Summer 2012 Volume 2
Milwaukee Bar Association’s
154th Annual Meeting.
PERMIT NO. 3207 NO. PERMIT
MILWAUKEE, WI MILWAUKEE, Milwaukee, WI 53202-3746 WI Milwaukee,
PAID
424 E. Wells St. Wells E. 424
U.S. POSTAGE U.S.
Milwaukee Bar Association Bar Milwaukee PRSRT STD PRSRT
Messenger 1
Regular Features Contents 4 Letter From the Editor Summer 2012 • Volume 2 4 Volunteer Spotlight 5 Member News In This Issue: 5 New Members 5 And Now for Something Completely Different . . . 6 Message From the President 7 CLE Calendar 7 Thank You MJC Donors! 11 The Reel Law 8 Justice Delayed Is Justice Denied: the Enduring Lessons of Bleak House by Attorney Douglas H. Frazer, DeWitt Ross & Stevens 21 Pro Bono Corner 8 24th Annual MBA Foundation Golf Outing: Benefiting the Milwaukee Justice Center 22 Classifieds 9 A Wired Thing Happened in Court: Electronic Filing Arrives in Milwaukee County by Attorney John W. Barrett, Milwaukee County Clerk of Circuit Court Be Part of the Messenger Please send your articles, editorials, or 10 Milwaukee County Circuit Court Welcomes Three New Judges anecdotes to [email protected] or mail them to Editor, Milwaukee Bar 10 Second Annual MJC 5K Run for Justice Set for July 25 Association, 424 East Wells Street, by Joseph Riggenbach, Milwaukee Justice Center Milwaukee, WI 53202. We look forward to hearing from you! 12 Milwaukee Bar Association’s 154th Annual Meeting
If you would like to participate on the 13 Memorial Service 2012 Messenger Committee, we have seats 15 Keep Your “Friends” Close: Protecting Employers’ Ownership Interests in Their available. Please contact James Temmer, Corporate Social Media [email protected]. by Attorneys Amy Hartwig and Steven Nigh, Michael Best & Friedrich
17 Search Engine Optimization for the Sole Practitioner and Small Law Firms by Ken Matejka, President, Mission LegalPPC, Inc The MBA Messenger is published Statement quarterly by the Milwaukee Bar 18 Hannah Dugan Captures First Annual Established in 1858, the mission of the Milwaukee Association, Inc., 424 East Wells Street, Messenger Award Bar Association is to serve the interests of the Milwaukee, Wisconsin 53202. lawyers, judges and the people of Milwaukee Telephone: 414-274-6760 18 Fox 6 Law Day Phone Bank County by working to: E-mail: [email protected] • Promote the professional interests of the 19 Michael Hupy: a Portrait in local bench and bar Generosity The opinions stated herein are not • Encourage collegiality, public service Attorney Michael J. Cohen, Meissner, necessarily those of the Milwaukee and professionalism on the part of the Bar Association, Inc., or any of its Tierney, Fisher & Nichols lawyers of Southeastern Wisconsin directors, officers, or employees. The 20 Foreclosure Filings in Milwaukee • Improve access to justice for those living information presented in this publication and working in Milwaukee County should not be construed to be County Continued to Decline in 2011 by Attorney Jeremy P. Shapiro-Barr • Support the courts of Milwaukee County formal legal advice or the formation in the administration of justice of a lawyer-client relationship. All 21 Congratulations to the VLP Award manuscripts submitted will be reviewed and Winners for possible publication. The editors • Increase public awareness of the reserve the right to edit all material for 21 Thank You, Law Day Volunteers style and length. Advertising and general crucial role that the law plays information concerning this publication in the lives of are available from Britt Wegner, the people of telephone 414-276-5931. Milwaukee County.
Messenger 3 MBA Board of Letter From the Editor Directors and Staff Not entirely sure I trust to the rafters is this issue that we don’t really Charles H. Barr, President this new President have room for a full-length Letter from the character. His derriere Editor. Plus, I’m told I have to defer to this Beth E. Hanan, President-Elect has hardly touched the new President fellow. I remain skeptical, but David G. Peterson, Vice President throne, and he’s already, I suppose we should let him say something. Patricia A. Hintz, Secretary/Treasurer like, all with the snide Thus, I respectfully refer you to the Table of Michael J. Cohen, Past President comments. What is his Contents (p.3). term, a year? Meh! I’ll Directors be around long after We hope you enjoy this issue of the Messenger, Charles Barr, Editor Shannon A. Allen he’s gone and forgotten. as well as Wisconsin’s glorious summer. And Friebert, Finerty & St. John Fiefdom indeed. He thinks he’s so smart, let remember, somewhere out there is the future him edit the magazine. winner of the second annual Messenger Marcia F. Drame award for the best article in this and the next Northwestern Mutual Be that as it may, we have a jam-packed three issues. Might it be you? Honorable Timothy G. Dugan summer issue of the Messenger for you. This Milwaukee County Circuit Court really is a happenin’ bar association! So filled — C.B. Maria L. Kreiter Godfrey & Kahn Susan E. Lovern von Briesen & Roper Volunteer Spotlight David G. Peterson Reinhart Boerner Van Deuren Anne Wal Anne has a background in bankruptcy, which she uses at the Volunteer Lawyers Project Thomas H. Reed Attorney Anne Wal is an Bankruptcy Clinic sponsored by Legal State Public Defender, Milwaukee associate at von Briesen Action of Wisconsin. She also does volunteer Criminal Trial Office & Roper, and practices in work unrelated to law. In honor of her Polish Honorable Maxine Aldridge White the real estate, banking, heritage, Anne works at Polish Fest every Milwaukee County Circuit Court and construction areas. year running a little general store (“Maly Andrew J. Wronski Anne works with Sklep” in Polish), the profits of which benefit Foley & Lardner buyers/sellers and Polish Heritage Alliance, Inc. landlords/tenants in commercial real estate MBA Staff transactions. James D. Temmer, Executive Director Katy Borowski, Director of Projects Anne has participated in MBA Law Day activities to address landlord/tenant issues. Sabrina Nunley, Director of Continuing Since September 2011, she has been the co- Save the Legal Education chair of the MBA’s Real Property Section. Dorothy Protz, Accountant Date! Molly Staab, Communication Specialist To Anne, the most important aspect of the MBA volunteer programs is the chance to Britt Wegner, Director, Lawyer work with people in the community who Referral & Information Service July 25 would otherwise not receive any type of Milwaukee Justice Center MJC Staff legal assistance. At Law Day events, people line up to talk with lawyers about problems 5K Run for Justice Dawn Caldart, Executive Director that weigh heavily on their minds, and which Ayame Metzger, Legal Director they may believe to be insurmountable. In most instances, the volunteer lawyers are August 1 Contact Information able to come up with a game plan to deal 24th Annual Milwaukee Milwaukee Bar Association, Inc. with the issue. Anne recalls one woman at a 424 East Wells Street Bar Association Law Day event who was so relieved to learn Foundation Golf Outing Milwaukee, WI 53202 she was “judgment proof” that she burst into Phone: 414-274-6760 tears and gave her a huge bear hug. Fax: 414-274-6765 www.milwbar.org Anne feels that the ability to retain a lawyer October 24 is out of reach for many in our community. 9th Annual State of the Participation in Law Day and other MBA Court Luncheon volunteer programs gives her the chance to help those people . 4 Summer 2012 And Now for Something Member News Completely Different . . . Axley Brynelson, headquartered in Madison, and Murn & Martin, Waukesha, announced It’s time for the annual judicial rotation in the reassigned calendar accompany the the combination of their two firms, which Milwaukee County Circuit Court. Time for arrows. The courtroom location key is: C – will operate as Axley Brynelson. selected judges to pack up the boxes, stuff Courthouse; CJF – Criminal Justice Facility; the loose papers into a briefcase, find their SB – Safety Building; VPJJC – Vel Phillips Grzeca Law Group, a full-service immigration new courtrooms, and tackle a new set of Juvenile Justice Center. law firm, announced the addition of two headaches (a/k/a “calendar”). associates, Rita Kapadia and Teodora Room changes will be after the close of Zlatkova. To assist you in deciphering who is going business on Thursday, July 26. Due to time- where, we have laid out the information in block calendar assignments on criminal R e i n h a r t an easy-to-read format. We hope. A judge’s calendars, new calendar assignments will be B o e r n e r branch number follows his or her name. effective Saturday, July 28. Van Deuren The letter code or description, or both, of announced the addition of two Children’s Division associates to Judge Foley (14)uuuuuuuuu (GJ)uuuuuuuu Judge Colon (18) – VPJJC 1410 its Milwaukee Judge Rothstein (25)uuuuuuu (EJ)uuuuuuuu Judge Cimpl (19) – VPJJC 2425 office. They Judge Colon (18)uuuuuuuuu (AJ)uuuuuuuu Judge Dwyer (16) – VPJJC 2410 are R. Joseph R. Joseph Stennis Bryant E. Ferguson Judge Donald (2)uuuuuuuuu (CJ)uuuuuuuu Judge Sanders (28) – VPJJC 2421 “Joe” Stennis, in the Labor and Employment Judge Murray(43)uuuuuuuu (HJ)uuuuuuuu Judge Donald (2) – VPJJC 2500 practice area; and Bryant E. Ferguson, in the Employee Benefits practice area. Civil Division Judge Sosnay (8)uuuuuuuuu (I) uuuuuuuu Judge VanGrunsven (9) – C 404 von Briesen & Roper held a ribbon cutting Judge White (1)uuuuuuuuu (K)uuuuuuuu Judge Sankovitz (29) – C 500 ceremony on the morning of Tuesday, May (Presently unassigned)uuuuuu (E)uuuuuuuu Judge Foley (14) – C 403 29 to open its new office space and thank Judge Siefert (31)uuuuuuuu (J) uuuuuuuu Judge Noonan (31) – C 414 those who made it possible. The firm is now Judge VanGrunsven (9)uuuu small claimsuuuuuu Judge Kuhmuench (5) – C 409 located on the ninth, tenth, and eleventh floors of the 411 East Wisconsin Avenue Family Division Building with a total of 70,000 square feet. Judge Lamelas (23)uuuuuuuu (C)uuuuuuuu Judge White (1) – C 514 The firm’s new mailing address is 411 East Judge Noonan (31)uuuuuuuu (D)uuuuuuuu Judge Sosnay (8) – C 512 Wisconsin Avenue, Suite 1000, Milwaukee. Judge Dwyer (16)uuuuuuuu (E)uuuuuuuu Judge Murray (43) – C 702
