News & Pubs Archive

The print November Wisconsin Lawyer is hitting mailboxes now. Why wait? Read about lawyers’ creative ideas, the muddled law on blood draws in drunk-driving cases, challenging a state agency regulation, why a police officer became a lawyer, and more.

The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit recently ruled that Milwaukee police did not violate the constitutional rights of a passenger in a vehicle that was parked illegally when officers swooped in and seized the vehicle’s occupants.

Can an unconscious person suspected of driving drunk consent to a blood draw based on implied consent? That is an issue the Wisconsin Supreme Court may decide, recently accepting review of an implied consent case, and 10 other cases.

Robert Zernzach deposited $200,000 into a P.O.D. (payable on death) bank account, naming two beneficiaries on the bank account agreement. Recently, a state appeals court ruled that a handwritten note did not change the P.O.D. beneficiary.

The Wisconsin Supreme Court held a public hearing yesterday on a petition that seeks to change how the State Bar of Wisconsin uses mandatory dues.

Strategies for countering cybersecurity and workplace threats are the focus of day one of the 2017 Wisconsin Solo and Small Firm Conference, hosted in Wisconsin Dells this week.

A man challenged a divorce decree, as well as property and maintenance awards, arguing that he and the petitioner were never validly married despite evidence that a Hmong marriage took place at a Thai refugee camp in 1980.

The last in a line of successive companies that acquired auto loan debt portfolios failed to establish ownership of a specific debt with sufficient evidence for summary judgment against the individual debtors, a state appeals court has ruled.

The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit recently overruled a prior decision that said a petitioner lacked standing to apply for asylum because the petitioner did not suffer an injury-in-fact when denied the opportunity to apply.

State law requires towns to impose liens on landowners who fail to pitch in for the costs of maintaining or repairing shared partition fences that divide agricultural land. Recently, a state appeals court ruled that the fencing law applies to cities, too.

A West Allis police officer used her squad car to block an intersection with a police checkpoint, hoping to intercept an armed robbery suspect. It worked. Recently, a state appeals court rejected the defendant’s Fourth Amendment challenge.

Two members of the local Tea Party in the Town of Campbell placed banners like “Honk to Impeach Obama” on a pedestrian overpass on Interstate-90. Recently, a federal appeals court upheld a town ordinance that banned such displays.

The U.S. Supreme Court today heard oral arguments in Gill v. Whitford, a case that challenges Wisconsin electoral maps on partisan gerrymandering grounds. Any decision is expected to have far-reaching implications on the redistricting process.

Gov. Scott Walker is seeking applicants for judicial appointment to the circuit court bench in Monroe County.

A landowner who won his adverse possession claim against a neighbor, after a jury trial, recently won again at the appeals court stage.

The State Bar of Wisconsin’s Board of Governors last Friday registered its opposition to a petition pending before the Wisconsin Supreme Court that would create a hybrid State Bar organization by funding it with mandatory and voluntary dues.

They come from as far away as China, Brazil, and Dallas and Denver. They are 56 new Wisconsin lawyers, more than prepared to start the next phase of their careers.

A state appeals court has ruled that Wisconsin’s “right-to-work” law, enacted in 2015, does not amount to an unconstitutional taking of property from labor organizations, reversing a circuit court decision that previously struck down the law.

With sadness, the State Bar of Wisconsin reports the passing of Past President Gregory B. Conway, on Sept. 15, 2017.

A criminal defendant argued that his lawyer did not tell him that pleading guilty to armed robbery would impact his eligibility for the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program. Recently, a state appeals court upheld the plea.