The new Marquette Lawyer also includes a probing discussion of the duties and obligations of lawyers, focused on a new book by Michael S. Ariens, L’82, who serves as the Aloysius A. Leopold Professor of Law at St. Mary’s University in San Antonio, Texas. Ariens’s book—The Lawyer’s Conscience: A History of American Lawyer Ethics—is described in the opening section of the article.

There then follow pieces engaging with Ariens’s book from three Marquette Law School faculty members—Peter K. Rofes, Rebecca K. Blemberg, and Nathaniel Romano, S.J.—and a pertinent excerpt from a 1982 law review article by the late Robert F. Boden, L’52, during his long tenure as dean of the Law School.

The whole package, titled “Acting in the Best Interests of Client and ‘King,’” may be viewed by clicking here.

Ellen Henak, a well-known criminal defense attorney and former adjunct professor at Marquette Law School, is retiring. As she draws her practice to a close, she offers careful but candid and provocative thoughts in a piece titled “Unretiring Thoughts from a Retiring Criminal Defense Lawyer,” which may be read by clicking here.

John D. Johnson, research fellow at the Marquette Law School Lubar Center for Public Policy Research and Civic Education, has done groundbreaking work analyzing significant shifts in property ownership in Milwaukee. He brings together much of his work in an article, “The Rise and Impact of Corporate Landlords.” It may be read by clicking here.

Any change in the faculty and staff of Marquette Law School is important, but retirements of two pillars of the Law School and appointments to two major positions are of particular note. In a set of short profiles, titled “Great Appreciation . . . and Great Anticipation,” we first say thank you to Professor Tom Hammer, L’75, and Associate Dean Bonnie Thomson, each of who has served for several decades. And then we welcome Derek Mosley, L’95, who was named director of the Lubar Center for Public Policy and Civic Education after serving as a Milwaukee municipal judge for 20 years, and Mary Triggiano, who will lead the Law School’s Andrew Center for Restorative Justice after serving as a judge of the Milwaukee County Circuit Court since 2004 and as chief judge since 2020. The four profiles may be read by clicking here.

In his column, titled “Leadership and Mission at Jesuit Schools Today,” Dean Joseph D. Kearney focuses on Marquette University President Michael R. Lovell and Katie Mertz, L’11, director of pro bono and public service at the Law School. Lovell recently honored Mertz with a Marquette University “Difference Maker” award. The column may be read by clicking here.

Finally: the Class Notes describe recent accomplishments of more than 30 Marquette lawyers and may be read by clicking here, and the back cover (here) makes a point about the Marquette Law School Poll.

The full magazine may be read by clicking here for the PDF or here for the “interactive” version.

Continue ReadingA Better Internet? Lawyers’ Ethics? The Quality of Criminal Justice Today? New Marquette Lawyer Magazine Looks at Major Legal Questions

New MMAC Leader Says, “We’re Going to Fight for the Whole Community”

What does Dale Kooyenga like about Milwaukee?

The question came from a member of the audience at a program at Marquette Law School’s Eckstein Hall on Tuesday (April 25, 2023). The questioner said she assumed that Kooyenga didn’t like Milwaukee because he was formerly a Republican member of the Wisconsin legislature who lives in the Milwaukee suburb of Brookfield. The way Republicans in the legislature have butted heads with Milwaukee leaders, generally Democrats, is a long-standing dynamic of Wisconsin politics.

But Kooyenga answered empathically that he shouldn’t be counted as part of that, not when looking at his past record and especially not when looking at his new role as senior vice president of the Milwaukee Metropolitan Association of Commerce. Kooyenga is expected to succeed the long-time president of the MMAC, Tim Sheehy.

For one thing, Kooyenga said, his state Senate district in recent years included some parts of the city of Milwaukee, and he was proud to represent the full district. For another thing, Kooyenga said, ask former Milwaukee Mayor Tom Barrett if Kooyenga was someone who Milwaukee leaders could talk to.

But, more broadly, Kooyenga had to pause before answering what he  likes about Milwaukee because, as he put it, “it’s a long list.” Recreational opportunities, spectator sports, the ease of doing things, the life his family is able to live, the diverse people of the metropolitan area, and, simply, the friendly character of Milwaukee and Milwaukeeans. Kooyenga said he grew up in Chicago and came to the Milwaukee area initially to go to college. He assumed he’d move back to Chicago as soon as he could. But he quickly decided Milwaukee was a great place to live — and he hasn’t left.

Furthermore, he said, don’t peg him in his new role by his partisanship in the past. “We’re going to fight for the whole community. . . . That’s important to me,” he said. “The MMAC will do what’s in Milwaukee’s best interest.”

Kooyenga said that for years, the MMAC has based its programs on four goals for the Milwaukee area: livability, growth, talent, and equity. He said the organization will continue to pursue those goals.