Felony Division Welcome New MBA Members! Judge Dallet (40)uuuu homicide/sexual assault (HF)uuu Judge Brostrom (6) – SB 620 Angela M. Aliota, Law Offices of Angela Judge Sankovitz (29)uu homicide/sexual assault (KF)uuu Judge Wagner (38) – SB 502 M. Aliota Judge Cimpl (19)uuuuuuu general (MF)uuuuuu Judge Guolee(32) – SB 423 Michael J. Anderson, Law Office of Judge Wagner (38)uuuuuu general (AF)uuuuuu Judge Kahn (24) – C 635 Michael J. Anderson Judge Guolee (32)uuuuuuu drug (EF)uuuuuuu Judge Rothstein (25) – SB 313 Eric Andrews, Crivello Carlson (Presently unassigned)uuuuu drug (OF)uuuuuuu Judge Fiorenza (3) – SB 316 Danielle Assa (Presently unassigned)uuuu general (HF)uuuuuu Judge Jean DiMotto (41) – SB 310 Andrew Call Judge Kahn (24)uuuuuuuu gun (NF)uuuuuuu Judge Watts (15) – CJF G55A Colin Casper, LaFleur Law Office Demetra Christopoulos, Schmidlkofer, Toth Misdemeanor Division & Loed Judge Kuhnmuench (5)uuuuuu (BM)uuuuuuuu Judge Siefert (47) – C 615 Karl Foster Judge Watts (15)uuuuuuuuu (GM)uuuuuuuu Judge Grady (23) – C 623 Christine Harder Judge Brostrom (6)uuuuu domestic violenceuuuuu Judge Dallet (40) – C 501 Christina Jones, Foley & Lardner Robert Finn Jensen, Heins Law Office In addition to the judicial rotations, the presiding judge assignments have been made. These Thomas McAdams, Wisconsin Tax Appeals assignments, effective August 1, 2012, are as follows: Commission • Judge Timothy M. Witkowiak will be the Presiding Judge of the Civil Division. Karl Meyer, The Fields Group • Judge William W. Brash, III, will continue as the Presiding Judge of the Probate Michael Puerner, Pruhs & Donovan Subdivision of the Civil Division. Erica N. Reib, Heins Law Office • Judge Timothy G. Dugan will be the Presiding Judge of the Felony Division. Jason Kent Roberts • Judge Daniel L. Konkol will continue as the Presiding Judge of the Misdemeanor Division. Michael R. Roberts, LaFleur Law Office • Judge Mary E. Triggiano will continue as the Presiding Judge of the Domestic Violence Joseph Ryan Subdivision of the Misdemeanor Division. Nicholas D. Strom, LakeLaw • Judge Maxine A. White will be the Presiding Judge of the Family Division. Jeremy Vanderloop, Madden Law Firm • Judge M. Joseph Donald will be the Presiding Judge of the Children’s Division. Messenger 5 Message From the President MBA Attorney Charles H. Barr Dedicates Not entirely sure I trust and, in many cases, entirely subsidize the this Editor character. annual dues. Members save $15 over the Principal You tell me he has non-member rate for each lunch-hour (1.0 been Editor of this credit) offering, and $24 on each half-day Conference rag “since the mind of (3.0 credit) and whole-day (6.0 credit) man runneth not to the program. You can do the math. The MBA contrary”? Well, maybe, sponsors high-quality CLE programs on a Room as just maybe, that’s a little wide variety of topics, and most of which are too long. Holy Christ accessible online. So you don’t have to be Nathan Charles Barrr Seraphim, what fiefdom within walking distance of 424 East Wells be this? Time for a shake-up, I say. Street to get the deal. Fishbach
Be that as it may, I’d like to touch upon a The MBA offers a host of other benefits subject of fundamental importance to the and activities for lawyers of all stripes, on Room Milwaukee Bar Association: membership. which you just can’t put a price tag. In the On March 15, the Milwaukee Bar Association The Great Recession has taken a toll on the Milwaukee legal community, no organization renamed the Marshall Room—the large, MBA’s membership. As of this writing, we can come close to the MBA in opportunities central conference room at the MBA have 2,034 members. At its pre-recession to work and network with lawyers and judges offices—as the Nathan Fishbach Room. peak, our membership approached 2,400. on an entirely different and more satisfying Nathan, whose career and commitment to It is time to replenish our numbers. How? level than possible in the daily grind of the public service benefited so many in and By making the case to prospective MBA adversary system. Check out the Member beyond the legal community, died September members, one by one. Benefits page of the MBA website (www. 17, 2011 at the age of 58. milwbar.org) for the particulars—some of Member savings on CLE alone can largely which I’ll bet you had forgotten. In a dedication ceremony attended by many of the judges and lawyers who knew Nathan, Increasing our membership his wife Susan Fishbach, his long-time law matters because the more partner Charles Bohl, and MBA President- lawyers in who belong to Elect Charles Barr shared their professional the MBA, the more and personal memories of him. A plaque, Mediation Services representative the MBA can which bears a wonderful photograph of be of our legal community, Nathan, courtesy of Susan, is on permanent which in turn solidifies display at the entrance to the room. our organization’s public Provided by profile. More members also Not many are qualified to supplant John Atty. Dennis M. Cook mean more participation, Marshall, who is perhaps the most famous diversity, fresh ideas, talent, 5226 N. Kent Ave. figure in American jurisprudence. Nathan and contributions for the Fishbach is. Long after those of us who knew Whitefish Bay, WI. 53217 Milwaukee Justice Center him are gone, the Nathan Fishbach Room Phone: 414-232-8119 and our other public service will serve as a tribute to a truly remarkable Email: [email protected] projects. We have ample lawyer, public servant, and friend. room under our tent for all that. • Over 40 years combined legal and judicial experience So as you run across y o u r c o l l e a g u e s i n • Former Milwaukee County Judicial Court day-to-day practice, please Commissioner take the opportunity to • Previous experience handling jury trials make the case to those who in various state circuit courts and federal aren’t MBA members. The district courts dividend will be a stronger, more vibrant MBA. • Previous experience in litigating personal injury, products liability, commercial law, — C.B. insurance defense, employment and other types of civil cases
6 Summer 2012 web, but there’s still nothing like rubbing shoulders with your fellow technology- CLE Calendar interested colleagues at the live event. With an exhibit hall, iPad and Android apps to 2012 Wisconsin Law & Technology guide you through the event, and an end- Upcoming Fall 2012 Conference of-conference drawing for a variety of Save the date! Mark down Friday, December You know how the Justices of the U.S. technology-related gifts and gadgets, the 7, 2012 for the return of the MBA’s annual Supreme Court take a nice, long summer education-packed, rollicking spirit of the Wisconsin Law & Technology Conference. recess? Well, if they get one, we get one. Dust original event will be back in full force. Many of you have fond memories of off the lawn furniture and fire up the grill. the previous conference that was the Meanwhile, here are a few CLE opportunities Earn up to 7 CLE credits, including all your predecessor of the Wisconsin Solo & Small already booked for this autumn. ethics credits for the reporting period, for as Firm Conference. We’ve been overwhelmed little as $129 for lawyers and $49 for staff. September 26, 2012 with requests to return to the original format, Labor & Employment Law consisting primarily of legal technology and The planning committee is a veteran team Top Ten L&E Law Updates practice management CLE. So we listened including Ross Kodner, Jeff Krause, and Presenter: Lisa A. Baiocchi, Arnstein & Lehr and responded! Jim Shilobrit, shepherded by MBA CLE Noon - 12:30 (Lunch/Registration) Director Sabrina Nunley. Watch the MBA The conference will include three tracks 12:30 - 1:30 (Presentation) website (www.milwbar.org) and e-mails for of day-long CLE covering a broad range 1.0 CLE credit more details as the conference schedule, list of tech, ethics, and practical topics. The of supporters and sponsors, and faculty are November 2012 (date TBD) theme for the 2012 conference is “How to posted soon. MBA Bench Bar Civil Committee ______(Do Everything).” From practice What Civil Court Judges Want You to Know management to everything about the cloud, Presenter(s): civil court judges and attorneys iPads, smartphones, Macs, marketing with (TBA) technology, avoiding malpractice and ethical 12:30 - 1:00 p.m. (Registration) traps, and more. All your favorite speakers 1:00 - 4:00 (Presentation) will be there to educate and entertain. 4:00 - 5:00 (Reception—hors d’oeuvres & There is a plan to stream the entire event— wine) all three programming tracks—live over the 3.0 CLE credits Thank You, MJC Donors! Andrus, Sceales, Caroline Hogan Godfrey & Kahn Hall Render Killian Melissa Burkland Starke & Sawall Jason Kohout Anthony Baish Heath & Lyman Peter Coffey Emily Hinkens Brett Ludwig Joseph Bernstein Danielle Gast Sarah Ehrhardt Michael McBride Maureen McGinnity Daniel Blinka Molly Maka Joseph Filachek Aaron Olejniczak Eric Nelson Richard Bliss Laura O’Toole John Flanagan Christopher Scherer Andrew Oberdeck Christopher Cahlamer Joshua Gimbel Hugh O’Halloran Stephen Chernof Hawks Quindel Charles Graupner Becker, Hickey Tanya O’Neill Dennis Connolly Amy Shapiro Eric Hobbs & Poster Jamshed Patel Ellen Drought Daniel Shneidman Daniel Jones Margaret Hickey David Reicher William Duffin Ben Kaplan Nancy Sennett Patricia Falb Hinshaw & David Krutz Davis & Kuelthau Thomas Shriner Carol Gehl Culbertson Matthew Kurlinski Peter Bruce Lynette Zigman Joan Kimpel Jane Schlicht Jonathan Margolies Ann Rieger Maria Kreiter Christopher Nyenhuis Fox, O’Neill Kristi Leswing Hochstatter, Jose Olivieri Foley& Lardner & Shannon Christopher Noyes McCarthy, Rivas Mitchell Quick Kristina Matic William Soderstrom Mark O’Neill & Runder Melanie Reichenberger Bernard Bobber James Phillips Michael Runde Kevin Rizzuto Larry Bonney Gass Weber Mullins Brian Pierson Andrea Roschke Charles Carter Brian Cahill Sven Skillrud Michael Best & Kelly Rourke Kimberly Dodd Teirney Christenson Peter Sommerhauser Friedrich Susan Sager Richard Gallagher Beth Hanan Charles Vogel James Barton S. Edward Sarskas John Geis Nicholas Wahl Scott Beightol Tim Schally Linda Hansen C.J. Wauters Paul Benson Katherine Schill Michael Hatch Jennifer Wolff Danielle Bergner James Schleicher Kristine Havlik Heather Bessinger continued page 14 Messenger 7 Justice Delayed Is Justice Denied: the Enduring Lessons of Bleak House Attorney Douglas H. Frazer, DeWitt Ross & Stevens
