In Praise of Marquette Law’s People

One common thread running through many student bloggers on here is their writing at least one piece on the life of a law student.  And for good reason.  After all, law school is our life, from countless hours in the dungeon up on the third floor of the library (read “the cite-check room”) or in the various conference rooms practicing for moot court to slogging through piles of casebooks on the law of torts, contracts, and civil procedure.  Such is, to state the obvious, a far cry from the workload many of us had to endure during our undergraduate studies.   To be sure, it is enough work to add a few gray hairs; I can still remember how often the ASP leaders and faculty during my first-year orientation reassured my classmates and I, “You’re going to be stressed.” “We know it’s hard.” “There’s on-campus psychological counseling available.”  These stresses are so notorious, that my friends and I will frequently joke about how we should tell touring prospective students to get out while they still can.

But here’s the dirty secret: It’s really not that bad.

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Truth in Googling: Is Unfair Competition the Answer?

In my freshman year of college, a long-time friend of mine and I decided to drive down to Chicago.  Shortly before heading to the Cadillac Palace to claim our seats for a comedy act performing there that night, my companion, being an Asian-food connoisseur, steered our walk downtown towards a Japanese restaurant in River North.   The interior design was stunning: dark, vaulting ceilings; a vibrantly colored fish tank as a focal point in the back; and an elliptical-shaped sushi bar in the center emanating the colors of the ocean.   I can also picture the black and red sign outlining the specials at the establishment’s door.  More vague, however, is my memory of one crucial detail about the restaurant: it’s name.

My inability to recall the name of that restaurant has prompted a flurry of Google searches on River North Japanese restaurants.   In the process, I have found many other places with likewise appealing aesthetics and succulent sushi, but my searches have returned no hits that appear to be the restaurant I was looking for.  The interior design of the River North establishment I found myself at distinguished it from every other restaurant Google has returned to me.  But those searches no less have provided me with other possible establishments awaiting my next trip to Chicago.

Now for a counterfactual.  How would my searches have turned out if I did remember the name of the restaurant? 

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Challenging Wisconsin’s Proposed Windows Legislation

The deeply unsettling and appalling nature of the Catholic priest abuse scandal is difficult to express in hyperbole.  More and more cases continue to come out of the woodwork, and stories abound of allegations of cover-ups and throwing around hush money to abuse victims, all incited by those charged with the sanctified duty to guide, teach, and counsel the faithful.  Words alone cannot encapsulate the scarring that this scandal has wrought on its many victims.  Even a pastor at my parish told the congregation when the scandal first came to light that the news left him “ashamed to be a priest.”

In the wake of such grizzly conduct, however, is the need to address how to remedy the problem.  For some victims of abuse, the solution is a day in court: a chance to bring a civil action for a public determination of liability and an order of compensation for the wrong.

But under current Wisconsin law, the statute of limitations has already barred many of these abuse suits.  Section 893.587 of the Wisconsin Statutes provides that a victim of sexual abuse as a child may bring an action until that victim turns 35 years old; at that time, the cause of action evaporates.  The statute covers a cause of action for clergy abuse under Section 895.442(2)(a) of the Wisconsin Statutes.

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