Marc Marotta

The Marquette family — indeed, the Milwaukee community and the state more generally — lost one of its great leaders yesterday when Marc Marotta suddenly passed away. His death was jarring; he was only 52. Many people knew Marc far better than I, but I had the great fortune of getting to know him through our work together on the Board of Directors of the Bradley Center Sports and Entertainment Corporation for the past few years. In fact, I saw him on Tuesday morning at a board meeting, where he was his usual self: energetic, gregarious, and engaging … which made yesterday’s news even more incomprehensible.

My interest in this post is not to detail Marc’s many accomplishments; the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel does a great job of it here (though no one article can truly do justice to the work and legacy of Marc Marotta). Instead, as our third-year students inch closer to graduation and becoming Marquette lawyers, I hope to highlight aspects of Marc’s life and career that are worth reflection by our students — indeed, by all of us in the profession — as they become lawyers and serve the public.

Marc was an excellent lawyer — just ask anyone with whom he worked.

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Israel Reflections 2015–Day Four: Dinner with Lawyers

For dinner on our fourth night, we joined lawyers from the region around the Sea of Galilee for a meal and mingling.  Much thanks for the yummy food and company to the partnership between this region in Israel and Milwaukee that sets this up every year.   Many students built professional relationships during this meal, gleaned advice from practitioners and professors, and engaged in meaningful dialogue.

Student Lucas Bennewitz had a particularly thoughtful discussion:

 During our trip, we had dinner at a kibbutz in Tiberius with different Israeli attorneys practicing in different areas.  Both our stomach and our brains were stuffed to the brim that evening with both excellent food and lively discussions about Israeli law and politics.  While enjoying more hummus and rice than we could handle, we gained valuable insight on the nature of the Israeli legal system, heard some criticism from the Israeli lawyers about their current system, and compared the Israeli and the American legal systems.  We also discussed the role that legal internships play in the Israeli law school experience. 

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Israel Reflections 2015 — Day Four: Har Bental

After our visit at Tzfat, we took a short bus ride into the northern hills to visit Har Bental, a lookout point on the edge of the Golan Heights. With a view into Lebanon, Syria, and Jordan, we could all see the importance of geography.

Student Nicholas Sinram shares his experience:

One of the many great experiences on our International Conflict Resolution trip to Israel was our visit to Har Bental.  In addition to the salmon bagel lunch and the Druze fig jam, our excursion to Har Bental gave us the chance to experience the beauty and importance of the region.  The visit to Har Bental also gave us the unique opportunity to learn more about the conflicts throughout the Middle East, the role of the international community in the region, and how this situation affects Israel specifically. golan-picture

We had the amazing luck of running into two U.N. observers. They explained the roles of U.N. peacekeepers and observers.

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