From time to time, long-running case. The parties have become become so complicated that no man most trial attorneys consumed. The forces at work seem beyond alive knows what it means. The parties are involved in civil understanding or control. to it understand it least, but it has been litigation that never observed that no two Chancery lawyers seems to end. As bad The modern critique of lawyers and the legal can talk about it for five minutes without as it is for the lawyers, system in the context of this dynamic finds coming into a total disagreement as to all for private parties the its earliest and fullest expression in Charles the premises. Enumerable children have delay is often much Dickens’ Bleak House (1852). In the book, been born into the cause; enumerable old worse. Private parties justice is both delayed and denied. Professor people have died out of it. Scores of persons Douglas H. Frazer often pin a great deal of Arthur Miller thought it the one indispensible have deliriously found themselves made hope for “vindication,” “justice,” or financial book for lawyers. Vladimir Nabokov, parties in Jarndyce and Jarndyce without recompense on a lawsuit. This, together who lectured on it at Cornell University knowing how or why; whole families with delay, can lead to a condition known concerning, in part, its commentary on the have inherited legendary hatreds with as “litigation fever.” As Professor R.B. law, considered the book Dickens’ best. In the suit. The little plaintiff or defendant Bernstein tells it, “Litigation fever besets Bleak House Dickens succeeds in capturing who was promised a new rocking-horse anyone enmeshed in a protracted litigation of an outsider’s view of the “priesthood” when Jarndyce and Jarndyce should be any kind; it causes the past and future to drop of lawyers and the “rituals” of the legal settled has grown up, possessed himself away, leaving only the case as the total of the process. of a real horse, and trotted away into the sufferer’s moral, mental, and psychological The story is set in London in about 1827. other world. Fair wards of court have universe.” At the story’s core is a long-running case in faded into mothers and grandmothers; a long procession of chancellors have come Delays, and the costs associated with the England’s Court of Chancery, Jarndyce and Jarndyce. For the principal characters of the in and gone out; the legion of bills in the delays, can be hard for lawyers to explain, suit have been transformed into mere bills and often difficult for parties to understand. book, the case—concerning the disposition of a “great Will”—has far-reaching of mortality; there are not three Jarndyces Procedural rules may contribute to the left upon the Earth perhaps since old Tom problem. Slow-acting judges and the opaque consequences. By the opening of the story, 1 Jarndyce, in despair, blew his brains out nature of the courts may be involved. Parties the case has been pending for many years, so long in fact that it is hard for anyone, at a coffee-house in Chancery Lane; but can be unreasonable, and disparities between Jarndyce and Jarndyce still drags its litigation resources may come into play. including the lawyers and the judges, to remember what has come before and what dreary length before the court, perennially Lawyers who lack diligence do the system hopeless.” no honor. remains: In this backdrop, Dickens creates a cast of All cases can have unhappy outcomes. “Jarndyce and Jarndyce drones on. This Disappointment can be particularly acute in a scarecrow of a suit has, in course of time, continued page 16 24th Annual MBA Foundation Golf Outing: Benefiting the Milwaukee Justice Center Wednesday August 1, 2012 Fire Ridge Golf Club, Grafton Each year you hear the stories about all the is one simple way. You or your office Lunch/Practice Range 11:30 a.m. fun had at the MBA Foundation Golf Outing. could sponsor a hole. Or, consider an event Shotgun Start 12:30 p.m. They are all true. Who wouldn’t enjoy a day sponsorship. Some of the money raised at the Silent Auction/Reception 5:30 p.m. out of the office with friends and colleagues? outing comes from events such as the silent Dinner/Program 6:30 p.m. Aside from playing 18 holes of golf, there are auction and raffle. Prize donations are always Costs and Deadlines prizes to win, stories to share, and bragging welcome. Attorneys: rights to earn. MBA Members Golf w/dinner $150 Details regarding the golf outing are in the Dinner only $50 But above all that, there is money to raise. next column. Non-Members Golf w/dinner $170 Each year, money raised at the golf outing Dinner only $60 benefits the Milwaukee Justice Center. Last For more information about participating as a Judges: year, over $20,000 was raised. The Golf golfer, being a sponsor, or donating an item MBA Members Golf w/dinner $135 Outing Committee would like to top that this for the silent auction, please contact Katy Dinner only $50 year and needs your help. Borowski at 414-276-5933 or kborowski@ Non-Members Golf w/dinner $145 milwbar.org. Dinner only $60 There are many ways to support the golf RSVP by July 20th. Reservations will be outing. Gathering a foursome and playing taken on a first-come, first-served basis. 8 Summer 2012 A Wired Thing Happened in Court: Electronic Filing Arrives in Milwaukee County Attorney John W. Barrett, Milwaukee County Clerk of Circuit Court
As Milwaukee County Clerk of Circuit CCAP at the eFiling website: http://www. electronically filed. If personal service of any Court, I am pleased to announce that wicourts.gov/ecourts/efilecircuit.htm. Many other document is required, it must be in the electronic filing capability has been available lawyers already have an eAccount for filing traditional manner unless waived in writing. in Milwaukee County since April of this year and tracking continuing legal education Sec. 801.17(6)(c). Filing of documents other for civil, small claims, and family cases. credits online. Anyone can register to than initiating documents causes a notice eFiling is the wave of the future for court participate as an eFiler. There is an easy-to- of activity to be sent. Sec. 801.17(6). This systems in Wisconsin. It offers increased understand, step-by-step tutorial available notice is valid for service other than personal accessibility, convenience, and security to at the website to help with the registration service. Sec. 801.17(6)(b). litigants, clerks, and judges. I encourage process and filing of documents. eFiling everyone to consider eFiling as a more requires a user name, password, and PIN. For a law office, the system allows paralegals convenient, time-saving way to get documents or legal assistants to complete electronic safely and securely to the courthouse. The eFiling website is available 24 hours per filing case information and prepare the day, 7 days per week for filing and accessing related documents. This information is Currently, Milwaukee County files are kept electronic case documents. After registering, saved in a “filing cart.” The attorney then in multiple locations in the Criminal Justice the users submit documents using the eFiling retrieves the filing from the filing cart, Facility, Courthouse, Safety Building, system by attaching pleadings in pdf format, reviews the information and documents, and Children’s Court Center, individual filling out a cover sheet, and making a electronically signs and submits the filing to courtrooms, and an off-site storage facility. payment, if required. Participants receive the court by entering his or her username, Filings are processed by different clerks immediate confirmation of filings, as well as password, and PIN. The filing cart is just and other court personnel, and at times are instant electronic notice and access whenever one of the options in the eFiling menu. Users reviewed by court commissioners and judges. new documents are filed in their cases. The can also look at their cases and manage an If documents are not confidential, they may last-minute race to the courthouse to meet a existing case. also be reviewed by reporters, investigators, deadline is eliminated. The system benefits and the public. Unlike eFiling documents, a the users and the court in that it saves money When a document is submitted through the paper file can only be in one place at a time on paper, postage, and courier services, and website, the clerk’s office reviews the filing and documents can be misplaced. eFiling reduces the need for storage space. There is in a queue and, if all is in order, accepts the therefore improves recordkeeping, record a one-time $5.00 convenience fee per case document for filing. A new case will get a case retention, and accessibility. per party. There is also a $2.50 electronic number, an assigned judge, and an electronic check charge or a 2.75 percent fee if you use file stamp. Electronic confirmation of filing Wisconsin’s eFiling system was developed a credit card. is transmitted and the filing party can print by the Consolidated Court Automation the document for service, if necessary. Programs (CCAP) after the Wisconsin Initiating documents are served by traditional Supreme Court approved statutory guidelines methods. See Wis. Stat. § 801.17(5)(b). They The eFiling system can even handle under Wis. Stat. § 801.17 in July of 2008. must also include notice that the case has been continued page 18 Because eFiling of briefs in appellate cases is already required, many legal professionals are familiar with the electronic filing system. Electronic briefs are available for viewing on the Wisconsin Supreme Court and Court of Appeals Case Access (WSCCA) websites, and can be searched using key words, filing dates, and case numbers.
