Features

• • Table of Contents
  • The 640-page directory contains attorney alphabetical and geographical rosters; Wisconsin law firms; listings of federal, state, and tribal courts, including court personnel; directory of vendors providing law-related services; contact information for the State Bar of Wisconsin and other law-related organizations; and Lawyer-to-Lawyer Directory.

Features

• • A Two-year Patch: 2010 Tax Relief Act Overview
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  • There’s a little bit of relief for just about every taxpayer in the 2010 Tax Relief Act, including small and family businesses, working individuals, and wealthy people with substantial estates. The law contains several unique, limited-term planning opportunities but is fraught with peril for those who neglect the details.
• • Panning for Gold: Social Networking's Impact on E-Discovery
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  • In seeking evidence when representing clients, attorneys must search where the evidence lies – and today, that often means searching online sources. The authors present practical recommendations and recent legal developments to help lawyers and clients understand how the use of social networking sites can affect a case.
• • Negotiating in the 'Red Zone'
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  • Lawyers should take special care to advise clients in a timely and meaningful way, faithfully follow client instructions, and document their actions when negotiating settlements, particularly when a demand and offer fall within the client’s stated acceptable range – that is, the client’s red zone.

Features

• • Planning in the Face of Adversity: Wisconsin and Federal Estate and Gift Taxes
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  • Dramatic changes in the federal estate, gift, and generation-skipping taxes occurred in December 2010. But unless congress extends them, the changes will expire at the end of 2012 and will revert to the federal law in place in 2001. This uncertainty makes estate planning even more challenging. Here is a look at the federal changes and the current state of Wisconsin's estate and gift taxes.
• • The Daubert Standard in Wisconsin: A Primer
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  • The legislature changed Wisconsin’s rules of evidence regarding lay and expert witness testimony. For all actions filed on or after Feb. 1, the Daubert reliability standard now applies. This primer discusses the Daubert evidence rules and focuses on the new foundational elements.
• • Bankruptcy Basics for Attorneys
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  • Part one of this two-part series on bankruptcy law introduces concepts and practice tips so that nonbankruptcy lawyers may identify situations in which it is appropriate to consult with a bankruptcy attorney on the lawyer's own behalf or on behalf of prospective or current clients.

Features

• • The Act of God Defense: Does It Still Exist?
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  • Although the Act of God defense – that a defendant is insulated from liability for personal injury or property damages caused by a natural cause – is rarely used, it may become more common in the future if predictions of catastrophic weather events caused by global warming prove true.
• • Bankruptcy Basics for Attorneys
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  • This is the second of a two-part series to familiarize nonbankruptcy lawyers with basic bankruptcy law concepts and practices. This part focuses on specific aspects of Chapter 7 and Chapter 13 proceedings and provides practice hints. Part 1 appeared in the March Wisconsin Lawyer.
• • Beyond Robo-Signing: Mortgage Foreclosure Defense Basics
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  • Recent revelations concerning unreliable mortgage-processing methods nationwide have cast a negative light on industry practices but also opened the door to new defenses for homeowners and their lawyers involved in foreclosure actions. This article is a basic key for finding potential mortgage-document mistakes and using this information to help clients keep their homes.

Features

• • Shifting Gears: Retire Your Way
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  • If you're thinking about retirement, you probably have a lot of questions: When should I retire? How do I retire? Do I retire altogether or just cut back my practice? What's next? Here, a few lawyers' stories may help you choose a good route as you ponder shifting gears.
• • ID Theft: Think It Can’t Happen in a Law Firm?
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  • Think again. Here is a look at law firms and their unique obligations to keep client information confidential in a world in which ID theft is committed on both the high end and the low end of the technology spectrum, and by random strangers and trusted employees – even in law firms.
• • Limited Duty to Independent Contractors' Employees
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  • Employers that hire independent contractors generally are not liable for injuries to the contractor's employees, unless the injury was caused by the hiring party's affirmative act of negligence or occurred while the employee was engaged in an extrahazardous activity. Tatera v. FMC Corp. makes clear that plaintiffs face high barriers to satisfying either of these prerequisites to recovery.

Features

• • Copycat: Plagiarism, Copyright Infringement, & Lawyers
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  • The purpose of lawyers' legal writing is not to demonstrate our individual skills; it is to communicate on behalf of our clients and advance their goals. The authors clarify the basic principles of copyright infringement and plagiarism as they apply to the work of lawyers.
• • Avoiding E-Discovery Traps
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  • The same technology boom that necessitated Wisconsin's electronic discovery rules provides the tools for attorneys and clients to avoid potential traps and fulfill duties created by the new rules, in conjunction with federal court guidance.
• • Revising the Residential Offer Form
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  • As of July 1, 2011, real estate licensees are required to use the 2011 WB-11 residential offer to purchase form, which replaces the 2010 version. The 2011 revised form addresses most of the concerns with the older form but also raises new questions.

