Eckstein Hall Opened One Year Ago

Yesterday (July 6) marked the one-year anniversary of the opening of Eckstein Hall. The very first class in the new building was American Legal History which first met in Room 257 at 7:30 a.m. on Tuesday, July 6, 2010. To reach the classroom in the not-quite-finished building, the 17 students and their instructor had to dodge rolls of carpet and electrical wire, cans of paint, and assorted construction debris. Everyone was also required to immediately leave the building immediately after the conclusion of the class.

The class was taught by me. Its members included April Ashby, Margaret Bach, Heather Berlinski, Carolyn Carrico, Nicholas Deml, Jeremy Hager, Stephanie Kebler, Matt Lien, Anthony Meyer, Andrew Mongin, Christina Putman, Francisco Saa, Jon Seaman, Timothy Shortess, Richard Sienkewicz, Charles Szafir, and Ian Thomson.

For two of the students, it was their final class in law school.

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Milwaukee Foreclosure Mediation Program: Theory to Practice

Andrea Schneider and Natalie Fleury have a new paper on SSRN that describes the Milwaukee Foreclosure Mediation Program and analyzes the MFMP’s design by reference to dispute resolution theory.  The MFMP responded to the ongoing foreclosure crisis in Milwaukee, emerging from an initiative involving Marquette Law School and several government agencies, elected leaders, and community organizations.  The MFMP creates voluntary mediation opportunities for homeowners and lenders in the hope of renegotiating payment terms such that both sides will benefit.  So far, the results seem impressive, with home-retention agreements reached in more than forty percent of mediations and high levels of satisfaction reported by program participants.

Andrea and Natalie conclude as follows:

The opportunity to put years of writing and work in the field to use to help out the city, state, and court system was an honor and unique opportunity for the law school. Both professors and students witnessed law school teachings put to work and had a rewarding impact in their own backyard.  It also has given us, as designers, far greater insight into the local government and local community than we would have had without this collaboration. Most importantly, mediation has worked in exactly the way that we theorized. The communication between the parties is vastly improved through the program than it would be otherwise. Parties have control over the outcomes, not perfectly, but again, much more so than they would have in the alternatives. And the program provides for efficient solutions as the city continues to struggle with foreclosures. Moving forward, we have to map student availability and interest with the needs and opportunities presented by the program. But we have witnessed the putting of theory into practice in a wonderful way while recognizing that we would have all preferred that this particular need not exist.

Their paper, entitled “There’s No Place Like Home: Applying Dispute System Design Theory to Create a Foreclosure Mediation System,” will appear in the Nevada Law Journal.

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Marquette Law School Alumnae Honored as “Women in Law”

On Thursday, June 23rd, the Wisconsin Law Journal recognized its 2011 Women in Law honorees.  There were several MULS alumnae among the group: Elizabeth Blackwood, Michelle Fitzgerald, Mary Gerbig, Christine Liu McLaughlin, and Linda Meagher.  As you can read further on the Wisconsin Law Journal’s website here, these Marquette lawyers have compelling stories, have accomplished so much in their careers, and have served their communities with great distinction.

The other MULS alumna honored on Thursday night was our own Professor Phoebe Williams.  It is hard to properly describe the long and meaningful list of contributions that Professor Williams has made to the Law School, the Milwaukee community, and beyond.  Perhaps the clearest manifestation of the impact Professor Williams has had are her “living legacies” (the term Justice Scalia used to describe students at the dedication of Eckstein Hall).  Indeed, I have had countless students and graduates who have told me about the significant effect that Professor Williams had on their lives and careers.  So it was wonderful to be there on Thursday night to help celebrate Professor Williams’ much-deserved recognition.

Congratulations to all of this year’s honorees!

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