The Wisconsin court system’s eFiling program is an extension of one of the country’s most advanced and dependable court case management systems. The integration with the circuit court’s CCAP case management system allows eFilers to directly exchange data and to verify that it has been received. It also ensures the security and integrity of the system and the court files. Files are backed up in three locations. The system can also accommodate the filing of confidential (sealed) documents.
To use the system, you must register with
Messenger 9 Milwaukee County Circuit Court Welcomes Three New Judges
Three new circuit judges will don robes in the Misdemeanor division. practice, Stark Law Office. Milwaukee come August 1, 2012. They include: Mark Sanders, Branch 28 – Mark has In 2008, Carolina was appointed to the served as an Assistant District Attorney in Milwaukee Fire and Police Commission. Lindsey Grady, Branch 23 – Lindsey has Milwaukee County for 14 years. He works She serves as the Commission’s Vice-Chair. served as a Deputy Register in Probate for as a community prosecutor, moving outside Milwaukee County, where she makes judicial the courthouse and into neighborhoods Carolina will start with a Misdemeanor decisions in contested and uncontested to solve problems. He worked in the calendar. hearings involving guardianships, probate, Milwaukee Metropolitan Drug Enforcement protective placements, adult adoptions, Unit, where he prosecuted drug offenses, and civil mental health commitments. She oversaw complex criminal investigations, also assists self-represented individuals and helped make communities safer by and attorneys in navigating complex legal ridding neighborhoods of drug dealers and proceedings. violent offenders.
Prior to her appointment as Deputy Register Mark has been assigned to Children’s Court. in Probate, Lindsey’s practice involved criminal and civil matters, including family Carolina Stark, Branch 17 – Carolina law, estate planning and probate, children’s has served as an administrative law judge law, and business and tax planning. She was in the Wisconsin Unemployment Insurance a partner at Drinka, Levine & Masson; a sole Division for over five years, where she practitioner; and a staff attorney at Legal Aid conducts evidentiary hearings. Previously, Society of Milwaukee. she worked as a criminal defense attorney in Milwaukee County, first for Centro Legal Lindsey will begin her time on the bench in por Derechos Humanos and then in her own Second Annual MJC 5K Run for Justice Set for July 25 Joseph Riggenbach, Milwaukee Justice Center
The Milwaukee Justice Center’s Second Annual 5K Run & 1 Mile Walk for Justice is fast approaching! The MJC Run for Justice will be held July 25, 7:00 p.m., at Veterans Park, 1010 North Lincoln Memorial Drive, Milwaukee. Come join us to help support the work of the Milwaukee Justice Center, and let’s make 2012 a year to remember!
The cost to register is $20.00 for students and $25.00 for non-students. To register, visit the MJC website at www.MilwaukeeJusticeCenter.com.
A big thank you goes out to our sponsors: the Milwaukee Bar Association, Milwaukee County Parks, Foley & Lardner, Quarles & Brady, InStep Physical Therapy and Running Center, Quantum LS, and Hinshaw & Culberston. Riverwest Aces will provide post-race entertainment and the Big Bay Brewing Company will provide the refreshments for the thirsty runners and walkers.
If you would like to sponsor the run/walk this year, please contact our chairperson, Laura Now, at 414-276-5000. Thank you for your support and we look forward to seeing you all at the Milwaukee Justice Center’s Second Annual 5K Run & 1 Mile Walk for Justice! 10 Summer 2012 The Reel Law Attorney Fran Deisinger, Reinhart Boerner Van Deuren
The Descendants does not make films often (unlike the Coens, drama in which King must come to terms Directed by Alexander Payne who seem to release a film every year), but with his wife’s impending death; how to 2011; 115 minutes when he does it is an event to celebrate. His relate to his 11 and 17 year-old daughters, two best known previous films, Election and Scottie and Alex (“I was always the A few months ago my wife and I attended Sideways, are masterpieces of black comedy backup parent,” he says in the narration); a movie at a local multiplex. There were 15 and dramatic comedy, respectively. Payne and the stunning revelation of Elizabeth’s minutes of previews before the feature. The observes the human condition as well as any infidelity—delivered by Alex. This revelation previews were an all-out assault on the senses. film director working today. This weekend I populates the film with two more characters: Each was louder than the last, with bigger finally got around to watching his latest film, Elizabeth’s paramour Brian, a local realtor; explosions, more outrageous special effects The Descendants. And having done so, I and his betrayed wife Julie. King sets out to and, frankly, ever more inane storylines. The jettisoned my plan to write about Intolerable confront his wife’s lover, with Scottie, Alex, movie we saw was also a big-budget, special- Cruelty—yet I am still writing about a film and Alex’s boyfriend Sid in tow. effects-laden film. Now, don’t get me wrong, in which George Clooney plays a lawyer. there’s nothing inherently wrong with the Payne’s characters have a genuine sci-fi and fantasy blockbuster movies in In The Descendants, Clooney is Hawaiian humanness about them. Initially stupid vogue; they are a natural progression from lawyer Matt King. Unlike most films with and comical, Sid turns out to be loyal and the action movies of yesteryear—mostly lawyer characters, however, King is not a supportive. Elizabeth’s father is bitter and westerns and war movies. Those old films trial lawyer, but a real estate lawyer. He is resentful of Matt, but it’s because the loss of didn’t have CGI or Dolby Digital, but they also the trustee of a family trust involving his daughter has amplified his worst traits. had really good stuntmen and reasonably massive Hawaiian land-holdings passed King himself, after confronting Elizabeth’s good model builders. The movies always down for generations from his great-great- lover Brian, nevertheless invites him to visit embrace whatever technology is available. grandparents—an outlander lawyer and a her in the hospital before she dies, and when Hawaiian princess—to King and his many he doesn’t, his wife Julie does, telling the But as some enormous recent flops show cousins. This film actually has the words unresponsive Elizabeth that she forgives (John Carter of Mars! comes to mind), no “rule against perpetuities” in the screenplay. her—before screaming at her for trying to film will succeed without good writing and How could I resist making it the subject of continued page 19 an engaging story, no matter how loud or my next column? visually spectacular. This got me to thinking that the movies I review for the Messenger The Descendants is not are pretty much bereft of special effects. about lawyering per se, Lawyers don’t make likely action heroes. though. While the story of Instead, when lawyers or lawyering are the trust, its planned demise, featured in a film, it’s a good bet that the the fortune that selling the movie is either a drama or a comedy, that land will bestow on King it is human-scaled, that nothing will blow and his cousins, and the up, and that no aliens will be harmed in the rightness (or not) of opening filming. In other words, exactly the kind of this huge, unspoiled part of movie I find most compelling. “paradise” to development is an important plot line, it is not For this issue I had planned to write a review the primary narrative engine. about a film I watched recently by the Coen Instead, the story orbits a brothers, those fascinating modern-day character who never says a auteurs who have given us such diverse word. The opening shot of but compelling films as Fargo, The Big the film shows King’s smiling Lebowski, and No Country for Old Men. The wife Elizabeth, her hair in the film is Intolerable Cruelty, starring George wind, racing in a power boat Clooney as a divorce lawyer. It’s a fine off the Hawaiian coast. We comedy trifle, and I recommend it. The next do not see the accident that uninteresting (or at least unentertaining) leaves her, for the rest of the Coen brothers movie I see will be the first. movie, comatose in a hospital I would confidently rent or attend any Coen bed. And dying. Her legal brothers film without knowing the first thing directive—there in black and about it. white like a silent character— is that she not be sustained Apart from the Coen brothers, the only current artificially. director whose films I know I want to see, no matter the theme, is Alexander Payne. Payne What unfolds is a family
Messenger 11 154th Annual Meeting
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Caption caption caption caption Caption caption caption caption caption caption caption caption caption caption caption caption 12 Spring 2012 Memorial ervice S 2012
Chief Judge Jeffrey A. Kremers welcomes friends and family members to the Memorial Service.
