No matter how lawyers refer to them – engagement agreements, fee agreements, legal services agreements, or retainer agreements – fee agreements can trip up even the most well-intentioned lawyers. Here's what you need to know to ensure your agreements don’t run afoul of Wisconsin's ethics rules.

When helping clients navigate the complexities of selling or refinancing an existing home or purchasing a new home during a divorce, it's important to understand the ever-changing real property landscape and the client's circumstances. Here's how to guide clients through this emotional and potentially discouraging transaction.

In Michels v. Lyons, the court held that a grandparent who wishes to have visitation rights to a grandchild in opposition to the parents' wishes must establish by a clear and convincing standard that the parents' decision is not in the child's best interests. Although more difficult, the higher evidentiary threshold can be overcome.

Jill Kastner says lawyers can help combat domestic violence by volunteering to assist survivors.

Larry Martin encourages the sharing of lawyering knowledge by participating in a mentoring relationship.

Joseph Boucher, John Rather, Ron Bote, and Andrew Seifert discuss the mechanics and legal structure involved in starting a limited liability law firm as well as the tax treatment of such entities.

Tom Watson says answering questions in eight practice management and job satisfaction categories will help head off problems and reduce the anxiety that comes with being a lawyer.

Few lawyers have not experienced or witnessed a party behaving badly. When the behavior escalates to include cyberbullying, David Blumberg says the potential resulting harm cannot safely be ignored.

Lawyers clearly have a duty to supervise nonlawyer employees. Dean Dietrich says the harder question is how much supervision is required.

Chris Shattuck provides ways to reduce the likelihood of an attack and to be ready to respond quickly if an incursion is successful.

Allison Ritter went from being a hard worker with a drinking problem to a hard drinker with problems working. Then friends brought in WisLAP, and recovery.

Interesting facts, trends, tips, bits and bytes in the news.

In this column, Profs. Daniel D. Blinka and Thomas J. Hammer summarize select published opinions of the Wisconsin Court of Appeals. Full-text decisions are linked below.

The Office of Lawyer Regulation, an agency of the Wisconsin Supreme Court, provides these summaries for educational purposes.

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Advances in neuroscientific research have improved understanding of how humans communicate, including within the framework of the law. Here’s how to improve interactions with clients and reduce the risk of miscommunication and misunderstanding that might lead to poor legal outcomes.

For many years, Wisconsin's pleading standard for litigation appeared to differ from the federal-court standard, but in 2019 the Wisconsin Supreme Court announced the standards are essentially the same. In Cattau, the court clarified this decades-long misunderstanding.

Cases involving domestic violence, custody, or child abuse may force couples to run around a maze to locate legal counsel in a place where family law attorneys are scarce. The first one to find the attorney wins. Like a game of musical chairs, the second one to the chair is out of luck.