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Features

• • A New Era: Products Liability Law in Wisconsin
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  • Wisconsin’s products liability law has undergone a sea change. Changes to Wis. Stat. chapter 895 adopt a new test of defectiveness, leaving behind the analysis of consumer expectations in strict liability claims and substituting the reasonable-alternative-design standard. Plaintiffs now must meet more stringent requirements to recover for an injury caused by defective products.
• • The Shaping of a President: Jim Brennan
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  • State Bar President Jim Brennan credits his upbringing as the son of an Irish immigrant cop and a nurse, in a family that values justice and advocacy for the poor, for shaping his life’s work – the pursuit of justice. As president, Brennan's focus will be on supporting the roles lawyers play in the justice system and assuring the public of the Bar's commitment to equal justice.
• • Over Assessed? Appealing Home Tax Assessments
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  • Nearly 60 percent of the nation's taxable property may be over assessed. There are many reasons for real estate appraisal inaccuracies, which may affect a property owner's tax assessment. It is important that taxpayers and their attorneys understand how appraisals are conducted and the different types of tax assessment appeals that are available, including their processes and limitations.
• • Leaving a Client: Confidentiality Upon Withdrawal
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  • Most courts require a lawyer to seek permission to withdraw from representing a client and usually require the lawyer to provide some reason. Withdrawing lawyers still owe a duty of confidentiality to the client, however, and should not disclose information that would be detrimental to the client's interests.

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Features

• • Repair or Replace? The Economic-Waste Doctrine in Construction Defect Cases
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  • Damages in construction defect cases are generally measured by the cost to repair the defect. But in cases posing economic waste – in which a repair requires significant reconstruction or, despite a high cost, would not improve the property’s value – the measure is the decrease in property value caused by the defect. The inherent vagueness of the economic-waste doctrine often complicates determining which measure should be used in a given case.
• • Changing the Rules on Rulemaking
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  • 2011 Wisconsin Act 21 significantly changes how administrative rules are promulgated. Among other things, it narrows state agencies’ rule-making authority, gives the governor new powers to approve or prevent the adoption of rules, expands the economic-impact-analysis requirement to all agencies, and expands venue in declaratory judgment actions to all counties.
• • 'Catch 22' Ethical Dilemma for Defense Counsel in TPR Litigation
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  • Losing one's parental rights is a serious matter, which is why representation by counsel and appearance and participation by parents is required in termination of parental rights litigation. But defense counsel face an ethical dilemma when a court denies a motion to withdraw because a parent’s conduct makes it impossible for counsel to provide adequate representation. To continue representation violates professional conduct rules. To not continue representation violates statutory law. It's a "Catch 22."

Features

• • The Pendulum Swings: No More Early Release
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  • The pendulum of sentencing policy has swung back again in Wisconsin. 2011 Wisconsin Act 38, which became effective Aug. 3, signals a return to truth-in-sentencing by changing the state's criminal sentencing laws to eliminate or adjust many of the procedures that had allowed early release of certain inmates.
• • Navigating Conflict-of-Interest Disqualification Motions
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  • By making clear that objections to an attorney’s involvement in a case on conflict grounds can be raised by nonclient parties as well as by clients, a recent Wisconsin decision has increased the burden on lawyers to conduct thorough conflict-of-interest checks.
• • Who Is a Prospective Client?
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  • Formal Opinion EF-11-03 discusses the definition of and duties owed to prospective clients, including when a lawyer is contacted through a lawyer website or by email.

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Features

• • Wisconsin's New Automobile Insurance Law
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  • The statutes concerning automobile insurance have seesawed during the past few years. A new law, effective Nov. 1, creates more restrictions to recovery. To competently represent car owners and anyone who could be injured in an accident, attorneys need to understand the new law.
• • Procedural Gray Areas: New POA for Finances
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  • Wisconsin's new power of attorney for finances provides more guidance for agents and protection for principals. Still, some uncertainties remain as to the meaning and effect of the law that created the new POA.
• • Protected Thoughts? IRS Threatens Attorney Work-Product Doctrine
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  • The IRS has had some success persuading courts to limit the application of the attorney work-product doctrine forcing disclosure of work product – including an attorney's mental impressions – in certain situations. If the IRS can make inroads, other agencies or private parties may follow.

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Features

• • Top 8 Recent Wisconsin Federal Court Decisions
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  • Federal court interpretations of Wisconsin law are of persuasive value to, but not binding on, Wisconsin courts, yet, they affect how Wisconsin law develops and is argued. Here is a look at eight significant Wisconsin federal court decisions interpreting Wisconsin law in 2010 and 2011, encompassing common law claims and statutory interpretations.
• • Top 10 Wisconsin Supreme Court Decisions
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  • The author highlights 10 significant decisions issued by the Wisconsin Supreme Court during its 2010-11 term.
• • Class Action Suits after Wal-Mart Inc. v. Dukes
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  • The U.S. Supreme Court has placed obstacles in the path of plaintiffs' litigators attempting to put together class action lawsuits. Learn about the Court's decision in Wal-Mart Inc. v. Dukes and the similarities and differences between the federal rule the Court relied on and Wisconsin's class-action statute.

Features

• • The Toll of Trauma
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  • A groundbreaking study of Wisconsin State Public Defender attorneys examines the effects of "compassion fatigue" – the cumulative physical, emotional, and psychological effects resulting from continual exposure to others' traumatic experiences. This article discusses the significance of compassion fatigue's effects, factors contributing to the risk any lawyer may face of experiencing its symptoms, and what can be done to mitigate it.
• • Health-care Reform: What You Should Know
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  • Lawyers need to understand the effects of the 2010 Health-care Reform Law as they seek health-care coverage for themselves, their families, and their employees, and as they counsel their business clients.
• • Enhancing Animal Welfare Laws
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  • 2009 Wisconsin Act 90 bolsters Wisconsin's animal abuse and neglect laws by requiring dog breeders, animal shelters, rescues, and others involved in the care and custody of animals to obtain a license and meet state guidelines on animal treatment.
• • Choosing Our Judges: Wisconsin's Longstanding Debate
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  • Recent Wisconsin Supreme Court election campaigns have focused attention on the methods by which the state's ultimate judicial arbiters are selected; but the debate is not a modern phenomenon.

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