Marquette University Law School Faculty Blog

A Simple Wardrobe for a Complex Profession

By: Corey WestfallApril 13, 2018April 15, 2018Legal Practice, Legal Profession, Public2 Comments

This semester in Professor Lisa Mazzie’s Advanced Legal Writing: Writing for Law Practice seminar, students are required to write one blog post on a law- or law school-related topic of their choice. Writing blog posts as a lawyer is a great way to practice writing skills, and to do so in a way that allows the writer a little more freedom to showcase his or her own voice, and—eventually for these students—a great way to maintain visibility as a legal professional. Here is one of those blog posts, this one written by 3L Corey Westfall.

A lawyer wears—what does a lawyer wear? I ask you that question after my roommate professed that “we are going to be lawyers soon, so we should dress like lawyers.”

If the 2017 American Bar Association (“ABA”) annual conference provided an entire session focused solely on fashion, fashion must be a real legal issue! ABA paid for a Brooks Brothers session that provided modeling, lectures, and a pamphlet.

And while Brooks Brothers used that session to advertise their “relatively affordable pieces” (do not be duped; there are more affordable options), Brooks Brothers also provided some useful tips: (1) stick to dark grey and dark blue suits/skirts; and (2) limit shirts to solid blue and solid white, and lightly patterned versions of blue and white. (Number (2) for women may have some slight variations in color, but not much.) Conservative tips, but safe nonetheless.

We law students are joining a profession older than we are, with fashion norms out-aging our already-outdated law school wardrobe! Continue reading “A Simple Wardrobe for a Complex Profession”

Give Attention to Concerns About Privacy Close to Home, Author Suggests

By: Alan J. BorsukApril 12, 2018Privacy Rights, Public, Speakers at MarquetteLeave a comment»

Yes, the furor over data from millions of Facebook users being used for political purposes is important. But just driving down the street raises important privacy issues also. And whether you can make sense of the Facebook issues, you could and probably should give attention to high-tech monitoring of your daily life.

That was the thrust of an “On the Issues with Mike Gousha” program Thursday in Eckstein Hall featuring Cyrus Farivar, author of a new book, Habeas Data: Privacy vs. the Rise of Surveillance Tech. Farivar is also a regular contributor to Ars Technica, which covers news related to technology.

Gousha introduced Farivar by saying that talking about technology and privacy is “a conversation that is perfect for our times.” In the week when great attention focused on Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg testifying at length before congressional committees, Farivar agreed. Continue reading “Give Attention to Concerns About Privacy Close to Home, Author Suggests”

Overheard Outside Eckstein Hall

By: Edward A. FalloneApril 12, 2018Marquette Law School, Public, UncategorizedLeave a comment»

The following conversation was overheard this morning outside of the entrance to the parking structure in Eckstein Hall:

Parking Attendant: I’m sorry, but you will have to back up your car. The parking structure is full.

Faculty Member: I can see past the gate. There are plenty of empty spots.

Parking Attendant: Those spots are reserved for faculty and students only.

Faculty Member: But I have been on the faculty for 26 years.

Parking Attendant: My apologies. I didn’t recognize you. However, those spots are reserved for today’s On the Issues with Mike Gousha. He is interviewing the author of the book “Trump Bad: How to Sell Your Book By Using Trump’s Name in the Title.”

Faculty Member: I happen to know that that event is tomorrow.

Parking Attendant: My mistake. Today those spots are reserved for people attending Charles Franklin’s press conference. He has new poll results: “Public Support for Cheese Curds Reaches Record Low in Wisconsin.”

Faculty Member: I think that you made that up. Continue reading “Overheard Outside Eckstein Hall”

The Need to Educate the Nonlegal Public About Lawyers and the Legal System

By: William DavidsonApril 12, 2018April 12, 2018Alumni Contributor, Legal Practice, Public, Wisconsin Law & Legal System1 Comment

Just over fourteen months have passed since I first appeared in a Milwaukee County courtroom as a newly minted (Marquette) lawyer. Rolling the clock back another two and a half years, I recall my first few days as a law student. In all, I’m nearly four years into what I hope will be a long and eventful career in the law.

Over these last four years—this last year, in particular—I’ve found myself often making the same two observations. Though I don’t suspect that either of my observations are especially unique, both are surely the product of spending so many of my days in and around our state’s most active courthouse.

