In Praise of Marquette Law’s People

One common thread running through many student bloggers on here is their writing at least one piece on the life of a law student.  And for good reason.  After all, law school is our life, from countless hours in the dungeon up on the third floor of the library (read “the cite-check room”) or in the various conference rooms practicing for moot court to slogging through piles of casebooks on the law of torts, contracts, and civil procedure.  Such is, to state the obvious, a far cry from the workload many of us had to endure during our undergraduate studies.   To be sure, it is enough work to add a few gray hairs; I can still remember how often the ASP leaders and faculty during my first-year orientation reassured my classmates and I, “You’re going to be stressed.” “We know it’s hard.” “There’s on-campus psychological counseling available.”  These stresses are so notorious, that my friends and I will frequently joke about how we should tell touring prospective students to get out while they still can.

But here’s the dirty secret: It’s really not that bad.

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Challenging Wisconsin’s Proposed Windows Legislation

The deeply unsettling and appalling nature of the Catholic priest abuse scandal is difficult to express in hyperbole.  More and more cases continue to come out of the woodwork, and stories abound of allegations of cover-ups and throwing around hush money to abuse victims, all incited by those charged with the sanctified duty to guide, teach, and counsel the faithful.  Words alone cannot encapsulate the scarring that this scandal has wrought on its many victims.  Even a pastor at my parish told the congregation when the scandal first came to light that the news left him “ashamed to be a priest.”

In the wake of such grizzly conduct, however, is the need to address how to remedy the problem.  For some victims of abuse, the solution is a day in court: a chance to bring a civil action for a public determination of liability and an order of compensation for the wrong.

But under current Wisconsin law, the statute of limitations has already barred many of these abuse suits.  Section 893.587 of the Wisconsin Statutes provides that a victim of sexual abuse as a child may bring an action until that victim turns 35 years old; at that time, the cause of action evaporates.  The statute covers a cause of action for clergy abuse under Section 895.442(2)(a) of the Wisconsin Statutes.

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Memorial Service on Friday

Memory plays an especially large role in our profession. Lawyers are constantly looking to the past, whether their particular focus is on the law (e.g., precedents of courts or enacted statutes) or on the facts (e.g., the primary conduct underlying legal disputes). The death earlier this week of Michael R. Wherry, L’62, “a very fine lawyer and human being,” as a colleague downtown put it to me, particularly brings the matter to my mind. (I recall Mike himself remembering his father, the late Ray P. Wherry, L’37, and his view of Marquette Law School a few years ago.) So, too, does an event tomorrow: the Milwaukee Bar Association’s annual Memorial Service. I blogged about this last year, after the fact, and was able to share Tom Cannon’s remembrance of his father, Judge Robert C. Cannon, L’41. This year’s Memorial Address will be delivered by Michael B. Brennan, formerly of the Milwaukee County Circuit Court and now of Gass Weber Mullins: I have no doubt that he will particularly remember his father, the late James P. Brennan, L’60. This year’s ceremony will occur tomorrow (Friday, April 30) at 10:45 a.m. in the Ceremonial Courtroom (Room 500) of the Milwaukee County Courthouse. The Memorial Service is a fine tradition, and I hope that members of the bar in particular will continue to support it by attending. For it is a salutary reminder that we as lawyers stand on the shoulders of those who have gone before us in the profession—and it is an enjoyable event as well.

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