Features

State Law Preempts Municipal Property Inspection Ordinances

The Wisconsin Statutes now prohibit local governments from imposing or enforcing time-of-sale requirements on the sale of real estate and other local ordinances affecting real estate transactions. Because the old requirements remain on the books, and appear on the mandated offer to purchase form, lawyers must ensure buyers and sellers are on the same page.

By John D. Finerty & Nancy Leary Haggerty

Nursing Home Admission Contracts: Enforcing Arbitration Provisions

Nursing-home residents and their families may, by signing on the dotted line, lose their ability to take care and treatment disputes to court. The authors discuss characteristics of the typical nursing-home admission process and the enforceability of arbitration provisions in nursing-home admission agreements.

By Jeffrey A. Pitman, Michael J. Cerjak & William C. Gleisner

Speaking Up: The First Amendment and Wisconsin’s Public Educators

First Amendment free-speech protections accompany teachers into the classroom, but both in and outside school, teachers’ publicly expressed views often draw sharp scrutiny and sometimes official response.

By Amy E. Casey

100 Innovations in Law

When changes are necessary to better serve their clients, improve access to justice, or simply make their work easier, lawyers can be pretty progressive. These 100 technological, intellectual, and practical innovations have fundamentally changed the way law is practiced.

By Jason Krause

Web Extras

Explore a World of Possibilities with your State Bar of Wisconsin Membership

Pack your bags and come explore the many advantages of your State Bar membership. The offerings in this guide are just a few of the hundreds of helpful resources available.

By the Numbers: State Bar of Wisconsin Membership

The impact of your membership can’t be quantified – but we tried! Here are just a few of the things State Bar of Wisconsin members helped accomplish in 2015, along with some of the resources offered by the State Bar to help you succeed.

Opinions, Voices & Ideas

President's Message
Titletown, Here We Come!
Join Ralph Cagle and Packer greats Le Roy Butler and Gilbert Brown at the State Bar Annual Meeting & Conference in Green Bay.

Your State Bar
Membership Has Privileges
George Brown highlights some of the features that come with your membership.

101
How to Foreclose against Abandoned Properties
Andrew Oettinger and Christopher Flowers provide tips to help clients through the process of buying and selling zombie properties.

Marketing
Avoid the Ditch: Take Control of Your Marketing
Roadways might be ready for self-propelled cars, but Larry Bodine says effective legal marketing still requires a human operator at the wheel.

Ethics
Handling Clients’ Text Messages
Dean Dietrich provides advice on which client text messages to save and how to save them.

Technology
So, You Want To … Get the Best Mobile Email App
Tison Rhine says Microsoft’s mobile version of Outlook is probably the best email app for most lawyers, and it’s free.

Solutions
What You Think You Know But Don’t: The Dependency Exemption Tax Deduction
Jay Miller explains for purposes of tax returns, not all dependents are children nor are all children dependents. The devil – and pitfalls – is in the definitions.

Final Thought
I’m Not Afraid of Barry Alvarez
Joe Forward says learning to overcome fear when facing new situations or circumstances is one of the best life skills you’ll ever develop.