Spring 2011 Volume 1 MBA Judges Night at the Grain Exchange Building Picture courtesy of Kevin Harnack, the Wisconsin Law Journal 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 MEMBERS SAVE MONEY! Unishippers is an authorized UPS reseller with the right to re-market its pickup and delivery services. Unishippers contracts with individuals and businesses on behalf of UPS, offering discounted rates, exceptional customer service, and customized shipping solutions. A negotiated discount of 20% on air services is available to MBA members spending less than $10,000 per year on UPS services. If your shipping costs are more than $10,000 annually, greater discounts may be available. (Some restrictions apply and not all firms will qualify for the program.) Unishippers will invoice you directly and service your account. Over the next several weeks, your firm or office may receive a call from Bill Curtis at Unishippers. Currently using another shipping company? Provide Bill with a recent invoice and he will calculate your discount and savings potential through Unishippers. To learn more about Unishippers please visit: www.unishippers.com. Regular Features Contents 4 Letter From the Editor Spring 2011 • Volume 1 5 Member News 6 New Members In This Issue: 6 Message from the President 5 Effective Networking and the Lesson of the Pot Belly Stove 7 CLE Calendar by Michael Moore, Moore’s Law 8 The Reel Law 9 New Local Rules Prescribe Forms and Procedures for Chapter 128 Debt Plans 15 Volunteer Spotlight and Trustees by Honorable Richard J. Sankovitz, Milwaukee County Circuit Court 21 Pro Bono Corner 22 Classifieds 10 Swimming in the Daylight: a Local Attorney’s Memoir of Friendship, Hope, and Courage by Attorney Elizabeth K. Miles, Davis & Kuelthau Be Part of the Messenger 11 Primary Candidates Speak at MBA’s Judicial Forum Please send your articles, editorials, or by Noah Gehling, Milwaukee Justice Center anecdotes to [email protected] or mail them to Editor, Milwaukee Bar 11 New Addition to Milwaukee Justice Center Association, 424 East Wells Street, by Noah Gehling, Milwaukee Justice Center Milwaukee, WI 53202. We look forward to hearing from you! 12 Judges Night 2011 If you would like to participate on the 14 Beyond Civility—Promoting the Lawyer as Straight Shooter Messenger Committee, we have seats Messenger Editorial available. Please contact James Temmer, [email protected]. 15 Milwaukee County’s Children Need Help by Anthony D. Smith, Children’s Hospital and Health System 16 Send in the Clowns: Sales Tax and the Ice Cream Cake by Attorney Douglas H. Frazer, DeWitt Ross & Stevens The MBA Messenger is published 17 Non-Competition Law in Wisconsin: Developments Since Star Direct, Inc. v. Dal Pra quarterly by the Milwaukee Bar by Eric H. Rumbaugh, Michael, Best & Friedrich Association, Inc., 424 East Wells Street, Milwaukee, Wisconsin 53202. 18 MBA Memorial Service Telephone: 414-274-6760 E-mail: [email protected] 19 Redesigned Milwaukee Family Court Mediation Program Is Up and Running Smoothly The opinions stated herein are not by Judge Michael Dwyer, Commissioner Michael Bruch, necessarily those of the Milwaukee and Deputy Commissioner Sandra Grady Bar Association, Inc., or any of its directors, officers, or employees. The 20 The Wing Tipped Contessa information presented in this publication should not be construed to be 20 EDWBA Annual Meeting formal legal advice or the formation of a lawyer-client relationship. All 23 MBA Judicial Poll — 2011 manuscripts submitted will be reviewed for possible publication. The editors 23 MBA Renews Lease and Remodels Space reserve the right to edit all material for style and length. Advertising and general information concerning this publication are available from Britt Wegner, telephone 414-276-5931. Messenger 3 MBA Board of Letter From the Editor Directors and Staff Current events should nuanced tax ramifications of—wait for it— demonstrate to any of ice cream cakes. Judge Richard Sankovitz, Rachel A. Schneider, President the world’s remaining the undisputed Maharishi of Local Rules, Harley-Davidson autocrats that while previews new Milwaukee County rules Michael J. Cohen, President-Elect h e m a y g o v e r n governing practice and procedure in Chapter Meissner Tierney Fisher & Nichols without the consent 128 cases. From the legal marketing desk, Charles H. Barr, Vice President of the governed, frequent contributor Michael Moore provides Croen & Barr the governed can valuable insight on effective networking in Patricia A. Hintz, Secretary/Treasurer nonetheless show the digital age. There are pics from Judges Quarles & Brady him the door at any Night, the signature MBA social event of the Charles Barr, Editor time. It doesn’t matter season. Directors how long a dictator has been in power, how firmly entrenched We have