Speakers at Marquette – Page 90 – Marquette University Law School Faculty Blog

Looking Ahead on the Dodd-Frank Consumer Protection Path

Post author:Alan J. Borsuk
Post published:March 7, 2011
Post category:Business Regulation Marquette Law School Speakers at Marquette

The passage last year of a new federal law covering lending and credit transactions for consumers will provide stronger protection, but questions about how it will be enforced and what it will actually mean are just beginning to be answered.

That was the overall theme of the 2011 Public Service Conference held at Eckstein Hall. The conference, New Directions in Consumer and Community Financial Protection, brought together prominent federal and state authorities on the subject and provided an up-to-the-minute look at the implementation of the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act.

“Dodd-Frank created a floor, not a ceiling, for consumer protection” noted Kathleen Keest, an expert on consumer protection law from the Center for Responsible Lending. The new law reverses some of the federal preemption rules that were in effect prior to its passage, providing state attorney generals with increased enforcement authority with respect to many consumer protection laws.

Catholic Principles of Good Stewardship of the Physical World

Post author:Alan J. Borsuk
Post published:February 19, 2011
Post category:Speakers at Marquette

Catholic belief includes both the terms “dominion” and “stewardship” in discussing the relationship of human beings to the physical world. Lucia A. Silecchia definitely prefers “stewardship.”

Drawing especially on papal encyclicals, including those of Pope John Paul II and the current Pope Benedict XVI, Silecchia said in the Simmons Lecture at Eckstein Hall on Thursday that stewardship is an appropriate model for care for the environment because the world has been entrusted to people and, as trustees, people need to put broader interests ahead of their own interests. Silecchia is a professor of law at Columbus School of Law at the Catholic University of America in Washington, D.C.

Individuals need to put aside their narrow self interests to serve the larger, enduring needs of all people, Silecchia said. Indeed our own best interest is actually served by enlarging our sense of ourselves as members of communities and even the earth as a whole.

In a lecture titled, “’More Will Be Expected’: Catholic Social Thought and international Environmental Stewardship,” Silecchia discussed basic principles of Catholic teaching that provide a framework for dealing with ecological issues.

Chisholm: Revise Truth-in-Sentencing, Support “Smart” Use of Alternatives to Hold Down Costs and Fight Crime

Post author:Alan J. Borsuk
Post published:February 11, 2011
Post category:Criminal Law & Process Public Speakers at Marquette Uncategorized Wisconsin Criminal Law & Process

Crime can continue to go down in Milwaukee and spending on criminal justice can be controlled successfully, but only if steps are taken to give local judges, prosecutors, police and others involved in criminal justice tools, incentives and support in doing so, Milwaukee County District Attorney John Chisholm said in a speech Friday at Marquette University Law School.

In what he described as a major policy statement, Chisholm called for modifying the state’s truth-in-sentencing law and maintaining support of programs that assess the risks and needs of people charged with crimes so that fewer end up in prison and more end up on paths that lead away from re-offending.

“Both sides of the political spectrum must acknowledge that talking tough on crime has reached its limits,” Chisholm said. “Being smart on crime is the solution.”

(The text of Chisholm’s comments can be read here and a video of his speech and a question and answer session following it can be viewed here.)

Chisholm said such “smarter” efforts are paying off in Milwaukee, but are in danger of being undermined by major cuts in federal anti-crime programs and in state aid to criminal justice work.