Marquette University Law School Faculty Blog

New Blog Features for January

Post author:Michael M. O'Hear
Post published:January 1, 2009
Post category:Uncategorized

As we ring in the new year here at the Marquette Law School Faculty Blog, we also welcome several new features for January. Dan Blinka replaces Matt Mitten as Faculty Blogger of the Month. Dan teaches Evidence, Constitution and Criminal Investigations, Quantitative Methods, Trial Advocacy, and Legal History. 3L Nathan Petrashek replaces Tom Kamenick as Student Blogger of the Month. And Mike Morse replaces Daniel Suhr as Alum Blogger of the Month. Mike is Village Attorney for Menomonee Falls.

Many thanks to Matt, Tom, and Daniel for their thought-provoking posts in December!

The new Question of the Month is “What is your favorite movie or novel about legal practice?”

Best wishes to all for a happy and healthy 2009!

Lessons for Law School Deans Regarding Catholics in Political Life

Post author:Daniel Suhr
Post published:December 31, 2008
Post category:Higher Education Legal Education Political Processes & Rhetoric Religion & Law

Let me again extend my appreciation to Deans Kearney and O’Hear for the opportunity to serve as December’s guest alumnus blogger of the month, and to all of you who joined the conversation in the comments section. I’ll be right there with you starting tomorrow. 🙂 Let me also take advantage of my month’s unique position on the calendar to wish you all a Merry Christmas and Happy New Year.

My final post is, in fact, the abstract of a piece I have just posted to SSRN. Earlier this year, you may have seen that Fordham’s law school received some heat from Edward Cardinal Egan, Archbishop of New York, for its decision to confer an award on pro-abortion Justice Stephen Breyer. The story led me to do some investigating, drawing in part on my own experiences as a Marquette student, and voila, an essay emerged. I hope to begin shopping it around to law reviews in the spring submission season.

Should Immigration Service Employees Be “Looking for a Way to Approve” Petitions and Applications?

Post author:Jessica E. Slavin
Post published:December 31, 2008
Post category:Federal Law & Legal System Immigration Law

The answer is a resounding yes, according to this refreshingly outdated 1980 memo from INS Regional Director Durward E. Powell, Jr., regarding “Dispensing of Information and Adjudications Decision Making.”

Powell admonishes employees that they should not consider themselves “guardians of the treasury of information on Immigration benefits, whose function is to dispense reluctantly that narrow portion of the treasury which relates to a specific inquiry. Rather, all of us are, or should be, dispensers of total information, tailored to the entirety of each applicant’s situation. Tell them freely and openly not only what they are not eligible for but what they may be eligible for.”

What an efficient and productive attitude for any agency employee toward her work. Some of the immigration agency employees I have encountered did seem to take this helpful stance, but others did not. In fact, the same could be said about my encounters with DMV employees.

What are your thoughts?

Thanks to Benders Immigration Bulletin Daily for the delightful link.

(Edit at 10:42 a.m.) As indicated in the comments below, Benders found this memo on the Nation of Immigrators blog. The post, “New Year Resolutions for Immigration Officials,” is thoughtful and probably would interest anyone who is interested enough to be reading what I’ve written here.