Marquette University Law School Faculty Blog

Spreading the Love: We are a Community of Lawyers

Post author:Lisa A. Mazzie
Post published:February 14, 2012
Post category:Marquette Law School Public

I was writing a different blog post this morning, one I will get back to, when I received an email from my son’s high school principal. One of his classmates, a senior and a boy my son knew, had committed suicide.

Since receiving that email, I have been out of sorts. There’s the obvious tragedy of a young man taking his own life, of his family and friends left behind. But it also triggered in me deeper emotions, for he died today, Valentine’s Day, a day marketed to be about love not death. Today is also the day, twenty years ago, that my father died from lung cancer. I am definitely out of sorts.

Change in Wisconsin Venue Law

Post author:Melissa Love Koenig
Post published:February 13, 2012
Post category:Civil Procedure Public Wisconsin Civil Litigation

Wisconsin Act 61 changed the law in Wisconsin regarding where a lawsuit is venued. Adjunct Professor Erin O’Connor recently wrote this article on the change in the law and its implications for Wisconsin litigation.

The new law affects both where a case may initially be venued, as well as where an appeal may be brought. Professor O’Connor notes in her article that as a general matter, “a plaintiff can file its action against the state in any county – including counties having no connection to the defendant, the plaintiff, or the cause of action.”

With regard to appeals, under the new law, a party seeking an appeal may not file the appeal in the same court of appeals district where the case was originally venued at the circuit court. However, the party may choose among the remaining three Wisconsin court of appeals districts.

The Top Five Skills Necessary to be a Lawyer

Post author:Joanne Lipo Zovic
Post published:February 8, 2012
Post category:Legal Practice Legal Writing Public

Hello to the blogosphere! Please allow me to introduce myself. My name is Joanne Lipo Zovic, and I am a 1999 MULS grad. By way of background, my current (and very schizophrenic) professional life is comprised of a small private practice, work on a court-appointment in Chapter 128 cases, and teaching both at MULS and UWM and some private training (my teaching is all in the field of Negotiations). This rather unique work life reflects my deliberate effort to have flexibility in order to fulfill my most demanding job as a mother of four teenagers. Crazy as it may appear, it works . . . most of the time.

When I was contacted about being an alumni blogger some time last year, I paused for a brief moment and then said yes. Like the bliss of pregnancy and the denial of eventual childbirth, blogging seemed painless. However, . . . it began to feel uncomfortable as February began to loom.

What could I possibly write about? And more . . . what can I write about that would be at all interesting to the readers, whoever they may be. I was reminded of the scene in “Planes, Trains and Automobiles” where Steve Martin’s character chides John Candy’s character as Candy blathers on and on endlessly. Martin advises Candy that when you tell a story, you should try to have a point because “it makes it so much more interesting for the listener.”