First Sports Law Treatise?

It is difficult to say what was the first law-related book devoted to sports law, but if the title is any indication, it could be W. M. Thompson and J. D. A. Johnson, The Law of Sports (1896), which was published by W. B. Hearnden of New Inn Chambers, London.  Its authors appear to have been British, or possibly Irish, barristers.  The Law Times for 1894 lists them as arguing the case of Keep v. The Vestry of St. Mary, Newington before Queen’s Bench, and their names appear as counsel in a number of criminal cases argued in Old Bailey (London’s central criminal court) in the 1890’s and the early 1900’s.

The Law of Sports is extremely difficult to locate; in fact, it appears that there is no known copy in the United States. This work was reviewed in the London Journal in 1896, and the following description of the work can be found on page 152 of Volume 13 of Fores’s Sporting Notes and Sketches,(London 1896) under the heading of “Notes on Novelties”:

The Law of Sports by W. M. Thompson and J. D. A. Johnson, LL.D., is a useful pamphlet, the copious information therein contained being summarised into the smallest possible space. The legal points connected with the game laws, fishing, hunting, racing, and gambling, being (so to speak) “in a nutshell.” Hearnden, New Inn Chambers, is the publisher.

Fores’s Sporting Notes and Sketches, which can be found in the New York Public Library, was a magazine containing articles “descriptive of British, Indian, Colonial, and Foreign Sport.”  Because Fores’s description makes no mention of team sports like cricket, rugby, or association football or of individual competitor sports like golf and tennis, it is conceivable that the Thompson and Johnson work is devoted only to what are often called “field sports.” 

If that is so, there are many older works on those topics, including George Putnam Smith, The Law of Field-Sports, which was published in 1886 by the New York publisher O. Judd Company, and Henry John Rous’ The Laws and Practices of Horse Racing (London 1866), which earned its author the appellation “the Blackstone of Horse Racing.”  Works on the law of hunting date back at least to the 18th century.  Thomson Gale, The Game Laws was published in its 7th edition in 1807.

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ALWD Scholars’ Forum

On October 9, the Law School hosted an Association of Legal Writing Directors Scholars’ Forum before the Central States Region Conference.  The Forum was an all-day event in which legal writing faculty from across the United States came to discuss their current scholarship in a roundtable format.  After Dean Rofes’ warm welcome, Professor Dan Weddle from UMKC Law School gave an excellent presentation on how to critique scholarship.  The group then broke up into small sections to give the participants a chance to discuss their scholarship and receive feedback.  At the end of the day, a panel of experienced authors gave helpful and practical advice on how to get published. 

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Marquette Law School Celebrates Pro Bono Week

Yesterday, I had the good fortune to attend two inspiring events – the Milwaukee Bar Association’s first Pro Bono Publico Awards ceremony, held at the annual State of the Court luncheon. Marquette 3L Meghan O’Connor was among the honorees. Meghan was awarded this honor for her substantial pro bono commitment at the Law School, particularly her role as the student liaison for the newly launched Legal and Medical Partnership for Families at the Downtown Health Center

In the evening, a Milwaukee Young Lawyers Association gathering brought together recent law graduates and public interest law firms in an effort to increase awareness about pro bono opportunities in the Milwaukee area. Again, Marquette Law School was prominently featured, both by the presence of many alumni and the many pro bono opportunities that the Law School has initiated not only for its students, but for lawyers in the community as well.

These events were a precursor to the National Pro Bono Celebration scheduled for October 25 through 31, 2009.

Sponsored by the ABA Standing Committee on Pro Bono and Public Service, the celebration is a coordinated national effort to showcase the great difference that pro bono lawyers make to the nation, its system of justice, its communities and, most of all, to the clients they serve. The week is also dedicated to the quest for more pro bono volunteers to meet the ever-growing legal needs of this country’s most vulnerable citizens.

Marquette Law School is enthusiastically joining this celebration. On Friday, Dean Joseph D. Kearney will announce the opening of the new Milwaukee Volunteer Legal Clinic at the Milwaukee Justice Center in the Milwaukee County Courthouse. Dean Kearney will appear alongside the Chief Judge from the First Judicial Circuit, the Clerk of Courts, and the President of the Milwaukee Bar Association. This will be the fourth location for the MVLC, which provides pro bono opportunities for nearly 150 law students and 100 lawyers every year. Marquette Law School was a key partner in the development of the Milwaukee Justice Center, an effort led by the Milwaukee Bar Association, and provides many volunteer law students at the MJC’s self-help desks as well.

The following week, on Thursday, January 29, law students will join pro bono attorneys and members of the Coalition for Access to Legal Resources at a luncheon to celebrate pro bono week. CALR was another effort initiated by the Law School through the MVLC to provide a regular forum for public interest law firms to meet and share information on legal services in greater Milwaukee. In celebration of pro bono week, the members of CALR will gather at noon in Marquette’s Eisenberg Hall to discuss legal services, public interest careers, and pro bono opportunities with law students.

Marquette has made tremendous strides to increase the opportunity and engagement in legal services pro bono publico, for both Marquette law students and the Milwaukee bar. Three-quarters of our students now engage in some form of pro bono activity. Under the excellent leadership of Marquette Law School’s Pro Bono Coordinator, Adie Olson, that percentage is expected to grow. Marquette’s Pro Bono Society has increased membership each year, and we are pleased to be so committed and engaged in this good work in our community — just another way Marquette is building a new law school.

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