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Eastern District of Wisconsin Bar Association Presents Awards to Michael O’Hear and Tom Shriner

Post author:Jessica E. Slavin
Post published:May 17, 2009
Post category:Criminal Law & Process Eastern District of Wisconsin Federal Civil Litigation Federal Criminal Law & Process Federal Law & Legal System Marquette Law School Milwaukee

Warm congratulations to our colleague, Professor Michael M. O’Hear, who recently received the Judge Robert W. Warren Public Service Award, at a ceremony during the Eastern District of Wisconsin Bar Association’s annual meeting. It was a pleasure for a number of us to attend and see Michael receive well-deserved recognition for his service. As Nathan Fishbach, of Whyte Hirschboeck Dudek, noted in making the presentation, Michael is “a distinguished academician whose mission is to analyze and explain the dynamics of the sentencing process.” Indeed, Michael has become a national leader in the study and discussions concerning sentencing, and he has been active in this community as well.

At the same ceremony, the Eastern District presented its Judge Myron L. Gordon Lifetime Achievement Award to Foley & Lardner’s Thomas L. Shriner, Jr., an Indiana University law graduate and well-known Milwaukee litigator (and adjunct professor of law here at Marquette). The citation accompanying the award, written by Bill Mulligan, L’60, and Dean Joseph D. Kearney, concluded with the observation that Tom is “respected and admired for his prodigious knowledge of the law, great wit, smile, and willingness to help others.” Congratulations as well to Tom.

The full citations can be found here concerning Michael and here concerning Tom.

Community Justice Conference Follow-Up

Post author:Michael M. O'Hear
Post published:April 4, 2009
Post category:Criminal Law & Process Milwaukee Speakers at Marquette

As discussed in an earlier post, the Law School recently hosted a very successful conference on community justice in Wisconsin. More than 200 government officials, lawyers, and citizens came together to discuss how the criminal justice system can be improved at the local level through enhanced interagency collaboration and grass-roots citizen engagement. The Conference website has now been updated to include audio and video of the Conference, reports, and links to blogs and commentary to keep the conversation moving forward. Still to come on the website are workgroup reports and conference evaluation results. Thanks to Assistant Dean Dan Idzikowski for his leadership of this important Law School initiative.

Is Governance Reform in the Future for Milwaukee Public Schools?

Post author:Mike Gousha
Post published:February 25, 2009
Post category:Education & Law Milwaukee Speakers at Marquette

There is growing consensus that the Milwaukee Public Schools are at a critical moment in their history. Faced with daunting fiscal challenges last year, some school board members talked openly about dissolving the district, only to later amend their comments. It was a symbolic protest, they said, an attempt to draw attention to the district’s dismal financial outlook. But the horse was out of the barn. The board’s “dissolution discussion” opened the door to new debate about MPS’s future. An independent review of the district’s fiscal situation, paid for by local foundations, was commissioned and should be made public soon. Once that happens, Governor Doyle is expected to weigh in on the district’s future course. What that path will be is still uncertain, but last week, we had a fascinating discussion here at the Law School about the possibility of changing the way MPS is governed.

The event was co-sponsored by the Greater Milwaukee Foundation, and came on the heels of a study that examined five other districts that had changed their governance. The study was funded by the GMF and conducted by the Public Policy Forum. We’ve posted a transcript of the event, which featured MPS Superintendent Bill Andrekopoulos, former Superintendent and Distinguished Professor of Education at Marquette University Howard Fuller, Metropolitan Milwaukee Association of Commerce President Tim Sheehy, Milwaukee School Board Director Jennifer Morales, State Representative Polly Williams, Milwaukee Teachers’ Education Association President Dennis Oulahan, and Milwaukee Common Council President Willie Hines.

You can always listen to the webcast of our event, but the evening had a revealing dynamic to it that makes for equally interesting reading.