Features

Legal Innovation in 2021: Meet this Year's Award Winners

Meet these risk takers who are advancing the legal profession and serving the public with perseverance, creative thinking, and big ideas in a year of unusual events. This year we honor Lifetime Innovator Keith Findley and other lawyers whose innovations focus on criminal law, health equity, and a legal app.

Five Years Later: Defend Trade Secrets Act

The DTSA has provided trade secret owners with a federal private cause of action and enhanced protections that reach beyond state lines. Still, it has fallen short on its promise of national uniformity. This progress report examines whether the DTSA has lived up to its proponents’ aspirations and how it has affected trade secret litigation nationally and in Wisconsin.

Disability Accommodations at Work: No Nationwide Consensus

Lawyers representing job applicants, employees, or employers in workplace-accommodation claims brought under federal or Wisconsin law need to understand the elements plaintiffs must prove to prevail in claims alleging an employer failed to accommodate an applicant's or employee's disability.

Opinions, Voices & Ideas

President's Message
Connect with Legislators: Lawyers are Constituents, Too
Cheryl Daniels says the State Bar's Advocacy Network connects you with your representatives and allows you to easily communicate your messages to them.

Your State Bar
Giving Purpose to Our Presence
Larry Martin says the State Bar's presence in Kenosha in September highlighted its commitment to combating racial injustice while promoting equal justice, diversity, and inclusion.

101
Supplemental Examinations: Helping Clients Collect Money Judgments
"Victory" in a case in which one party is ordered to pay another isn't complete until the money changes hands. Teresa Kobelt provides tips for helping clients collect on money judgments.

Reflections
Lessons Learned: Two Lawyers Who Made a Difference for Wisconsin Workers
As public sector labor and employment lawyers Timothy Hawks and Barbara Quindel prepare for retirement, Summer Murshid asks them about their careers, and what they wish they had known "back then."

Ethics
Lawyers' Obligations Regarding Technology
As technology continues to evolve, Dean Dietrich says lawyers need not be computer experts, but they must understand the fundamentals of that technology, particularly regarding security.

Technology
5 Productivity Boosting Apps: Microsoft 365 for Business Subscription
James Pearson reviews five apps that will speed up routine business-management tasks, so you can focus your time and effort on clients' cases.

Managing Risk
Client Files: What Should I Do With Them?
Feeling the urge to clean up your shelves or your computer? Tom Watson says make sure to keep file-retention guidelines in mind when handling client files.

Solutions
Should You Be a Thought Leader? The Answer May Surprise You
For lawyers, being perceived as an expert enhances their ability to attract clients and referrals. It may also accelerate promotion within a law firm. But expertise and thought leadership are not the same thing. Teddy Snyder breaks it down.

FInal Thought
New Lawyers: A Generation that Might Get Left Behind the Screen
Emil Ovbiagele warns that full-time remote work policies might have unintended consequences on the long-term career development and well-being of new lawyers.