Former Wisconsin Supreme Court Justice Janine Geske delivers the memorial address.
MBA President Mike Cohen makes introductory remarks.
Need help deciphering a medical file? Chief Judge Kremers and MBA President Mike Cohen read the names of those being Rabbi Ronald Shapiro Need a nurse to help a honored at the service. of Congregation Shalom offers a prayer. client through the medical maze? Cost of care getting you down?
Contact Collaborative Legal Nurse Consulting, Inc. at 262-442-5265, fax at 866-399-8576 or dharden. [email protected] for legal nurse consulting, case management, The Milwaukee County Circuit Court judges lead the processional into the courtroom. or life care planning.
Messenger 13 MJC Donors continued from p. 7 Lauren Triebenbach Thomas Scrivner Natalie Maciolek Heidi Vogt Derek Stettner George Marek Anne Wal Charles Stevens Mitchell Moser William West Adam Witkov Patrick Murphy Weiss Berzowski Brady Cory Nettles Ryan Billings Meissner Tierney Fisher Elizabeth Nowakowski Nancy Bonniwell & Nichols Adrienne Olson Scott Fleming Randal Brotherhood Christopher Scaperlanda Susan Marguet Michael Cohen Pat Schoen Randy Nelson Christopher Eisold Paul Tilleman Anna Pepelnjak Matthew Fisher Robert Titley Richard Rakita Thomas Hruz Hillary Wucherer David Roettgers Thomas Nichols John Sikora Pamela Tillman Reinhart Boerner Thomas Skalmoski Brian Tokarz Van Deuren James Swiderski Kristin Bergstrom Barry White Nelson, Irvings & Laura Brenner Waeffler Jeffrey Clark Whyte Hirschboeck Ruth Irvings Catherine Davies Dudek Francis Deisinger Bruce Arnold Northwestern Mutual Denise Goergen Phillip Bower Anne Brower Rebecca Greene Jennifer Buzecky Marcia Drame David Hanson Paul Eberle Sheila Gavin Patrick Hodan John Emanuel Ray Manista Kenny Hoeschen Thomas Ewing James McFarland Sarah Huck Philip Halley Kathleen Schluter Stephen Jacobs Barbara Janaszek Rodd Schneider Jerome Janzer Andrew Jones Brenda Stugelmeyer Stacie Kalmer Michael Klinker Catherine Young Rebecca Kennedy Jeffrey Liotta Benjamin Kurten Daniel Miske Peterson, Johnson & Rebecca Leair Frederick Muth, Jr. Murray Alicia Mohn Kenneth Nowakowski Terry Johnson James Morrow, Jr. Tamara O’Brien L. William Staudenmaier R Timothy Muth Gary Plotecher Mary Wolverton Willem Noorlander Benjamin Proctor Nicole Renouard Quarles & Brady Albert Orr Michael Rogowski John Bannen David Peterson Pamela Schmidt Kathryn Buono Dean Richards Justin Szalanski Tyson Ciepluch Allen Schlinsog Lynda Templen Ann Comer Meghan Shannon John Tuffnell Daniel Conley Michael Simpson David Cross William Tobin Katie Triska Others Frank Daily Charlie Barr James Daly von Briesen & Roper Frederick Croen Bruce Davidson Carmen Anderson Julie Darnieder Bridgette DeToro James Baxter Walter Kelly Julianna Ebert Doris Brosnan Jason Noyes Sarah Fowles Nicholas Castronovo Todd Womack Michael Gonring Catherine Conway Kathleen Gray George Evans, Jr. Lauren Harpke Nathan Fronk Patricia Hintz Lisa Gingerich Mark Kircher Thomas Guszkowski Tom Krumenacher Susan Lovern Scott Langlois Peter Mullaney Donald Layden, Jr. John Nelson Ely Leichtling Terry Nilles Michael Levey Steven Rynecki Keven Long Rebecca Simoni 14 Spring 2012 Keep Your “Friends” Close: Protecting Employers’ Ownership Interests in Their Corporate Social Media Attorneys Amy Hartwig and Steven Nigh, Michael Best & Friedrich
What would happen if someone stole your Twitter password? video blogger for PhoneDog. After roughly four years of employment, Kravitz had amassed about 17,000 Twitter followers. Individuals might fear that a hacker will post something embarrassing under their names that they’d have to explain later. Employers with Kravitz left PhoneDog and, allegedly, changed his PhoneDog corporate Twitter accounts might worry about a disparaging tweet’s Twitter handle to @noahkravitz, but kept the 17,000 followers of effect on brand image or their relationships with their customers. the @PhoneDog_Noah account. Kravitz then performed freelance work before ultimately landing a job with one of PhoneDog’s Employers who use social media see their online “friends” or competitors, TechnoBuffalo. PhoneDog claimed that Kravitz kept on “followers” as current or future business opportunities, and realize communicating with PhoneDog’s followers via the Twitter account. that losing those online connections could harm their business. But does an employer have any ownership interest in its social media- PhoneDog sued Kravitz for $340,000, alleging that the passwords to based relationships? This article discusses a recent federal case its Twitter accounts were trade secrets that Kravitz stole. As a result raising that question, and also suggests steps employers can take to of that theft, PhoneDog said, it lost advertising revenue and current establish ownership of their corporate social media accounts and the continued page 22 economic benefits that come with them.
Social Media Use by Today’s Businesses The growing popularity of social media among consumers has been followed by a growth in social media use among businesses. A recent University of Maryland study found that social media adoption among small businesses doubled from 2009 to 2010.1 Those businesses use their social media presence for low-cost marketing, more visibility in search engine results, and increased website traffic. Larger businesses have taken advantage of social media as an advertising outlet, as well, offering sweepstakes and product giveaways in order to attract consumers to their brands.
But who spends the time posting, tweeting, blogging, and updating these corporate accounts? The answer is probably “an employee.” A pending federal case, however, highlights the dangers of having employees run their employers’ social media operations.
The PhoneDog Case In PhoneDog, LLC v. Kravitz, Case No. C11-03474 MEJ (N.D. Cal.), an employer sued a former employee who allegedly swiped a corporate Twitter account—and its roughly 17,000 followers—on his way out the door. PhoneDog, the employer, reviews mobile phone-related products and services, and it posts articles and video reviews on its website. According to the complaint filed in the case, about 1.5 million people visit PhoneDog’s website and an average of 3 million people view its videos each month. PhoneDog maintains an extensive online presence: along with its website, it also uses YouTube, Facebook, and Twitter.
PhoneDog uses social media to “market and promote its services” and to drive consumers to its website. The increased pageviews on its website, in turn, result in higher advertising revenue. PhoneDog, therefore, requested that all of its employees open Twitter accounts and tweet about PhoneDog and its services. The employee accounts had a common format for their names: @PhoneDog_Name.