The first of these observations is one I began to consider very early on during my time at Marquette: we (society in general, but lawyers and others inside the legal system more specifically) must do more to educate and inform all those individuals who too often lack even the most rudimentary understanding of what it means to be a nation of laws. Continue reading “The Need to Educate the Nonlegal Public About Lawyers and the Legal System”

Hindsight into My Legal Education: Respect the Past But Look Toward the Future

By: Benjamin BrittonApril 12, 2018April 12, 2018Legal Education, PublicLeave a comment»

Ben and son fishing — Ben and his son, fishing on Pewaukee Lake.

While looking back on how I came to law school and why I came to law school, I have come to believe that law school is both one of the best choices I have ever made and one of the worst.

This may seem like a statement that the law school will not want conveyed but it is true for me. While many if not most law students either dream about being lawyers or working in a career field that requires a law degree, I have never actively imagined myself to be a lawyer. Instead I view law school as a means to an end. Continue reading “Hindsight into My Legal Education: Respect the Past But Look Toward the Future”

Copyright’s Substantial Confusion

By: Bruce E. BoydenApril 12, 2018April 12, 2018Intellectual Property Law, PublicLeave a comment»

A few weeks ago the 9th Circuit issued its decision in the long-awaited “Blurred Lines” case, Williams v. Gaye, and the reaction has generally ranged between dismay and anger. Here is a quick summary of the decision. The consensus among copyright lawyers, with some exceptions, appears to be that the original jury verdict against Pharrell Williams and Robin Thicke threatens to make musical styles copyrightable, that the majority on appeal got the law wrong, and that the dissent is correct that the jury verdict should have been reversed.

I disagree with some of that, but I want to take this post in a different direction. I’ve been doing a lot of thinking and reading lately about the development of the test for copyright infringement over the course of the 20th century. Williams v. Gaye is, I believe, merely the predictable outcome of the 9th Circuit’s approach to proving copyright infringement, an approach that copyright scholars have been complaining about for a long time. But it’s worse than that. As Rick Sanders spelled out in a recent post, all of the modern tests for proving infringement by copying are deeply problematic. What is particularly intriguing with the Williams case is that the approach the dissent seems to be recommending actually pre-dates the modern caselaw. It’s the one that the modern test — first spelled out in detail by the Second Circuit in Arnstein v. Porter — was designed to replace. Look at the cases the dissenter, Judge Nguyen, cites—many of them were decided before Arnstein. And although I agree with the Williams majority’s assessment of the lack of support for the dissent’s argument, I think it’s no accident it has resurfaced.

A warning for non-IP-interested readers: this is going to be a long, hard slog through the weeds of copyright law, maybe several long hard slogs. I also have some things to say along the way about the development of the law generally over the last hundred years. But consider yourself warned. Continue reading “Copyright’s Substantial Confusion”

Will a Wisconsin Benefit Corporation Benefit Your Start-Up?

By: Nicole PatersonApril 11, 2018April 15, 2018Business Regulation, Corporate Law, Marquette Law School, PublicLeave a comment»

As a student associate in Marquette’s Law and Entrepreneurship Clinic, I see many start-up companies struggle with entity selection. It can be a difficult decision because founders have to consider liability, management structure, employee compensation, formation formalities, future investments, and tax implications, among other things.

As of February 26, 2018, the decision-making process got even harder. That is when 2017 Wisconsin Act 77 took effect, which recognized a new type of entity: benefit corporations. Far from being a trailblazer, Wisconsin was the 34th state to adopt such legislation.

So what is a benefit corporation? A benefit corporation is a type of corporation that places social and environmental values on equal footing with profits; in other words, a corporation with a “triple bottom line.” Chapter 204 of the Wisconsin Statutes specifies the process and requirements of incorporating a benefit corporation. Continue reading “Will a Wisconsin Benefit Corporation Benefit Your Start-Up?”

Changes to Wisconsin’s CCAP Shortens the Time that Some Records are Online

By: Grace GallApril 8, 2018April 15, 2018Marquette Law School, Privacy Rights, Public, Wisconsin Court System1 Comment

“How do you spell their last name?”—That is often the question my mother used to ask me when I was a kid and asked to spend the night at a new friend’s house. Like many Wisconsin parents or employers, my mother often would use the public record cite called CCAP to search criminal and civil records of individuals. As a child, I simply got used to my mother’s question and as I grew older and started working in the legal field myself, I became more and more acquainted with CCAP. Recently this year, I heard about changes being made to the CCAP record system. The Director of State Courts voted in March of this year to change the time limits for dismissed or acquitted cases to have them removed from the public record site after two years from the final order. Continue reading “Changes to Wisconsin’s CCAP Shortens the Time that Some Records are Online”

Our April Bloggers Have Arrived!

