Reinstatement of a Wrongfully Discharged Lawyer?

 

Earlier this week, the Wisconsin Court of Appeals issued an interesting decision involving remedies for the discharge of in-house counsel in violation of the Equal Pay, Act, Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, and the Wisconsin Fair Employment Act. Sands v. Menard, Inc., involved a claim by a lawyer terminated from her position as vice president and executive general counsel of the Wisconsin-based building supplies company. The lawyer had claimed that she was the victim of gender-based pay discrimination. The matter was submitted to arbitration, and Menard was determined to have violated the lawyer’s rights in underpaying her and retaliating for her complaint.

The arbitration panel awarded the lawyer compensatory and punitive damages and also ordered reinstatement, a remedy that neither party sought. In upholding the reinstatement order, the court provided the following analysis:

Continue ReadingReinstatement of a Wrongfully Discharged Lawyer?

Eckstein Hall Rising

Last Wednesday afternoon was sunny and mild and a perfect day to wander the concrete slab of the ground floor of the Eckstein Hall construction site, below the steel beams that hint at this great building, and imagine the spaces where Marquette law teachers and students will read and write, discuss, dine and generally enjoy one another’s intellect and company. For some reason, the construction site reminded me of years ago being on the playing field at a totally deserted Michigan Stadium in Ann Arbor; on that day, an awesome silence permitted the perfect imagining of the awesome roar of the packed stadium.

I should be embarrassed to admit that much of my imagination has been dedicated in the last couple of years to imagining Eckstein Hall. I have driven every ramp of the Marquette Interchange in an effort to envision how it will appear to the hundreds of thousands of people who will pass by it daily (yes, literally hundreds of thousands daily). When and how will drivers see its complex sweep of brick, metal, and (mostly) glass? Will they note the substantial columns behind the glass curtain wall, meant to show that Eckstein Hall soars as well as sweeps? Will the building be bold, maybe even heroic, and beautiful?

Continue ReadingEckstein Hall Rising

Sting Operation on a Child Witness

An online dictionary defines a sting operation as “a complicated confidence game planned and executed with great care (especially an operation implemented by undercover agents to apprehend criminals).” In law-enforcement contexts, covert investigation tactics are essential to obtaining evidence of criminal conduct committed by participants in sophisticated criminal enterprises. Evidence of common street crimes such as drug dealing and prostitution is often gathered with sting operations as well. Lawyers sometimes advise or supervise these activities to assure compliance with the law and admissibility of any evidence that is gathered.

Compare this with the sting operation carried out by a Madison, Wisconsin, criminal defense lawyer against the fifteen-year-old who accused his client of repeated sexual assaults beginning when the boy was nine years old.

The lawyer believed that the boy was lying and thought that the boy’s computer might contain evidence of the child’s independent interest in child pornography. The lawyer was concerned that the police investigator would not objectively seek and examine such evidence and that the boy might destroy evidence on his computer if given any warning.

The lawyer decided to retain a private investigator to trick the child and his mother into surrendering the boy’s computer and any evidence it might contain.

Continue ReadingSting Operation on a Child Witness