Marquette University Law School Faculty Blog

Residency Venue in Cases with Foreign Corporate Defendants

Post author:Ryan Scoville
Post published:February 17, 2015
Post category:Federal Civil Litigation Public

A few years ago, Congress passed the Federal Courts Jurisdiction and Venue Clarification Act of 2011, in part to resolve, as the title suggests, uncertainties concerning the old venue statute. The effort succeeded in various regards, but Congress may have unwittingly created a new problem in the course of correcting others. Specifically, it’s not clear how to determine residency venue under 28 U.S.C. § 1391(b)(1) when at least one of the defendants is a foreign corporation.

The statute seems to provide two contradictory solutions: First, venue is appropriate in a district only if at least one defendant resides there and all defendants—including the foreign corporation—reside in the state in which the district is located. In this analysis, 1391(c)(2) decides residency questions for all corporate defendants such that a foreign corporation, like any other, is a resident of the given state only if it is subject to personal jurisdiction there.

Exchange Programs Let Law Students Explore the World

Post author:Edward A. Fallone
Post published:February 16, 2015
Post category:Legal Education Marquette Law School Public

Students at the Marquette University Law School have several opportunities to make their legal education a truly international experience. Of course, each summer the Law School offers its popular Summer Session in International and Comparative Law, a month long program in Giessen, Germany. Every other year, Professor Schneider also offers her course in International Dispute Resolution, which includes 10 days of travel to Israel and meetings with representatives of the Israeli government. More information on these opportunities will be provided at two orientation sessions held on February 19.

However, these orientation sessions will also provide information regarding a more immersive study abroad experience: the opportunity to spend an entire semester studying law at one of the Law School’s three law student exchange partners in Europe. Through partnerships with the University of Copenhagen in Denmark, the University of Comillas in Madrid, Spain, and the University of Poitiers in France, the Marquette University Law School regularly hosts foreign students from our partner institutions for a semester, and also sends Marquette law students to our partners to study abroad for a semester.

Milwaukee Arrests Rarely Involve Force, But Numbers Vary by District

Post author:Michael M. O'Hear
Post published:February 13, 2015
Post category:Criminal Law & Process Milwaukee Public Race & Law

Last week, the Milwaukee Fire and Police Commission released its annual report on police uses of force for 2013. The report counts 895 incidents in 2013, employing a very broad definition of “use of force” that does not require either an injury or the use of a weapon. To put that number into perspective, the Milwaukee Police Department made more than 30,000 arrests in 2013. For each arrest in which force was used, there were about thirty-six arrests in which force was not used.

In nearly three-quarters of the use-of-force-incidents, no weapon was used by the police officer. In the remaining incidents, the most commonly used weapons were Tasers and pepper spray. Firearms were used on forty occasions, most commonly on dogs. Firearms were used against human subjects in fourteen incidents; eleven of the subjects were hit.