He praised Milwaukee Mayor Cavalier Johnson and Milwaukee County Executive David Crowley for the effort they are putting into building relationships with state leaders in Madison, including Republican legislative leaders. Their work will pay “huge dividends,” he said. And allowing local sales taxes to support government in Milwaukee – an idea that Johnson, Crowley, the MMAC, and others are supporting — “has to happen.”   

Kooyenga’s spoke at the first session of a new program of the Law School’s Lubar Center for Public Policy Research and Civic Education. Called “Get to Know,” the programs will be hosted by Derek Mosley, the new director of the Lubar Center, and are intended to provide a somewhat informal chance to meet interesting people involved in Milwaukee and the rest of Wisconsin.

The conversation with Kooyenga, Mosley, and members of the audience may be viewed by clicking below.

Continue ReadingNew MMAC Leader Says, “We’re Going to Fight for the Whole Community”

New Milwaukee Leaders Offer Inspiring Personal Stories in Lubar Center Program  

When four of Milwaukee’s still-new, still-young elected leaders gathered for a program in the Lubar Center of Marquette Law School on Tuesday (March 21, 2023), they gave their perspectives on “a tale of two cities,” as Milwaukee County Executive David Crowley put it. One was the Milwaukee that is thriving socially and economically, one was the Milwaukee where that is far less true.

A striking aspect of the leaders is that all four come from some of those “far less true” neighborhoods, and each found a path to success. If you were looking for inspiration or role modeling, the leaders offered it in their personal stories.

A common denominator for all four was they were helped by adults – teachers, youth program workers, and others – who cared personally about them, put them in constructive settings, and showed them ways to help their communities.

Derek Mosley, the new director of the Law School’s Lubar Center for Public Policy Research and Civic Education, began the session by asking each of the four what it was like for them growing up in Milwaukee.

Crowley said he lived much of his childhood in the neighborhood around N. 23rd and W. Burleigh St. His family life included drug addiction and mental health problems. But he praised the mentoring he found in Milwaukee Public Schools (there were times when MPS teachers were the most stable factor in his life) and in involvement in the Urban Underground youth organization.

Marcelia Nicholson, chair of the Milwaukee County Board, grew up in the same part of the city. “I remember learning having to go under the bed when we heard gun shots at night,” she said. “I saw all sorts of things that no child should ever see.” But her parents instilled in her the value of education. She said, “When I was hiding under the bed, I was reading books, and it was the teachers in the Milwaukee Public School system who nurtured me.” 

Milwaukee Mayor Cavalier Johnson went to seven elementary schools, experienced homelessness and food insecurity, and lived some of the time in the same 53206 zip code where Crowley and Nicholson lived. His involvement in the YMCA made a big difference to him, involving him with adults who helped care for him. He later worked for the Y.

Jose Perez, president of the Milwaukee Common Council, grew up on the south side. There were good and bad aspects to the neighborhood, but he learned to maneuver through all of it. The Felix Mantilla Little League, a youth sports program, became an important involvement for him as a youth.

As Mosley pointed out, each of them is a trailblazer in city leadership – Crowley and Johnson the first elected Black heads of county and city government, Nicholson the first Black and Hispanic woman to lead the County Board, and Perez the first Hispanic president of the Common Council.

The four talked about what they are doing to tackle major issues facing Milwaukee – a long-term decline in population, safety and crime issues, the social service needs of many city residents, the need for more family-supporting jobs, the financial pressures on both the county and city due to aid from the state of Wisconsin stagnating while the cost of services increases.

They pointed to bright spots – Milwaukee has one of the lowest per capita rates of long-term homelessness of any city in the nation, crime overall declined  from 2021 to 2022 (although it is still higher than in prior years and homicide records have been set in recent years), some large employers are expanding in the city, and relations with Republican legislative leaders  have improved (although no results yet in getting more state aid).

Overall, there was an atmosphere of cooperation, determination to address needs, and commitment to make Milwaukee a better place for all. And there was praise for the great things Milwaukee has to offer people.

Referring to the work being done by each of the four, Mosley pointed to the impact on them of their personal backgrounds. “A lot of that has to do with how you all lead,” Mosley said.

Four people who might have ended up on paths full of personal problems. Four people who found role models, stability, and help getting them on to positive paths. Four people boosted by teachers and youth workers, as well as by family members.

And now, four adults who have become influential leaders in Milwaukee.

Leaders are generally judged by their policies, decisions, and whether they can show tangible progress due to their work. But intangibles and personal stories matter and can offer valuable lessons. Both the tangibles and intangibles were the subject of the program in the Lubar Center, and both were important.

The program may be viewed here.

Continue ReadingNew Milwaukee Leaders Offer Inspiring Personal Stories in Lubar Center Program  
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