reports on the Family Court Honorable Timothy G. Dugan he appears to be, how wealthy he is, or how Mediation Program, the need for more foster Milwaukee County Circuit Court subjugated his people appear to be. He is parents in Milwaukee County, the MBA’s Marcia E. Facey liable to get the boot quite summarily, as it Judicial Forum and judicial poll, and the Northwestern Mutual turns out. As long as the military lacks a taste MBA’s remodeling project. We have the Beth E. Hanan for slaughtering its own people, then a large, latest from the Milwaukee Justice Center, Gass Weber Mullins centrally located public square and enough as well as other initiatives and luminaries Lisa M. Lawless freedom-craving, unified, courageous, and in the pro bono world. Past MBA President Whyte Hirschboeck Dudek perseverant people to fill it are all that is Fran Deisinger is back with another “Reel required. Shake vigorously and, voilà—exit Law” review, in which he finally finds a film Susan E. Lovern dictator, stage right. to pan. And we have a blast from the past: von Briesen & Roper the mysterious, long-lost, and reliably droll David G. Peterson As amazing as these current events are, this Wing Tipped Contessa drops in to sample Reinhart Boerner Van Deuren edition of the Messenger includes a story another local lunch spot. Thomas H. Reed that may be even more amazing. It is the State Public Defender, Milwaukee story not of tens of thousands of protestors We hope you enjoy this edition of the Criminal Trial Office but of one individual who, in 1985, took on Messenger and, though we must concede the Honorable Maxine Aldridge White the massive, monolithic edifice that was the absence of a logical connection between the Milwaukee County Circuit Court Government of the Union of Soviet Socialist following two wished-for events, we also Republics. The individual, a young student, hope that the promise of spring inspires you Andrew J. Wronski staged a hunger strike to call attention to the to contribute to our humble publication. We Foley & Lardner USSR’s years-long refusal to allow one of close with the same words we uttered a year its citizens, a human rights activist, to travel ago, the mantra that gets us through this last MBA Staff to the West for life-saving cancer treatment. slushy slog of winter: somewhere, thousands James D. Temmer, Executive Director In this political face off between a solitary of miles away, pitchers and catchers have Katy Borowski, Director of Projects American student and the most powerful reported. Dawn Caldart, Administrative Director, autocratic institution on the planet, it was the Milwaukee Justice Center Soviet Government that backed down. No, it — C.B. didn’t collapse in a pile of rubble—then. But Andrew Clinnin, Associate Director, LRIS it showed the world a crack. Other cracks Amy Enger, Office Manager appeared, and a few short years later, the Pamela Hill, Accountant Soviet Union did collapse. Sabrina Nunley, Director of Continuing Legal Education The student who made the Soviet Government blink a quarter century ago now practices law Britt Wegner, Director, Lawyer in Milwaukee and lives in Shorewood with Referral & Information Service her husband and two daughters. Swimming in the Daylight is the title of her new book Contact Information looking back at this remarkable struggle. Our Milwaukee Bar Association, Inc. feature article (page 10) recounts her story. 424 East Wells Street Milwaukee, WI 53202 What else is in the Messenger? Our “hard Phone: 414-274-6760 law” article surveys recent case law on the Fax: 414-274-6765 validity of covenants not to compete. Moving www.milwbar.org on to “soft law,” regular contributor Doug Frazier savors the delicious and surprisingly 4 Spring 2011 Effective Networking and the Member News Lesson of the Pot Belly Stove The Wisconsin Supreme Court appointed Michael Moore, Moore’s Law Michael J. Aprahamian, a partner at When I was young, we often spent our Being proactive increases Foley & Lardner, to a three-year term on vacations in a small cabin in the North effectiveness the Wisconsin Judicial Commission. The Woods. As the chill of the night air settled Lawyers need to be proactive and build Commission investigates and prosecutes in, my grandfather would say, “That stove effective networks to be successful. Stephen allegations of misconduct or disability on won’t make heat all by itself, ya know.” This Covey makes “Being Proactive” the first of the part of Wisconsin judges and court was a signal for me to haul in some wood his seven habits to becoming highly effective. commissioners. so he could make a fire. This was also my It means more than simply taking initiative. early introduction to the concept of “Give to Proactive people take responsibility for their Get.” The next time you are working your own lives.