Provocative essays on the future of Milwaukee in the emerging Chicago megacity lead the content of a packed and wide-ranging new edition of Marquette Lawyer, the Marquette University Law School semiannual magazine.

The megacity that stretches along Lake Michigan, from north of Milwaukee down through Chicago to northwestern Indiana, was the focus of a July 2012 conference at Marquette Law School, “Milwaukee’s Future in the Chicago Megacity.” The magazine includes two essays building on presentations at that conference: “Rivalry, Resignation, and Regionalization,” by historian John Gurda, and “Flying Too Close to the Sun?” by urban blogger and expert Aaron Renn. My own contribution is an overview of efforts to build cooperation in economic development in the tri-state region.

The magazine also presents “The Civil War, Reconstruction, and the Origins of Birthright Citizenship,” an essay by Columbia University historian Eric Foner based on his Boden Lecture at Marquette Law School last fall, and “The Accidental Crime Commission: Its Legacies and Lessons,” by Franklin E. Zimring, of the University of California, Berkeley’s law school, based on his Fall 2012 Barrock Lecture here.

Marquette Law Professor David Ray Papke gave a lecture in Uganda on the connection between the law and social power. “Exploring Socio-Legal Dominance in Context: An Approach to American Legal History,” based on his talk, is included in the new magazine.

The magazine also contains news of the Law School and of some of its students and alumni. The printed magazine is being sent to Law School students and alumni across the country and to many others. You can get a jump on reading this issue on the Law School’s website.

To read the interactive version of the magazine, click here.

To read specific articles and sections, click on any of these:

For all three pieces on the Chicago megacity, click here.

The individual pieces are available by clicking on each of these:

Emerging Megacity: Perspectives on the Future of Chicago and Milwaukee

Thinking and Acting (and Flourishing?) as a Region

Rivalry, Resignation, and Regionalization

Flying Too Close to the Sun? 

And you can click on each of these:

The Civil War, Reconstruction, and the Origins of Birthright Citizenship

The Accidental Crime Commission: Its Legacies and Lessons

Exploring Socio-Legal Dominance in Context: An Approach to American Legal History

Law School News

Remarks of Dean Joseph D. Kearney at the Investiture of Circuit Judge Lindsey Grady

From the Dean

Alumni Class Notes

Alumni Awards

A couple of years ago, I was talking with one of the boosters of the effort to brand the Milwaukee area as a global water technology hub. He told me the biggest challenge the initiative would face would be Milwaukee’s inferiority complex, or at least our unwillingness to brag about our assets.

I was reminded of that conversation recently, when the Law School collaborated with the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel on two major projects. On April 8, we hosted a conference in Eckstein Hall exploring the pros and cons of building a new downtown sports and entertainment facility. Those in attendance heard the president of the Oklahoma City Chamber of Commerce describe how his city had been dramatically transformed by a series of projects that had broad community support. Then, this past Sunday, the newspaper published the first in a four-part series examining the economic future of metropolitan Milwaukee. Called “A Time to Build,” the series was reported by Rick Romell of the Journal Sentinel, under a six-month Law School fellowship established by the Sheldon B. Lubar Fund for Public Policy Research.

As part of that current series on the metro area’s economic prospects, the newspaper created an interactive graphic that allows the reader to compare the nation’s top 50 metropolitan areas. It’s easy to use, and educational, too.

After hearing so much about the Oklahoma City success story, I thought it might be interesting to see how metro Milwaukee stacks up against Oklahoma City in several key categories. It turns out, we do pretty well. We have more college graduates, higher per capita income, and a slightly lower poverty rate. I then added the metropolitan Dallas area to the mix, given Dallas’ reputation as one of the stars of the Sunbelt. Again, the comparison was favorable. Milwaukee and Dallas had remarkably similar numbers in several key indices. The comparative data are available here.