By: Edward A. FalloneApril 3, 2018April 4, 2018Marquette Law School, Public, UncategorizedLeave a comment»

Attorney Bill Davidson stands in ront of a Wisconsin flag. — Bill Davidson

Head shot of student Benjamin Britton. — Benjamin Britton

Please join me in welcoming our two guest bloggers for the month of April.

Our Alumni Blogger of the Month is Bill Davidson. Bill is a December 2016 graduate of Marquette University Law School and has served as an Assistant District Attorney in Milwaukee County since February 2017. In addition to prosecuting a wide variety of civil and criminal offenses in the Milwaukee County Circuit Court, Bill has represented the State of Wisconsin in several matters before the Wisconsin Court of Appeals. He resides in the Greater Milwaukee Area with his wife and daughter where he enjoys spending time with his family, playing golf, and cheering for the Chicago Cubs.

Our Student Blogger of the Month is Benjamin James Britton. Benjamin introduces himself as follows: “I am a father to a 6 year old son and currently a 3L at Marquette University Law School graduating in May 2018. Prior to coming to law school I obtained my Bachelor’s in Science degree in Criminal Justice from the University of Wisconsin with a Minor in psychology in May of 2007. Upon completing my undergraduate studies, I immediately began working as a paralegal and have continued to do so during my studies at Marquette.”

We look forward to reading your posts!

Emily Dickinson on Spring

By: David R. PapkeMarch 27, 2018Public, Uncategorized3 Comments

With spring in the air, I thought the following poem from Emily Dickinson might help us mark the welcome change of seasons. However, Dickinson also provides a cautionary note. The spectacular inspires us, but it also slips by. Spring not only arrives but also departs. Our resulting sense of loss is like “Trade” encroaching “upon a Sacrament.”

A Light Exists in Spring

Emily Dickinson (1830-86)

A light exists in spring

Not present on the year

At any other period.

When March is scarcely here

A color stands abroad

On solitary hills

That science cannot overtake,

But human naturefeels.

It waits upon the lawn;

It shows the furthest tree

Upon the furthest slope we know;

It almost speaks to me.

Then, as horizons step,

Or noons report away,

Without the formula of sound,

It passes, and we stay:

A quality of loss

Affecting our content,

As trade had suddenly encroached

Upon a sacrament.

Jenkins Competitors Move to the Quarterfinals

By: Melissa Love KoenigMarch 27, 2018March 27, 2018Legal Practice, Legal Writing, Marquette Law School, Public1 Comment

Congratulations to the students in the Jenkins Honors Moot Court Competition who have moved on to the inaugural quarterfinal round of the competition. The students will be competing on Saturday, April 14 at 1 p.m. to determine who will be advancing to the semifinal round on April 15 at 1:00 p.m.

The teams will be paired as follows:

Emily Gaertner and Jehona Osmani v. Simone Haugen and Anne O’Meara

Olivia Garman and Sarita Olson v. Katie Bakunowicz and Kelsey Stefka

Claudia Ayala Tabares and Alexander Hensley v. Elizabeth Grabow and Zeinat Hindi

Killian Commers and William Ruffing v. Be’Jan Edmonds and Ian Pomplin

Congratulations to all the participants in the competition. We also very much appreciate the judges who grade briefs and participate in the preliminary rounds. This year we had two Jenkins alums, Attorneys Lindsey Anderson and Averi Niemuth, judging together in the preliminary rounds. One of the great things about moot court is how active our alums and volunteers are, and we appreciate their time and assistance every year.

Playwright Aims to Prod Thinking About the Aftermath of Ferguson

By: Alan J. BorsukMarch 22, 2018Public, Race & Law, Speakers at MarquetteLeave a comment»

Dael Orlandersmith says she does not have the right to speak for the people who were affected when a police officer, Darren Wilson, shot and killed 18-year-old Michael Brown on a street in Ferguson, Missouri, on Aug. 9, 2014.

But she can speak about them, and she does want people to think about themselves, their own communities, and the issues that were raised by the Ferguson incident and its powerful aftermath. The St. Louis Repertory Theater invited Orlandersmith, a well-known poet, playwright, and performer from New York City, to create a play focused on Ferguson. That led her to interview dozens of people in Ferguson and to write “Until the Flood,” a play that includes eight characters she sees as composites of people she interviewed.

Orlandersmith is currently performing “Until the Flood” as a one-woman show at the Milwaukee Repertory Theater. She described her approach to the play – and more broadly, to her artistic work – in an “On the Issues with Mike Gousha” program at Eckstein Hall on Thursday. Continue reading “Playwright Aims to Prod Thinking About the Aftermath of Ferguson”