Overheard Outside Eckstein Hall

The following conversation was overheard this morning outside of the entrance to the parking structure in Eckstein Hall:

Parking Attendant:  I’m sorry, but you will have to back up your car.  The parking structure is full.

Faculty Member:  I can see past the gate.  There are plenty of empty spots.

Parking Attendant:  Those spots are reserved for faculty and students only.

Faculty Member:  But I have been on the faculty for 26 years.

Parking Attendant:  My apologies.  I didn’t recognize you.  However, those spots are reserved for today’s On the Issues with Mike Gousha.  He is interviewing the author of the book “Trump Bad: How to Sell Your Book By Using Trump’s Name in the Title.”

Faculty Member:  I happen to know that that event is tomorrow.

Parking Attendant:  My mistake.  Today those spots are reserved for people attending Charles Franklin’s press conference.  He has new poll results: “Public Support for Cheese Curds Reaches Record Low in Wisconsin.”

Faculty Member:  I think that you made that up.

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Will a Wisconsin Benefit Corporation Benefit Your Start-Up?

Certified B Corp LogoThis semester in Professor Lisa Mazzie’s Advanced Legal Writing: Writing for Law Practice seminar, students are required to write one blog post on a law- or law school-related topic of their choice. Writing blog posts as a lawyer is a great way to practice writing skills, and to do so in a way that allows the writer a little more freedom to showcase his or her own voice, and—eventually for these students—a great way to maintain visibility as a legal professional. Here is one of those blog posts, this one written by 3L Nikki Paterson.

As a student associate in Marquette’s Law and Entrepreneurship Clinic, I see many start-up companies struggle with entity selection. It can be a difficult decision because founders have to consider liability, management structure, employee compensation, formation formalities, future investments, and tax implications, among other things.

As of February 26, 2018, the decision-making process got even harder. That is when 2017 Wisconsin Act 77 took effect, which recognized a new type of entity: benefit corporations. Far from being a trailblazer, Wisconsin was the 34th state to adopt such legislation.

So what is a benefit corporation? A benefit corporation is a type of corporation that places social and environmental values on equal footing with profits; in other words, a corporation with a “triple bottom line.” Chapter 204 of the Wisconsin Statutes specifies the process and requirements of incorporating a benefit corporation.

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Changes to Wisconsin’s CCAP Shortens the Time that Some Records are Online

This semester in Professor Lisa Mazzie’s Advanced Legal Writing: Writing for Law Practice seminar, students are required to write one blog post on a law- or law school-related topic of their choice. Writing blog posts as a lawyer is a great way to practice writing skills, and to do so in a way that allows the writer a little more freedom to showcase his or her own voice, and—eventually for these students—a great way to maintain visibility as a legal professional. Here is one of those blog posts, this one written by 2L Grace Gall.

“How do you spell their last name?”—That is often the question my mother used to ask me when I was a kid and asked to spend the night at a new friend’s house. Like many Wisconsin parents or employers, my mother often would use the public record cite called CCAP to search criminal and civil records of individuals. As a child, I simply got used to my mother’s question and as I grew older and started working in the legal field myself, I became more and more acquainted with CCAP. Recently this year, I heard about changes being made to the CCAP record system. The Director of State Courts voted in March of this year to change the time limits for dismissed or acquitted cases to have them removed from the public record site after two years from the final order.

Continue ReadingChanges to Wisconsin’s CCAP Shortens the Time that Some Records are Online