Noah Kravitz, a former employee, used the Twitter handle “@ PhoneDog_Noah” while he worked as a product reviewer and
Messenger 15 Bleak House continued from p. 8 little birds she promises will be released “on streaming out looking flushed and hot and characters recognizable to any practicing the day of judgment.” bringing a quantity of bad air with them. lawyer. There is John Jarndyce, the only Still, they were all exceedingly amused and Jarndyce left as party to the suit, who views Then there are the lawyers. “Conversation we were more like people coming out from the case, correctly, as a curse and will have Kenge,” John Jarndyce’s attorney, is the king a farce or a juggler than from a court of as little to do with it as possible. Richard of empty rhetoric. Tulkinghorn, the lawyer justice. We stood aside, watching for any Carstone, Jarndyce’s impressionable young to another wealthy claimant (and other great countenance we knew, and presently great cousin, is both a party to the suit and a ward families), is circumspect, scheming, and bundles of paper began to be carried out— of the court, an ill-disciplined but good- manipulative; he relishes controlling and bundles and bags, bundles too large to be natured sort whose litigation fever leads him squashing those who might stand in the way. gotten into any bags, immense masses of to ruin. Harold Skimpole is a well-educated Vholes, Richard Carstone’s lawyer, extracts papers of all shapes and no shapes, which but selfish hanger-on, egger-on, and sponge, litigation fees that his client obviously can’t the bearers staggered under and threw who targets those who stand to gain from afford. William Guppy, a law clerk in Kenge’s down for the time being, anyhow, on the the case. Skimpole is a predator but gets his office, shows preternatural ability, often to Hall pavement, while they went back to way because his come-on is so engagingly comic effect, at using lawyer-speak for both bring out more. Even these clerks were 2 twisted and manipulative that he persuades professional gain and social advancement. laughing. We glance at the papers, and people to feel sorry for him. seeing Jarndyce and Jarndyce everywhere, These characters act within the Court of asked an official-looking person that was There are unforgettable litigants on the Chancery—whose adroitness at obscurity standing in the midst of them whether the periphery: Mr. Gridley and Miss Flite. Gridley and delay Dickens likens to evil. “Never can cause was over. Yes, he said, it was all up is an involuntary party to an unrelated suit in there come fog too thick, never can there with it at least, and burst out laughing too. Chancery, as to the merits of which there is come mud and mire too deep, to assort with no dispute. The suit is mired in metaphorical the groping and floundering condition which “Mr. Kenge,” said Allan, appearing mud; Gridley may be losing his mind—he this High Court of Chancery, most pestilent enlightened all in a moment. “Excuse me, repeatedly seeks the court’s attention but of hoary sinners, holds, this day, in the sight our time presses. Do I understand that can’t get it. Flite is a half-crazed, elderly of heaven and earth.” This view of the court the whole estate is thought to have been eccentric, a recreational public gallery court and legal system in some ways persists. absorbed in costs?” “Hem! I believe so,” watcher, whose family has been destroyed returned Mr. Kenge. “Mr. Vholes, What do Toward the end of the story, a new will, by a long-running case similar to Jarndyce YOU say?” “I believe so,” said Mr. Vholes. apparently authentic, is discovered that and Jarndyce. She keeps a large number of “And thus the suit lapses and melts away?” strengthens Richard Carstone’s claim. “Probably,” returned Mr. Kenge. “Mr. The case, however, does not Vholes?” “Probably,” said Mr. Vholes.” come to a happy ending for Carstone or, for that matter, Richard Carstone is diagnosed with, and any other party to the suit. dies from, consumption. He leaves a young widow and an unborn son. “We asked a gentleman by us if he knew what 1Some commentators have theorized that Jarndyce cause was on. He told us and Jarndyce was inspired by the dispute over the Jarndyce and Jarndyce. will of the father-in-law of Eighteenth Century writer Charlotte Smith. The case took 36 years to get through We asked him if he knew the Chancery Court. what was doing in it. He said, really, no he did not; 2Guppy proposing marriage: “Would you be so kind to nobody ever did, but as allow me (as I might say) to file a declaration—to make an offer?” And, to the object of his affection, after being well as he could make out, told no: “This has been without prejudice?” it was over. Over for the day? we asked him. No, Editor’s Note: Bleak House is quoted by he said, over for good. the American Constitution Society in its Over for good! When we fascinating discussion of the longest case heard this unaccountable in U.S. history, filed in 1834 and resolved, answer, we looked at finally, in 1892. It included 16 hearings before one another quite lost in the U.S. Supreme Court and eight before the amazement. Could it be Louisiana Supreme Court. See columbiaacs. possible that the Will had blogspot.com/2006/11/longest-case-in-us- set things right at last and history-myra-clark.html (viewed April 24, that Richard and Ada were 2012). It sounds much like a real-life (and going to be rich? It seemed in part contemporaneous) reenactment of the too good to be true. Alas Dickens novel. it was! Our suspense was short, for a break-up soon took place in the crowd, and the people came 16 Summer 2012 Search Engine Optimization for the Sole Practitioner and Small Law Firms Ken Matejka, President, LegalPPC, Inc.
The Importance of Google When deciding what phrases you want lawyer and you’ve selected two or three Google’s U.S. market share for law-related to target for your SEO effort, you should phrases for which you’d like to be relevant in searches has grown to a near-monopoly naturally select phrases that are important to Google’s results (e.g., “Milwaukee divorce in recent years. When people search your practice, have enough search volume lawyer” or “Milwaukee divorce attorneys”), online for legal help and contact you, it is to make the effort worth your trouble, and then you should emphasize these phrases as highly likely that they found your contact for which the competition isn’t too high. often as possible on your divorce practice area information through a Google search. For For example, instead of trying to optimize page without damaging the professionalism sole practitioners and small law firms, being your site for “lawyers” (high volume, but of the content. visible on the web and being visible in extremely high competition), you may instead Google are substantially the same thing. optimize your site for “Milwaukee child Google reportedly considers over 200 factors custody lawyers” (high volume, medium when determining the relevance of a website There are two ways to become more visible competition). Google makes competition for a specific search query. One of Google’s in Google: through Google’s Sponsored and search volume reports available to most important ranking factors, however, is Listings, and through search engine Google advertisers, but third-party SEO a page’s “title tag.” The title tag goes into optimization (SEO). The Sponsored Listings companies can run these reports for you, as the source code of your website between are the ads you see in the yellow box at the well— sometimes free of charge. the
Hannah C. Dugan has received the First “Ms. Dugan’s article provides an Annual Messenger Award for the best authoritative, yet easy-to-digest history article in this publication over the past year. of the founding of the Legal Aid Society Hannah’s winning entry was her Fall 2011 in Milwaukee and its almost-century-old article, “No Delay for Lucre or Malice: the commitment to providing legal assistance to Pledge of Legal Aid in Milwaukee.” The indigent persons. The article is thoroughly award was presented at the MBA’s Annual researched and copiously footnoted, yet the Meeting on June 12, 2012. writing style flows well and synthesizes a tremendous amount of information. The The criteria for the Messenger Award panel also recognized that Ms. Dugan’s are originality of topic; informational or article does more than trace the historical entertainment value; effectiveness of writing roots and evolution of the Legal Aid Society. style, with emphasis on concise and precise MBA members take calls from Fox 6 viewers to Her article is an inspiration to present-day honor Law Day. expression; adherence to journalistic standards lawyers who wish to take up the tradition of research, accuracy, and fairness; and overall of pro bono publico service and help fill the quality of impact on the reader. All published gaps in unmet legal needs. This call to service articles over the past twelve months, other fits well with a key part of the mission of the than those by MBA staff, were eligible. Milwaukee Bar Association: to encourage public service and improve access to justice. A panel of three distinguished judges Ms. Dugan also has written other scholarly graciously agreed to review the past four articles on the history of law and lawyers in editions of the Messenger and apply these Milwaukee, many of them published in the criteria to select a winner: the Honorable Messenger. Margaret Dee McGarity, who actually is a judge; Kelly Centofanti, who has a “The panel also asks that all of the regular professional background in journalism; and MBA members dispense legal guidance to Fox 6 contributors to the Messenger be recognized. viewers via “live chat.” new President-Elect Beth Hanan. Their contributions consistently are well- written, timely, and provide a meaningful The panel of judges, in announcing the array of information (and sometimes humor) See page 21 for a list of our dedicated award, released the following statement: for MBA members.” volunteers for 2012
Wired continued from p. 9 The clerk’s office will scan paper documents re-typed and scanned into the CCAP case documents that must be notarized, to integrate them into the electronic file. The management system. CCAP is also refining acknowledged, verified, or otherwise signed entire case file should always be available the process by which clerks authenticate under oath. (For example, in Milwaukee in electronic form. Our plan is to have summonses and complaints to more clearly County, the small claims summons and WiFi in the civil, small claims, and family meet statutory and case law requirements. complaint must be verified.) Notaries public courtrooms so the electronic file can be Additional case types will also be enabled can register for an eAccount, which will accessed in the courtroom through a laptop and eventually eFiling will be available for provide them with user names, passwords, or tablet. Lawyers and litigants will need a all case types in all counties. I welcome your and PINs for electronic notarization. The password to access WiFi. input for improving the system. If you have system also assigns a notary seal. The notary ideas for improvement, please e-mail me at Case documents on the WCCA website will can view the document after the attorney or [email protected]. be available only to the registered parties in other filing party signs and while it is still in the case. Unlike federal e-Filing, documents There is no better time than now to start the filing cart; and then enter the confidential will not display on the WCCA website. Non- participating in the eFiling process and to user name, password, and PIN that authorizes confidential documents from the electronic take advantage of the fast, secure filing; the electronic signature and seal on the file will be made available to the general the ease of use and cost efficiency; and the electronic document. At this time, notarial public at public access terminals in the reliable access to case files and documents. acts are limited to a few specific documents. clerk’s office. In the alternative, a paper document can I would like to acknowledge and thank the be prepared, signed, and notarized, then CCAP is continually working to improve and following individuals from the Director of scanned and submitted electronically. This is expand the eFiling system. A feature recently State Courts office for their expert input probably how many affidavits of service will added to the eFiling system allows filers to on this article: Marcia Vandercook, Tom be electronically filed. submit draft orders to the court in Microsoft Sheehan, and Jean Bousquet. My Chief Word format. This enhancement ensures the Deputy, Jim Smith, was instrumental in Because the system is optional, a defendant in document can be edited and electronically writing this article. an eFiled case may still file paper documents. signed by the court without having to be 18 Summer 2012 Michael Hupy: a Portrait in Generosity Attorney Michael J. Cohen, Meissner, Tierney, Fisher & Nichols
