Congratulations to the 2013 Jenkins Semifinalists

Congratulations to this year’s Jenkins Honors Moot Court Competition semifinalists:  Michael Beckman, Kelly Cavey, Paul Jonas, Brittany Kachingwe, Hans Lodge, Tea Norfolk, Kerri Puig, and Robert Steele.  Teams are advancing after four rounds of preliminary competition.

Thank you to the numerous judges who graded briefs and heard oral arguments, as well as to all the competitors, who prepared hard for the competition and fought good battles this weekend.

The semifinal round will be held on March 27 at 6:30 p.m.  The teams will be matched as follows:

Brittany Kachingwe and Paul Jonas v. Tea Norfolk and Kelly Cavey in the Appellate Courtroom.

Kerri Puig and Robert Steele v. Hans Lodge and Michael Beckman will argue in the Trial Courtroom.

Good luck to the semifinalists.

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When Rules Are Invisible

HiggsResearchers at CERN laboratory in Switzerland announced this week that they believe they have evidence of the existence of the Higgs boson, or Higgs particle. The Higgs boson and the associated Higgs field help to explain, among other things, how particles achieve mass. In 1964 physicist Peter Higgs and five other researchers theorized the Higgs boson. Researchers at CERN have been colliding particles in the Large Hydron Collider to look for the Higgs boson.

The Higgs boson is part of the Standard Model theory, which explains the interactions and characteristics of subatomic particles. Researchers had accounted for the Higgs boson in their Standard Model calculations over the years. In November 2011, a CERN physicist said, “’For our theory to be right, we need the Higgs to exist. If it doesn’t, we need something to replace it.’” The question now appears to be what kind of Higgs boson researchers have observed.

Reading about the Higgs boson announcement reminded me of Professor Lawrence Tribe’s book The Invisible Constitution. The Higgs boson and the United States Constitution don’t at first glance have much in common, but the way Tribe approaches interpreting the Constitution parallels the approach of theoretical physicists in creating models that explain the invisible rules that govern the physical universe. In fact, Tribe himself draws an analogy to physics throughout the book.

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20th Annual Howard B. Eisenberg Do-Gooders’ Auction–An Interview with PILS Fellow Mindy Nolan

The 20th Annual Howard B. Eisenberg Do-Gooders’ Auction on behalf of the Law School’s Public Interest Law Society (PILS) will be held this Friday, February 15, 2013 at the Law School. Proceeds from the event go to support PILS Fellowships to enable Marquette law students to do public interest work in the summer. Mindy Nolan, a current law student, shares her experience here as a PILS Fellow.  Besides her work as a PILS Fellow, Mindy did outstanding work in soliciting and compiling donations for this year’s auction.

Where did you work as a PILS Fellow?

This past summer I served as a law intern at the Wisconsin State Public Defender’s Office in Rhinelander, Wisconsin.

What kind of work did you do there?

In my role there, I prepared legal memoranda, motions, and conducted research for the four Assistant State Public Defenders working in that office. I conducted client and witness interviews over the phone and in person at the county jails. I also attended court hearings in three northern Wisconsin counties.

How was the experience meaningful to you?

This experience was extremely meaningful to me for several reasons, in particular the amount that I learned about the everyday workings of the criminal justice system. It was interesting to witness the dynamic of how the criminal justice system interacted with the three Native American tribes that are located in the three counties. It was also meaningful to see how the criminal justice system itself functions in three very small counties where there would sometimes only be one judge, one prosecutor, and one public defender working together day in and day out.

Continue Reading20th Annual Howard B. Eisenberg Do-Gooders’ Auction–An Interview with PILS Fellow Mindy Nolan