The June Bloggers Have Arrived!
Let’s welcome our Guest Bloggers for the month of June.
Our Student Blogger of the Month is Nicholas Wanic.
Nick is from Crystal Lake, Illinois, a town which has recently become somewhat infamous in the legal community. Nick received his bachelors from Illinois State in Business Administration, but knew he wanted to go to law school long before he graduated high school. While here at Marquette Law, Nick has worked for the Honorable Joan Kessler of the Wisconsin Court of Appeals and has worked with the Milwaukee City Attorney’s Office prosecuting ordinance violations and working on civil litigation including the recently resolved and much publicized Bird Scooters case. He was a finalist in the Jenkins Competition this past April and looks forward to representing Marquette at the Chicago Bar Association Competition this Fall.
He is currently working toward his litigation certificate and hopes to work in litigation and appellate practice after graduation. In his free time Nick enjoys painting, cooking, and golfing.
Our Alumni Blogger this month is April K. Toy.
April is an attorney in Meissner Tierney’s commercial litigation practice group. April represents businesses, insurance companies and individuals in a wide range of civil matters including liability and insurance coverage. She also defends businesses against professional liability claims and advises insurers on extra-contractual claims handling issues, including bad faith and duty to defend issues. April graduated from Marquette University Law School in 2010.
April is a member of the Hispanic National Bar Association and Hispanic Professionals of Greater Milwaukee. In addition, she volunteers at the Milwaukee Justice Center.
Now that the academic year has ended, it’s time to catch up on what is happening in the world. Of particular interest is the news that Kim Kardashian plans on becoming a lawyer without attending law school. Or college. Bar exams are likely easier to pass with the help of a law school education, but is that the purpose of law school? Not all states allow law school to be optional, but does law school serve purposes other than just checking off a requirement?
Currently before the State Legislature are bills regarding the State Public Defender private bar appointment rate. Currently the rate is $40 per hour (the lowest in the nation), but the bill is proposing to raise the rate to $70 per hour. Recently a petition to the Wisconsin Supreme Court attempted to get the Supreme Court to raise the private bar rate of the public defender to $100 per hour. While the Supreme Court acknowledged the current rate as woefully inadequate, it did not take action regarding the public defender appointed rate, although it did raise the court-appointed rate effective next year to $100 per hour for all court-appointed lawyers.