The award-winning author, journalist, and was very receptive to our presentation, asked an addition to the school, and supporting philanthropist Mitch Albom once said: excellent questions, requested literature child safety fingerprint programs. In “The way you get meaning into your life is on the MJC, and stressed that he strongly December 2008, then Governor Jim Doyle to devote yourself to loving others, devote believes in giving back to the community. presented Mike with a Certificate of yourself to your community around you, and Mike ended the meeting by indicating that Commendation for his years of leadership devote yourself to creating something that he would think about our request for a in making “the community a better place gives you purpose and meaning.” donation and would get back to us. The very to live.” next morning, Mike showed up at my office These poignant words well describe the and told me that he really believes in the Mike truly believes that the legal profession credo by which Michael Hupy of Hupy & MJC and wanted to show his commitment exists for the benefit of the public, and feels Abraham lives his life. by donating a total of $100,000 to the project a strong obligation to think of the public first over the next three years! It was difficult for and thus, to give back to the community. As many of you know, the Milwaukee Justice me to restrain my excitement over this news Mike told me that he saw a real need for the Center (“MJC”) has been a centerpiece of and my gratitude to Mike for his kindness MJC, appreciated the significant value of the the MBA’s work for the past several years. and exceptional generosity. I got an inkling program in improving access to our justice The MJC has been very successful, serving of how Dean Joseph Kearney must have felt system, and “stepped up to the plate.” over 8,000 clients per year by helping to after first hearing of the significant donations guide them through our complex legal the Ecksteins and Joseph Zilber committed The Milwaukee legal community has indeed system. The problem, however, is that the to make to the new Marquette University been blessed by the tremendous generosity MJC has the funds to operate only for a Law School. That is how significant Mike of Mike Hupy, not only with respect to his few more years, and needs a higher level Hupy’s gift is to the future of the MJC. significant contribution to the MJC, which financial support in order to be sustainable helps the program immensely in a time of in the long term. In March, we launched our This substantial act of generosity by no critical need, but also in numerous other first annual fundraising campaign for the means represents the first time Mike Hupy ways. Thank you, Mike Hupy, for being the MJC, employing the “United Way Model” has given back to our community. Mike man that you are. of calling upon a leader in each firm to and his firm have earned a reputation solicit donations from others in his firm. for innovation, giving, and community- Thanks to the generous efforts of many of mindedness. At a time when lawyers often get you, our first annual campaign was a success a bad rap, Hupy & Abraham has sponsored by any measure, raising $40,235 from 246 initiatives such as PEARLS for Teen Girls, Reel Law continued from p. 11 individuals. A special thanks to all of you breast cancer fundraisers, the Milwaukee who contributed to this great cause. Center for Leadership Development destroy her family. King gently ushers her Minority Achievers Awards Dinner, and the out of the room telling her “that’s enough,” Prior to launching the annual campaign, “Watch for Motorcycles” public awareness but in the previous scene, alone in the room Judge Michael Skwierawski and I met with program. Mike’s firm also donates meals to with his wife, he had done the same thing. Mike Hupy and explained the MJC, its more than 100 families each Thanksgiving, I suppose I should round back to the story purpose, its successes, and its dire need for raises money to fight domestic violence, of the trust. As Elizabeth is dying, the plug funding. Although he had never visited the and sponsors scholarships for the Willie D. pulled, the King cousins have their final MJC and did not know much about it, Mike Davis Scholarship Fund. In addition, Mike meeting to decide to whom they want to sell personally has the family trust’s land. When they select a taken a lead role local developer, Matt knows that his wife’s in giving back to lover will make a fortune on the deal. Will the community, he, as trustee, sign off? s u p p o r t i n g A m e r i c a ’ s No, The Descendants is not, strictly speaking, Second Harvest, a “legal” movie. But in its story, it naturally s c h o l a r s h i p integrates lawyering and the operation of programs such law into the dramatic events that unfold— as the NAACP not unlike how it happens in real life. Scholarship (to The performances are natural and superb, which he donated the writing is exceptional, the scenery is $150,000) and beautiful, the soundtrack of Hawaiian guitar the Freedom music is wonderful, and the direction is fully Fund Dinner, assured. And there are no explosions, except $50,000 to the in the hearts and lives of the characters. University School (L-R) Person 1; Michael Hupy; Person 3; Person 4, NAACP Scholarship winner. of Milwaukee for
Messenger 19 Foreclosure Filings in Milwaukee County Continued to Decline in 2011 Attorney Jeremy P. Shapiro-Barr For the second consecutive year, mortgage civil division is the drastic rise of what is in 2010, having decreased by 4%. The most foreclosure filings in the Milwaukee County categorized as “Garnishment & Other” significant productivity gains in terms of Circuit Court continued on a downward trend filings. There were 5,231 filings of this disposing of cases were in the civil division, in 2011. There were 813 fewer foreclosure type in 2011—up from 1,398 in 2010. In particularly in garnishment and Chapter 128 actions filed in 2011 than in 2010. From a five- addition to the earnings and non-earnings cases. Large claims civil cases disposed of year perspective, foreclosure cases increased garnishments, Chapter 128 wage earner in 2011 increased by 10% compared with drastically from 2007 until reaching their debt amortization actions were included, 2010. Conversely, the circuit court disposed peak in 2009 at 7,175, and have fallen off and made up the bulk of the filings in this of 10.4% fewer paternity cases, even though considerably since then, to 5,610 in 2011. category. The surge in Chapter 128 actions 2011 paternity filings did not increase is perhaps in response to the problems of significantly from the previous year. The 2011 Annual Report, prepared by the stagnating wages and underemployment that Administrative Services Division of the Wisconsin has experienced along with most Juries tried 445 cases in 2011, only five more Clerk’s office and transmitted to Chief Judge of the nation. than in 2010. Felony cases accounted for Jeffrey Kremers on April 17, 2012, contains 60% of those cases tried by jury, while civil a detailed breakdown of cases filed, disposed In the family division, new case filings cases accounted for approximately 12%. A of, tried to juries, and appealed, among other remained fairly stable across the board. verdict was reached in 87% of jury trials, statistics. While the report reveals that most Divorce and other family cases increased by and about 8% of jury trials resulted in either categories of case filings have remained at only 2.3% since 2010, and paternity cases a mistrial or hung jury. Approximately 4% relatively consistent levels over the past five increased by only 0.2%. of all felony cases disposed of were tried by calendar years, there are a few noteworthy a jury. In the civil arena, only about a tenth statistics in addition to the foreclosure trend. Likewise, criminal case filings did not of one percent of cases disposed of reached change in significant numbers in 2011 a jury trial. Small claims contract actions decreased from the previous year, with the exception by 18%, from 30,067 in 2010 to 24,639 in of narcotics cases. Felony narcotics cases Appeals have been on a slow, steady decline 2011, despite the fact that the jurisdictional decreased to 1,790 in 2011, down from 2,124 since 2009, dropping from 878 in that year limit for small claims actions increased from in 2010—a 15.7% decrease. to 782 in 2011. Criminal cases made up $5,000 to $10,000 effective July 1, 2011. the great majority of appeals, comprising The number of other small claims actions— The children’s division saw a modest increase 68% of total appeals from Milwaukee replevins, evictions, garnishments, and those of 2.1% in total cases filed in 2011 compared County Circuit Court decisions. Civil cases related to arbitrations—have not substantially with 2010. Probate cases decreased by 3% comprised approximately 19% of appeals. changed since 2010. A total of 5,037 fewer over the same time period. small claims actions were filed in 2011 than Copies of the 2011 Annual Report are in 2010, which constitutes an 11.4% decrease The Milwaukee County Circuit Court available from the Administrative Services in only a one-year time frame. disposed of approximately 2,500 more cases Division of the Clerk of Circuit Court (phone than were filed in 2011. Overall, the Circuit 414-278-5357). The second statistic of interest in the Court’s caseload was not quite as heavy as
