Welcome October Bloggers

The cool fall air in the morning tells us that October has arrived, and with the new month comes a new pair of guest bloggers.

Our Alumni Blogger is Emil Ovbiagele.  Emil works with closely-held businesses and entrepreneurs. He practices in the areas of corporate law, small business and real estate acquisitions, employment law, and commercial litigation.  Emil obtained his B.A., JD, and MBA from Marquette University. He currently serves on the Board of the Milwaukee Young Lawyers Association.  Since 2014, he has volunteered as a competition coach for several mock trial teams at the Marquette University Law School. In 2017, Emil was recognized by Super Lawyers as a “Rising Star” and was selected by the Wisconsin Law Journal as an “Up and Coming Lawyer.”

Our Student Blogger of the month is 2L Aurusa Kabani, who provides the following bio:  “I was born in the armpit of Texas, also known as Houston, but I could not have been happier to be raised in Fort Worth, where the weather is always nicer. As the baby in the family with two older brothers, ESPN has a very special place in my heart, especially when the Dallas Cowboys or the Dallas Mavericks are playing on our home turf. I am a full-time law student studying at Marquette University Law School in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. However, currently I am externing at NCAA’s Enforcement division and attending IU McKinney Law School in Indianapolis, Indiana for the semester. The reason I chose to attend law school is because there are very few people who look like me in the field of law, but particularly in sports law. I am here to change that and shatter glass ceilings.”

Please join me in welcoming our October guest bloggers!

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Aren’t Lawyers Always Supposed To Be Stressed?

Google the words “lawyer” and “stress” or “anxiety” and you’ll see hundreds of comics about lawyers dealing with stress. Most of the comics are pretty funny and yet somewhat sad because they are also all pretty true to real life. Just last month the National Task Force on Lawyer Well-Being released a report entitled “The Path to Lawyer Well-Being: Practical Recommendations for Positive Change.” The report is intended to bring more pointed awareness to the mental health issues many lawyers face and to also provide recommendations to instill greater well-being in the profession as a whole.

The report is 73 pages in total, which appears to create a daunting read for lawyers and law students, already over-burdened and stressed out. But it is worth the time to read through it. As the report points out, in a study released in 2016 by the ABA Commission on Lawyer Assistance Programs and the Hazelden Betty Ford Foundation, out of nearly 13,000 practicing lawyers who participated in the survey, 28% struggled with some level of depression, 19 percent struggled with some level of anxiety, and 23 percent struggled with some level of stress. In Wisconsin, there were approximately 15,550 active lawyers in 2017.

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Charlie Sykes: “One of Those Moments Where You Have to Stand Up”

Charlie Sykes a turncoat and opportunist?

At an ”On the Issues with Mike Gousha” program at Marquette Law School on Tuesday, Sykes said he’s not surprised some people say that. The long time conservative radio talk show host from Milwaukee is a prominent critic of President Trump, a Republican backed (at least in some fashions) by most conservatives. And Sykes is appearing frequently these days on MSNBC, which has a reputation as a liberal-oriented network, on NPR (likewise), and in the pages of the New York Times (likewise).

Sykes sees it differently, to say the least. “I was a Never Trump guy from the moment he came down that golden escalator” in Trump Tower in 2015 to announce his candidacy. “I’ve been saying (in recent times) the same thing I’ve been saying for two years. . . .

“The notion that it’s somehow opportunistic – show me what I’ve changed my position on. I just happen to say it on a larger, different platform.”

Continue ReadingCharlie Sykes: “One of Those Moments Where You Have to Stand Up”