Let's Get Criminal: Wisconsin District Attorneys & Public Defenders

Please join us for an engaging conversation about Wisconsin’s criminal law community, featuring perspectives from both senior and junior prosecutors and public defenders. Panelists will share stories from practice, discuss preparing for a future in criminal law, outline hiring processes, and reflect on varied career trajectories. Whether you’re just starting to explore criminal law or are fully committed to the path, this program will offer valuable insights. After the panel, attorneys will be available for informal conversations with students. Lunch will be catered by Italian restaurant, Maggiano's.

Registration required, please RSVP here. 

Special thanks to the Nathan Fishbach Student Development Fund for its support of this program. Nathan Fishbach was a friend of the Law School and distinguished member of Milwaukee’s legal community. You may read more about Nathan’s legacy here: Farewell, Attorney Nathan A. Fishbach – Marquette University Law School Faculty Blog.

We look forward to you joining us for this event!

Planning Ahead: Graduating Student Loan Repayment Info Session

Please join Michael Tindall, Senior Loan Account Advisor with Marquette University's Office of the Bursar, to provide a general overview of the entire process of managing all types of student loans, the various repayment options available to you, and effective strategies for managing your debt and finances after graduation. This session is open to all students and will be especially useful for graduating 3Ls.

• When: Tuesday, February 17, from 12:10 - 1:10 p.m.
• Where: Room 444
• Please RSVP by Friday, February 14, as lunch will be provided. 

This session is part of 3L Week programming. 

Whether it’s because we already have too much to worry about, we were taught not to discuss it, or it’s just easier to think of as a “tomorrow” problem, we know that talking about our finances can be difficult. But taking control of our financial wellness now can actually allow us to feel less anxious about our path ahead. Recent alumni have shared with us that they found Michael’s guidance extremely helpful as they work to pay off loans while also pursuing other financial and life goals. We strongly encourage you to attend this session if you are available. If you are unable to attend, Michael will be available later in the week for walk-in appointments.

Ash Wednesday Mass and Ash Distribution

Please join the Marquette Law School community in observing Ash Wednesday on Wednesday, February 18, with two opportunities in Eckstein Hall, Room 155.

Ash Wednesday Mass will start at 12:15 p.m., with Mass Celebrant Greg O’Meara, S.J., followed by a short ecumenical service with the distribution of ashes by Father O’Meara, S.J., from 12:50 to 1:10 p.m.

All are welcome to attend either gathering as we begin the Lenten season together in reflection and prayer.

Sports Law Speaker Series: Olympian, Sports Lawyer, and Entrepreneur Dave Tamburrino (L'15)

On Thursday, February 19, at noon in room 433, Olympian Dave Tamburrino (L'15), will join the Sports Law Speaker Series. 

Dave came to Milwaukee in the early 1990s to train at the Pettit Center (at that time an outside track), before eventually competing in the Lillihammer Games in 1994 and the Nagano Games in 1998. Since then Dave has worked for the Milwaukee Brewers, Marquette University, and then as coach, skill ambassador, and regional development coordinator for U.S. Speedskating. Dave is an adjunct instructor teaching sports management in the business school. Co-founder and business operations manager, Dave opened Idyll Coffee Roasters in Wauwatosa. 

Dave will talk about his varied career, and as he will come during the 2026 Winter Olympics, will talk about what it is like to compete in an Olympic Games. Lunch will be provided for all attendees. Click here to register.

2026 Hallows Lecture "Unstated": How Three Implicit Legal Ideas Have Sidelined Congress and Empowered the President and the Courts

Please join us for the 2026 Marquette Law School Hallows Lecture: "Unstated": How Three Implicit Legal Ideas Have Sidelined Congress and Empowered the President and the Courts delivered by Professor Thomas W. Merrill.

• Monday, March 2, 2026
• 5:00 to 6:00 p.m., Lecture (1 CLE)
• 6:00 to 6:30 p.m., Reception 
• Marquette Law School, Ray and Kay Eckstein Hall, Lubar Center 

RSVP by February 23 —Please register HERE (complimentary).

Why has Congress, the constitutional keystone of the federal government, become so ineffective, relative to the president and the federal judiciary? While many explanations have been offered, one important but unappreciated reason is legal ideas—not just widely discussed concepts such as the unitary executive and originalist interpretation of the Constitution but also, and perhaps even more importantly, unstated ideas that have taken hold without much explicit discussion or acknowledgment. This lecture will identify and discuss three largely unquestioned ideas that have combined to deform our constitutional regime. Their result has been that the president wields immense power in the guise of issuing orders and binding regulations and the courts exercise great power in the guise of interpreting the Constitution and laws, while Congress stands largely out of the picture. While there is no magic incantation for restoring a proper constitutional balance, an important first step is to recognize the role that unstated ideas have played in the transformation, so that they can be unmasked and debated in the open.

Thomas W. Merrill is the Charles Evans Hughes Professor of Law at Columbia University. He is one of the nation’s most widely respected and often-cited law professors, with an unusual range of expertise, including constitutional, administrative, environmental, and property law. His recent books include The Chevron Doctrine: Its Rise and Fall, and the Future of the Administrative State (Harvard University Press 2022). Merrill is also an accomplished lawyer, serving as deputy solicitor general of the United States from 1987 to 1990, where he argued twelve cases before the Supreme Court, practicing law for a number of years at Sidley & Austin, and continuing to engage actively today in the profession beyond the academy.

This annual lecture remembers E. Harold Hallows, a Milwaukee lawyer and a faculty member at Marquette Law School from 1930 to 1958 and a justice of the Wisconsin Supreme Court from 1958 to 1974 (chief justice the last six years).