The State Bar of Wisconsin will be holding a free legal
workshop for members of the media who currently cover the courts and legal issues, or journalists who simply want to expand their knowledge base. Topics covered include: public records and Wisconsin’s open government laws, defamation, changes in sentencing, immigration law, how to cover the courts, and the Supreme Court case on redistricting in Wisconsin that could change the future of U.S. elections.
Resources Page
Agenda
8:30 a.m. Breakfast
9:00 a.m. Welcome
9:05 a.m. Public Records: How to Get the Records You Need
Dee J. Hall, Managing Editor, Wisconsin
Center for Investigative Journalism
Paul Ferguson, Assistant Attorney General, Office
of Open Government, Wisconsin Department of Justice
Makda Fessahaye, Assistant Legal Counsel,
Wisconsin Department of Corrections
10:00 a.m. Media Law: Defamation, Reporter Shield Law,
Open Meetings, Open Records Rulings
Dustin Brown, Attorney, Media and First Amendment
Litigation, Godfrey and Kahn
Bill Lueders, President, Wisconsin Freedom of Information Council
10:45 a.m. Break
11:00 a.m. Immigration Law and Policy Changes Under the
New Administration
Moderator: Mitch Teich, Co-host/ Executive Producer, Lake Effect, WUWM Public Radio
Grant Sovern, Partner, International Immigration Law Chair, Quarles and Brady, Adjunct Professor University of Wisconsin Law School
Davorin Odrcic, Managing Attorney, Odrcic Law Group, Author, State Bar of Wisconsin PINNACLE Immigration Consequences of Wisconsin Criminal Offenses
Jean-René Watchou, Director of International Outreach, Christ Presbyterian Church, Board
Member and Organizer, Community Immigration Law Center
Darryl Morin, Past National VP-Midwest, League of United Latin American Citizens (LULAC)
12:00 p.m. Working Lunch
12:15 p.m. Q&A Bruce Vielmetti, Legal
Affairs Reporter, Milwaukee Journal Sentinel
1:00 p.m. Owning the Problem: Mass and Disparate Incarceration in Wisconsin
Moderator: Fran Deisinger, Past-president, State
Bar of Wisconsin; Partner, Reinhart Boerner Van Deuren Law
Judge Carl Ashley, Milwaukee County Circuit Court
Cecelia Klingele, Associate Professor, University of Wisconsin Law School
Michael O’Hear, Professor, Marquette University Law School
Mike Nichols, President, Wisconsin Policy Research Institute
2:00 p.m. Evidence-Based Decision Making, New Strategies to Improve the Criminal Justice System
Moderator: Gil Halsted, retired Criminal Justice Reporter, Wisconsin Public Radio
Thomas Reed, Regional Attorney Manager, Wisconsin State Public Defender’s Milwaukee Trial Office, Adjunct Professor Marquette University Law School
David O’Leary, Rock County District Attorney; Chair, Department of Justice Criminal Justice Coordinating Council Evidence-Based Decision Making Subcommittee
Judge Richard Sankovitz, Milwaukee County Circuit Court
Anna Ruzinski, Director of Protective Services/ Chief of Police, Menomonee Falls
Tommy Gubbin, Special Projects Coordinator, Director of State Courts Office, Office of Court Operations
3:00 p.m. Break
3:15 p.m. How to Cover the Courts and Access Court Records
Judge Brian Blanchard, District IV Court of Appeals
Jean Bousquet, Chief Information Officer, Wisconsin Court System
4:00 p.m. Gill v. Whitford, The Landmark U.S. Supreme Court Redistricting Case that Challenges the
Constitutionality of Wisconsin’s Electoral Maps and Could Change the Future of U.S. Elections
Moderator: Craig Gilbert, Washington Bureau Chief, Milwaukee Journal Sentinel
Barry Burden, Professor of Political Science, Director of the Elections Research Center, and the Lyons Family Chair in Electoral Politics at the University of Wisconsin-Madison.
Douglas Poland, Attorney, Rathje Woodward, Plaintiff Gill v. Whitford
Rick Esenberg, Attorney, Founder and President, Wisconsin Institute for Law and Liberty
Questions? Email Kristen Durst, State Bar Public Relations Coordinator at kdurst@wisbar.org.