Search Engine continued from p. 17 you do elsewhere on the web to convince directories, exchange links with colleagues the subject matter of the pages to which the Google that you’re relevant for certain who are not in direct competition, post to links connect. For example, imagine there is searches. This is primarily the deliberate blogs, set up accounts in social media sites a hyperlink on your website that reads: “Click process of gathering links gradually, over a such as Twitter and Facebook, participate Here To Learn More About Our Experienced long period of time, from other websites to in networking sites such as Linked-In, and Family Lawyers,” and which links to your your own. publish content to press release and article “About Us” page. If you have the hyperlink sites. The more sites that link to yours, the on the whole sentence or just the “click here” Fundamental to Google’s ranking algorithm more Google will assume that your site is portion, that doesn’t tell Google exactly what is the notion that the more websites that growing in popularity and importance, and is being linked to and is a wasted opportunity link to your website, the more important consequently, more relevant. to emphasize to Google some keyword your website is as an information resource phrases. Better to have the hyperlink on the on the web. When Google perceives you A Few Final Notes words “Experienced Family Lawyers,” so as important for a particular phrase, it will In closing, a few things should be noted. that Google knows what the page you’re typically place you higher in its index. First, SEO can be very labor-intensive and linking to is about. time- consuming, and if you’d rather practice So how do you get other sites to link law than spend hours modifying your pages III. Building links to your website? and bargaining for in-bound links, you The third part of SEO is referred to as “off- Links to your website can be obtained in a should strongly consider outsourcing the page SEO” because it involves things that variety of ways. You can list your website on continued page 22 20 Summer 2012 Pro Bono Corner: Legal Action of Wisconsin’s Volunteer Lawyers Project The Pro Bono Corner is a regular feature with 21 lawyers. long-term budget deficit reduction. Legal spotlighting organizations throughout Action anticipates that Congress will make the Milwaukee area that need pro bono During 2011, Legal Action lost a total of substantial cuts in domestic spending attorneys. More organizations looking for $2.8 million in funding, which comprised affecting the Legal Services Corporation and attorney volunteers are listed in the MBA’s approximately 30% of its resources. This other federal funding resources, such as HUD Pro Bono Opportunities Guide, at www. included $1.36 million in funding from the and the Victims of Crime Act. milwbar.org. State of Wisconsin. Wisconsin was the last Midwestern state to initiate state funding Due to these funding cuts, Legal Action had Legal Action of Wisconsin’s Volunteer for legal services and, with the recent cut, to lay off 13 staff members firmwide during Lawyers Project Wisconsin is now one of only four states 2011. Together with attrition and termination Contact: Patricia Risser nationwide that do not budget any funds for of temporary positions, last year Legal Action Office: Legal Action of Wisconsin civil legal services. In addition, Congress has lost 24 positions, or 25% of its staff. By the cut funding for civil legal services programs beginning of 2013, Legal Action will lose 230 West Wells Street, Room 800 by 15% for 2012, resulting in a $540,000 14 more staff members, making the total Milwaukee, WI 53203 loss to Legal Action. A third funding source, reduction in staff 33%. Without additional Phone: 414-278-7722 interest on lawyer trust accounts (IOLTA), resources, this means a third fewer clients will Fax: 414-274-3096 has dropped precipitously. be able to access Legal Action for help. E-mail: [email protected] To round out the $2.8 million loss, limited- That is where the Volunteer Lawyer Program Web: www.legalaction.org term federal funding is ending. This includes (VLP) comes in, helping to match volunteer Legal Action of Wisconsin lost a quarter $550,000 in HUD stimulus funding that attorneys with low-income clients in need of of its staff last year due to significant state targeted homelessness, $235,000 from a help in consumer, family, housing, elder, and and federal funding cuts. As a result, Legal Department of Justice Violence Against benefits law cases. The VLP screens clients Action’s Volunteer Lawyers Project needs Women Act grant to serve vulnerable victims for eligibility and their cases for legal merit, the assistance of pro bono attorneys more of abuse, and $170,000 to help people and provides volunteers with reimbursement than ever. overcome legal barriers to employment. The for litigation expenses, malpractice coverage, only funding source to remain steady this year a free CLE series, practice manuals, meeting Legal Action is Wisconsin’s largest provider is the annual $50 attorney assessment, but the rooms, mentoring, and other support. While of no-fee legal services, serving low-income $800,000 this yields annually is shared among pro bono attorneys cannot completely nullify people in the 39 southernmost counties in a number of agencies throughout the state. the loss of 33% of Legal Action’s paid staff, Wisconsin. Before the most recent round they can help provide representation for some of budget cuts, Legal Action served 12,000 In addition to these known losses, there is clients who otherwise will go unrepresented. clients each year. The Milwaukee office uncertainty about future budget reductions serves Milwaukee and Waukesha Counties that Congress may make when it tackles
Congratulations Thank You, to the VLP Award Law Day Winners: Volunteers! Ann Jacobs Eric Knobloch Gwen Connolly Kashoua Yang Raza Mahmood (Outstanding Pro Bono Participation) Rick D. Steinberg Yvonne Vegas Valerie Vidal Jeremy Shapiro-Barr Michael Knoeller (Outstanding Pro Bono Participation) Valerie Vidal Josh Roever Mitchell Moser Robert Welcenbach Lindsay Grady (Exceptional Pro Bono Participation) Jeanne Welcenbach Kari Race Jill Kastner David Sauceda Deborah Scheid (Exceptional Pro Bono Advocacy) Evan Knupp Josh Maggard Andrew Beilfuss Jacques Mann Peggy Falsetti Andrew Sapinski Adam York (Outstanding Legal Services Advocate) Jonathan Hackbarth Ryan Blay Brian Romans Messenger 21 Social Media continued from p. 15 ownership rights over the account. If Twitter Taking these steps may help establish becomes involved, the case may take an company ownership of the employer’s and prospective consumers of its services. It entirely different course. social media presence and the fruits of also alleged that Kravitz unjustly enriched that presence. That said, until the law has himself by stealing the 17,000 followers If the case continues without settling, it will developed further, it is uncertain how much of the @PhoneDog_Noah Twitter account. probably be some time before the court or a is enough to establish company ownership of PhoneDog alleged that each Twitter follower jury decides these issues. In the meantime, social media, or whether company ownership was worth $2.50 per month according to it appears the stakes will keep growing: is even possible under social media sites’ “industry standards.” That figure, multiplied Kravitz alleged that his Twitter following terms of service. by 17,000 followers, yields an account value has now rocketed to over 24,000. of $42,500 per month. PhoneDog reasoned The law on social media has not developed that because Kravitz had been misusing the What Should Employers Do? as quickly as social media use has, but account for eight months, he had pilfered a Because the law surrounding social media new cases are frequently making their Twitter account worth more than $300,000. use in the workplace is still developing, way to courts and administrative agencies. employers should be careful about using Employers who have questions about Kravitz, however, fired back with allegations social media as part of their business strategy. implementing social media in their business of his own. His counterclaims describe a long- To protect any rights that might stem from should contact their counsel to obtain timely running dispute between him and PhoneDog: social media use, employers should consider guidance on the legal issues that accompany after he resigned, PhoneDog cut him a check taking steps to strengthen their claim that social media use. for over $8,000 in commission payments but they—not their employees—own all aspects 1 cancelled the check before Kravitz received of their social media presence. These steps See University of Maryland, Social Media Adoption might include the following: by U.S. Small Businesses Double Since 2009: Small it. When the parties could not resolve their Businesses Mainly Use Social Media to Identify and dispute over the commissions, Kravitz sued Attract New Customers, available at http://www.rhsmith. PhoneDog in California state court to recover • allowing company social media accounts umd.edu/news/releases/2010/021610.aspx/ (last visited them. Moreover, according to Kravitz, to be opened only at the company’s June 4, 2012). PhoneDog told him that he could use the direction and only with a company-issued Twitter account after he resigned, and the password; company sued him over the account only to • controlling access to social media account intimidate him into dropping his state court passwords; • changing account passwords and claims relating to the commissions. Search Engine continued from p. 20 usernames, or deactivating accounts, when Interestingly, Kravitz asserted that neither the employment relationship ends; project to a company that specializes in SEO PhoneDog nor he owns the account. • requiring that the company be identified for lawyers. According to Kravitz, Twitter owns the in any account name or handle, or account, and Kravitz has the right to use it prescribing a common name format (e.g., Second, these SEO efforts don’t help your and hold the password to it. As of the date @CompanyName_UserName); website overnight. It may be three, six, or of this article, Twitter has not yet joined the • explicitly stating in employee nine months before you start noticing any suit, nor have the parties attempted to join it. handbooks, employment contracts (such real gains in terms of ranking on Google’s as confidentiality agreements), and organic search results. The PhoneDog case is in its early stages, but independent contractor agreements that there are some takeaways for employers who the employer owns its company accounts Third, this is an ongoing process—especially use social media as part of their business (and any legal rights that might come with the link-building—and you’ll need to keep at strategy. PhoneDog’s claims survived a those accounts), even when employees or it for as long as you want to stay high up in motion to dismiss, which means that the contractors operate those accounts; and Google’s search results. court believes there may be a legal basis for • requiring employees to disclose their PhoneDog’s claims that it owns the Twitter affiliation with the company in every post Contact the author at [email protected] or accounts and that the passwords to those or tweet. (415) 742-2150. accounts are trade secrets. The court’s ruling also signals that it believes PhoneDog’s Classifieds claim that Kravitz interfered with its current and prospective economic relationships with Individual Offices for Rent—Downtown office in newly constructed, LEED certified, the Twitter followers of the @PhoneDog_ Milwaukee geothermal heating and cooling and green Noah account and with advertisers may have We’re a small law firm that just finished roof with gardens, commercial building in remodeling new office space. Three rentals the burgeoning 5th Ward neighborhood. Call merit, as well. available ranging from 175-225 sq/ft. or e-mail if interested. [email protected] On the other hand, the court has not yet ruled Located is fantastic—just blocks from the 414-276-1066 County and Federal Courthouses. Rent starts on any of Kravitz’s claims. It also has not at $395.00/mo. Almost everything included. Attorney-Milwaukee: Established resolved any of the factual disputes between Flexible leases. Ask for Evan or Patrick @ Milwaukee firm representing clients the parties, including the parties’ conflicting 414-299-3875. with a great variety of legal problems for views as to whether or not PhoneDog let generations wants to add an attorney with 3+ Kravitz continue to use the Twitter account Milwaukee, Walker’s Point: years’ experience and some existing clientele after he resigned. Finally, Twitter has not Office for rent with three other independent to expand firm’s practice. Arrangements tried to join the case to assert its alleged progressive attorneys. 250 square foot flexible. E-Mail: [email protected] 22 Summer 2012 Messenger 23 24 Summer 2012