Marquette Internship Program

“One must walk before one can run.” This statement is true in almost every facet of life. Do you remember playing football for the first time? It was truly a test of athleticism and courage as well as skill. However, a quarterback does not usually start out by throwing touchdowns. Even the great Brett Favre most likely started at square one. A player usually starts “walking” by playing peewee football. When one starts learning something new, no person typically masters the skill immediately. One needs to practice, practice, practice.

This is the same with the law. Law school classes teach you substantive law. However, you do not necessarily learn all you need to know to practice in the real world. This is where the importance of an internship comes in. I believe that a law school internship is vital to a law school education. I am currently interning with the Wisconsin Supreme Court. My internship is an extremely valuable experience because it is exposing me to the inner workings of our state’s highest court and, at the same time, forcing me to further develop my research and writing skills. An internship can give context to what is learned in law school, teach one valuable legal skills, and also help students’ resumes stand apart.

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New Issue of Marquette Law Review

Congratulations to the editors of the Marquette Law Review for the publication of Vol. 94, No. 4.  Here are the contents:

MELMS V. PABST BREWING CO. AND THE DOCTRINE OF WASTE IN AMERICAN PROPERTY LAW

Thomas W. Merrill ………………………………………………………………………… 1055

COMMENT ON MERRILL ON THE LAW OF WASTE

Richard A. Posner …………………………………………………………………………. 1095

CONTRACT AND PROCEDURE

Christopher Drahozal & Peter Rutledge ………………………………….. 1103

WISCONSIN’S ANTITRUST LAW: OUTSOURCING THE LEGAL STANDARD

Michael P. Waxman ………………………………………………………………………. 1173

BROKEN SYSTEMS, BROKEN DUTIES: A NEW THEORY FOR SCHOOL FINANCE LITIGATION

Aaron Y. Tang ………………………………………………………………………………. 1195

BARROCK LECTURE: HOW SHOULD WE PUNISH MURDER?

Jonathan Simon …………………………………………………………………………….. 1241

SEC V. DOROZHKO’S AFFIRMATIVE MISREPRESENTATION THEORY OF INSIDER TRADING: AN IMPROPER MEANS TO A PROPER END

Elizabeth A. Odian ……………………………………………………………………….. 1313

THE AMERICAN DREAM DEFERRED: FAMILY SEPARATION AND IMMIGRANT VISA ADJUDICATIONS AT U.S. CONSULATES ABROAD

Cain W. Oulahan …………………………………………………………………………… 1351

GENDER AND JUDGING

Diane S. Sykes ………………………………………………………………………………. 1381

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Typography for Lawyers

“The four most important typographic choices you make in any document are point size, line spacing, line length, and font, because those choices determine how the body text looks.” Matthew Butterick, Typography for Lawyers: Essential Tools for Polished and Persuasive Documents, “Summary of Key Rules” (2010).

Does that sentence make any sense to you? If so, find Butterick’s book: you will love it.

If not, run out and get Butterick’s book: you need it.

After running a website on typography for lawyers, www.typographyforlawyers.com, Matthew Butterick last year published a book on the subject. The book seems designed to do for typography what Bryan Garner’s work has done on matters of style and usage—to convince more lawyers that this “small stuff” matters in their writing, in their approach to the practice.

Indeed, Butterick’s belief that “typography” should become part of the vocabulary and professional awareness of lawyers forms the “core principles” of his book:

  1. Good typography is part of good lawyering.
  2. Typography in legal documents should be held to the same standards as any professionally published material. Why? Because legal documents are professionally published material. (Corollary: much of what lawyers consider “proper” legal typography is an accumulation of bad habits and urban legends. These myths will be set aside in favor of professional typographic habits.)
  3. Any lawyer can master the essentials of good typography.
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