25th Annual Howard B. Eisenberg Do-Gooders’ Auction: Interview with Andrew Lawton

The 25th Annual Howard B. Eisenberg Do-Gooders’ Auction on behalf of the Law School’s Public Interest Law Society (PILS) will be held on February 16 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.  Andrew Lawton, a current law student, shares his experience here as a PILS Fellow.

Where did you work as a PILS Fellow?

The United States Attorney’s Office-Eastern District of Wisconsin.

What kind of work did you do there?

The United States Attorney’s Office (USAO) prosecutes a wide variety of federal crimes. The case load within the office is diverse, depending on enforcement priorities and actual apprehension of suspected criminals. My work was primarily to draft research memorandum summing up the case law in a specific area of interest to any of the attorneys, which included a wide range of topics from asbestos to armed robbery to human trafficking. But I also drafted court documentation such as motions when needed, and I observed court appearances where I took notes for the attorneys, including in prolonged jury trials.

Continue Reading25th Annual Howard B. Eisenberg Do-Gooders’ Auction: Interview with Andrew Lawton

25th Annual Howard B. Eisenberg Do-Gooders’ Auction: Interview with Shannon Strombom

The 25th Annual Howard B. Eisenberg Do-Gooders’ Auction on behalf of the Law School’s Public Interest Law Society (PILS) will be held on February 16 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.  Shannon Strombom, a current law student, shares her experience here as a PILS Fellow.

Where did you work as a PILS Fellow?

Catholic Charities of the Archdiocese of Milwaukee.

What kind of work did you do there?

The legal services office of Catholic Charities provides immigration and refugee assistance to low-income clients. Over the summer, I got a chance to work on a variety of different immigration petitions and applications. This included responding to Requests for Evidence on a petition to Remove Conditions on Permanent Residency and Special Immigrant Religious Worker petitions, as well as writing briefs for asylum applications, and helping eligible legal permanent residents or refugees apply for naturalization.

Continue Reading25th Annual Howard B. Eisenberg Do-Gooders’ Auction: Interview with Shannon Strombom

Welcome to the Line

Recently, the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) took up and reversed net neutrality.  If you are unfamiliar with net neutrality, it is the principle that Internet Service Providers (ISPs) are not allowed to discriminate against certain users, websites, content, or whatever else.  For example, Spectrum (formerly Time Warner) is not allowed to block its users from or charge them for accessing Facebook.  Or, for a real-life example, Madison River Communications was fined $15,000 by the FCC for restricting their costumers’ access to a rival service. John Oliver explains net neutrality here. (Language warning.)  In a way, you could think of net neutrality as an equal opportunity law for the internet.  Or, at least you could have.  On December 14, 2017, FCC chairman Ajit Pai and the FCC voted to repeal net neutrality, which leaves the internet in the United States in a fairly bad spot.

Luckily, in my opinion, the FCC has a gauntlet of lawsuits to go through now that it repealed net neutrality.  It also seems there is a fair number of people who share my viewpoint.  As it stands, the FCC had something around 22 million complaints filed against its ruling.  FCC Chairman Pai canceled his scheduled appearance at the to the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas due to death threats.  On top of this, the Internet Association is bringing together powerhouse companies to join the fight against the unpopular ruling.  Companies like Google, Amazon, Etsy, and Alphabet have stated they are joining the lawsuit.  The Internet Association’s President and CEO Michael Beckerman stated, “The final version of Chairman Pai’s rule . . . dismantles popular net neutrality protections for consumers.  This rule defies the will of a bipartisan majority of Americans and fails to preserve a free and open internet.”    Netflix even took to Twitter and sent the message, “In 2018, the Internet is united in defense of #NetNeutrality.  As for the FCC, we will see you in court.”  Furthermore, a number of states have come forward stating their opposition to the repeal and have indicated that they, too, will join the fight.

Seeing this net neutrality issue unfold has solidified my choice to attend law school. 

Continue ReadingWelcome to the Line
Newer Posts
Older Posts