Legal Practice – Page 52 – Marquette University Law School Faculty Blog

Electronic Filing Has Arrived in the Milwaukee County Circuit Courts

Post author:Melissa Love Koenig
Post published:April 2, 2012
Post category:Legal Practice Public Wisconsin Civil Litigation Wisconsin Court System

As of today, eFiling is now available in Milwaukee County for family and civil cases. John Barrett, the Milwaukee County Clerk of Circuit Court, referred in this press release to eFiling’s “fast, secure filing” and “ease of use and cost efficiency”, among other benefits. The Wisconsin Court System website also includes a demonstration of the process and tutorial.

A person wishing to use eFiling must register with the Consolidated Court Automation Programs (CCAP). The eFiling website may be used at any time, any day to file or access a document.

Celebrating March 22, 1877: Women First Allowed Bar Admission in Wisconsin

Post author:Lisa A. Mazzie
Post published:March 22, 2012
Post category:Feminism Legal History Legal Practice Public Wisconsin Law & Legal System Wisconsin Supreme Court

On March 22, 1877, the Wisconsin legislature passed a bill that prohibited denying a person admission to the state bar on the basis of sex. The bill was in no small part due to the efforts of Lavinia Goodell, the first woman admitted to the state bar in Wisconsin.

Goodell was born in New York in 1839 and moved to Janesville in 1871 when she was 32 years old. Goodell was interested in the law, but no law firm would take her on as an apprentice, which was a common path to becoming a lawyer in the 19^th century. So she studied law on her own. Her dedication to law apparently won over Pliny Norcross, a partner in the Janesville firm of Norcross and Jackson and eventually Goodell worked there before striking out on her own. Norcross was instrumental in helping Goodell gain admission to the Rock County bar in 1874. Goodell initially did collections work, but then began to make a successful career out of doing work for women’s temperance groups.

It wasn’t until Goodell needed to appeal a case to the Wisconsin Supreme Court that her gender became an issue. According to the Wisconsin Historical Society, at that time it was customary for the Wisconsin Supreme Court to allow any lawyer admitted to any circuit court bar to practice before it. Not so for Lavinia Goodell.

In 1876, Wisconsin Supreme Court unanimously and unequivocally denied her motion to appear before that court. (In re Goodell, 39 Wis. 232 (1876)).

Bias Beware

Post author:Joanne Lipo Zovic
Post published:February 19, 2012
Post category:Legal Practice Public

A friend sent me a recent blog post from the “Legal Skills Prof Blog” (who knew?) that she thought might be of interest to me in light of my current endeavor at blogging. The post briefly discusses the “negativity bias,” one of the many cognitive biases that can result from our unconscious use of heuristics. It reminded me of how significant these mental shortcuts are to us.

At its simplest, the negativity bias causes us to feel the sting of a negative experience or loss to a much greater degree than a positive. (Think of the bad customer service experience that never seems to diminish, while a good one, while nice at the time, quickly fades into oblivion.)

The author then goes on to ask whether or not this might provide a lesson in terms of pitching the best legal arguments. I have certainly seen the “parade of horribles” work to encourage parties in mediation to find a solution rather than continue the pain of the dispute at hand. I think the greater lesson is that as lawyers, we should be aware of the use of heuristics and the cognitive biases that may result from the unknowing misapplication of heuristics by an individual in evaluating information and then using this information to make a decision.