Happy Third Blogday!

Three years ago today, we launched the Marquette Law School Faculty Blog.  With 1,648 posts, 2,560 comments, and 379,000 site visits, we are still going strong.

Although blog posts tend to be ephemeral by their nature, some have a more timeless quality.  In case you missed them the first time around, here are a handful of posts from our first couple of months that are still well worth reading today:

David Papke on the classic 1L film The Paper Chase;

Bruce Boyden on work-life balance and legal practice;

Judi McMullen on fear of sex offenders;

Lisa Mazzie on laptops in the classroom; and

Jessica Slavin on the law professor who influenced her the most.

Continue ReadingHappy Third Blogday!

Postcard from Giessen

The third annual U.S.- German Summer School in International and Comparative Law came to a successful conclusion with the program’s closing ceremony on August 12, in Giessen, Germany.  This year’s session of the program, sponsored jointly by Marquette University Law School, the University of Wisconsin-Madison, and the University of Giessen, featured 68 law students from 20 countries. Faculty members came from the University of Giessen; the University of Gottingen; the University of Wisconsin; and Marquette.

The program’s Marquette contingent for 2011 consisted of 24 law students and Professors Gordon Hylton and Alan Madry.  The session lasted from July 16 through August 13.

This year’s course offerings included International Human Rights (team-taught by a group of professors from Giessen and Gottingen including program co-director Thilo Marauhn of the University of Giessen); Comparative and International Sports Law (taught by Professor J. Gordon Hylton of Marquette); International Business Transactions (taught by Adjunct Professor Eric Ibele of the Univeristy of Wisconsin); and International Economic Law (taught by Sven Simon of the University of Giessen). Classes were held at the law and economics campus of the University of Giessen.  The program also included law-oriented field trips to Brussels and Berlin and a recreation tour of the Rhine Valley.

Also participating in the program in Giessen were co-directors Professor Alan Madry of Marquette and Professor Stephen Barkan of the University of Wisconsin.  (Professor Barkan is also a former Marquette law professor who served as Interim Dean of the Law School during the 1994-95 academic year.)  Students were expected to enroll in two of the courses, although a number of foreign students enrolled in three or four.

Students from Marquette included: Ryan Albregts, Andrea Austin, Margaret Barr, Justin Bertron, Tyler Brennan, Allison Ceille, Jason Cooper, Alexandra Dziamski, Matthew Galvin, Cody Garza, John Graham, Patricia Heise, Aneet Kaur, Patrick Kern, Derek Kulland, Stephen Laczniak, Adam Lopez, Patricia Mattingly, Jonathan Meulemans, Brad Meyer, Jessica Pfau, Lauren Raupp, Bryan Strand, and Ryan Truesdale.

In addition to the Marquette students, there were six law students from the University of Wisconsin as well as students from the law schools at Northern Kentucky University and the University of Southern California.  The 36 remaining students came from the following countries: Brazil, the Central African Republic, Croatia, the Czech Republic, Georgia, Germany, Greece, (South) Korea, Krygystan, Latvia, Montenegro, Poland, Romania, Russia, Singapore, South Africa, Spain, Turkey, and Ukraine.

An article on the program published earlier this week in the Giessener Anzeiger (a local newspaper) can be found at http://www.giessener-anzeiger.de/lokales/hochschule/11064040.htm.  Unfortunately, the article is in German, and the photo accompanying the article is of the class attending the University of Giessen’s International Summer School in Biodiversity and Law, rather than the students and faculty in the International and Comparative Law program.  (Both programs held commencement exercises in the same building on the same day.)  One of the students in the picture is Professor Hylton’s daughter Veronica.

A program description provided by the University of Giessen can be found at http://www.recht.uni-giessen.de/wps/fb01/home/summer_program_law/1002292/. The Marquette description is here.

Continue ReadingPostcard from Giessen

Farewell, Judge Terence T. Evans

One of Marquette’s most distinguished judicial alumni passed away last week.  Judge Terence T. Evans ’67 had served since 1995 on the Seventh Circuit Court of Appeals.  Before that, he served as a trial judge in federal district court and Milwaukee County Circuit Court.

Judge Evans was profiled here in the Marquette Lawyer, along with his Seventh Circuit colleagues Judge John L. Coffey ’48 and Judge Diane S. Sykes ’84.  Judge Evans’ Journal Sentinel obituary is here.  A webcast of an “On the Issues” conversation he had with Mike Gousha and Judge Sykes is here.  (The picture above comes from that exchange.)

I never had the pleasure of meeting Judge Evans in person, but I’ve read many of his opinions.  They do have a distinct style and sensibility — once you’ve read a few, you are not likely to mistake an Evans opinion for that of any of his colleagues.  The opinions reflect a sharp wit, an eye for the telling factual detail, and a commonsensical approach to judging.  I doubt there are many judges on the federal bench whose opinions would be more accessible and engaging for the lay reader.

The Wisconsin Public Defender’s On Point website has collected some wonderful personal reminiscences of Judge Evans here.  Among the many notable tributes is one from his former clerk Daniel J. O’Brien ’78, who observed:

No one – NO ONE – enjoyed life more than “The Judge.” Luckily, for those of us privileged to spend time with him, that joie de vivre (borrowed from Judge Easterbrook’s marvelous tribute) was contagious. . . .

The Judge’s skill as a jurist was surpassed only by his warmth as a person. The word “mentor” is far down the list of adjectives describing his impact on my life [Others that come to mind: Marquette recruiting analyst, legal writing tutor (“To be a good legal writer,” he’d often say, “write like a journalist, not a lawyer”), comedian, Brewer fan, role model, expert on “greasy spoon” diners, and friend].

Visitation is today from 4:00 to 8:00 at Feerick Funeral Home, 2015 E. Capitol Dr.  Additional parking is across the street at Atwater School and at St. Roberts Catholic Church, which is about one block to the west.

Continue ReadingFarewell, Judge Terence T. Evans