On July 27, 2022, the court of appeals ordered the publication of the following criminal law related decisions:
State v. Gerald P. Mitchell, 2022 WI App 31 (on remand from SCOTUS, finding exigency for warrantless blood draw).
DeLorean Bryson v. Kevin Carr, 2022 WI App 34 (addressing limits on DOC’s power to take money from inmate accounts for court obligations)
State v. Sergio Moises Ochoa, 2022 WI App 35 (affirming circuit court’s exclusion of certain self
Continue Reading July 2022 publication list
Researching Municipal Ordinances in Wisconsin and Beyond
Unlike federal and state law which is widely available, municipal law can be difficult to track down. In Wisconsin alone, there are 585 municipal (city and village) governments and 1,265 town governments and the availability and amount of information available from each varies greatly. Fortunately, there is a guide to searching municipal law in the latest InsideTrack from the State Bar of Wisconsin.
The guide, by law librarian, Emily Gellings, covers sources of municipal ordinances, including the excellent…
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Ban on Name Change Doesn’t Violate Sex Offender’s Constitutional Rights
Aug.5 , 2022 – A state law that prohibits a transgender sex offender from legally changing her name does not violate the First and Eighth Amendments to the U.S. Constitution, the Wisconsin Supreme Court has ruled.In State v. C.G., 2022 WI 60 (July 7, 2022) the supreme court held (4-3) that the name-change prohibition did not constitute punishment for purposes of the Eighth Amendment’s ban on cruel and unusual punishment.The court also held that the First Amendment’s free…
Continue Reading Ban on Name Change Doesn’t Violate Sex Offender’s Constitutional Rights
“Mr. Sale was District Attorney & made a very kind and gentlemanly opposing counsel.”

“Mr. Sale was District Attorney & made a very kind and gentlemanly opposing counsel.”
Lavinia Goodell, November 18, 1875
While practicing law in Janesville, Wisconsin in the 1870s, Lavinia Goodell had the good fortune to deal with other attorneys who were good practitioners and good citizens. John W. Sale was one of them.
John Sale was one year Lavinia’s junior, born in Indiana in 1840. His parents moved to Rock County when he was an infant. Sale attended the…
Continue Reading “Mr. Sale was District Attorney & made a very kind and gentlemanly opposing counsel.”
What the heck… I mean you all saw that, right?

I’ve been deep in trial prep the last few days (and ahead of seeing my nerd friends at the Chicago conference, but that doesn’t mean my phone hasn’t been utterly lit up, as happens whenever a lawyer does something dumb on television. From my office, with headphones on, I could hear the collective gasps of my friends as they watched Alex Jones and his lawyer Andino Reynal have a meltdown in real time yesterday.
What happened yesterday (some…
Continue Reading What the heck… I mean you all saw that, right?
Law Library of Congress Releases Collection of Research Reports Offering Comparative Analysis of Foreign & International Law since the 1940s

Those of you who follow federal legislation may be familiar with CRS Reports. The Congressional Research Service is a non-partisan legislative branch agency, housed inside the Library of Congress, that provides comprehensive analysis on issues that may come before Congress. Although created for Congress, these reports can be tremendously insightful on matters of federal policy to attorneys and others.
But you may not be aware that the Law Library of Congress also prepares research reports on legal…
Continue Reading Law Library of Congress Releases Collection of Research Reports Offering Comparative Analysis of Foreign & International Law since the 1940s
COA affirms recommitment, finds sufficient evidence and compliance with D.J.W.
Manitowoc County v. J.M.K., 2022AP122, 7/27/22, District 2, (1-judge opinion; ineligible for publication); case activity
J.M.K. is currently diagnosed with schizoaffective disorder. He has been committed several times since 2015. Right now he is doing well. He lives in a supervised apartment but holds a job, participates in community activities, and works out at the YMCA. The county monitors his medication compliance because in the past when he has stopped taking them he deteriorated rapidly.
The circuit court…
Continue Reading COA affirms recommitment, finds sufficient evidence and compliance with D.J.W.
Reversal rates for court of appeals judges
SCOWstats just reviewed 70 Wisconsin Supreme Court decisions over the past 2 years to determine which court of appeals judge was reversed most often and least often. And the winners are . . . SCOW reversed Judges Dugan, Donald and Kessler (and District 1 in general) most often. It reversed Judge Davis least often.
Continue Reading Reversal rates for court of appeals judges
If You Are Unhappy in Your Marriage, Ask Yourself These 5 Questions
A tough time in your marriage does not have to result in divorce. First, ask yourself the five questions in the link below. They may cause you to change your perception of the situation.
https://www.getlasting.com/unhappy-marriage
The post If You Are Unhappy in Your Marriage, Ask Yourself These 5 Questions appeared first on Kowalski Wilson & Vang, LLC.
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Jobs data, unemployment, and a lack of wage growth
Jake has been providing excellent coverage about the current economic and jobs data and how wage growth here was been more of an illusion than a reality.
In July 2022, Jake reported that unemployment in Wisconsin has been at record lows — below 3% — but that job growth is stagnating.
What this indicates to me is that things are actually still very healthy in Wisconsin’s jobs market, but we still can’t find enough people at publicly facing…
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Recent UW Law Faculty Scholarship: Weaponizing Fear; Colonialism, Foreign Investment and Property Rights Reconsidered; Pathology Logics; and Regulating Social Media in the Free-Speech Ecosystem
Here is the latest faculty scholarship appearing in the University of Wisconsin Law School Legal Studies Research Papers series found on SSRN.
- “Weaponizing Fear” Yale Law Journal Forum (2022, forthcoming) by S. LISA WASHINGTON, UW Law School
In a letter dated February 22, 2022, Texas Governor Greg Abbott directed the commissioner of the Texas Department of Family and Protective Services (DFPS) “to conduct a prompt and thorough investigation of any reported instances” of what he calls “abusive sex…
Continue Reading Recent UW Law Faculty Scholarship: Weaponizing Fear; Colonialism, Foreign Investment and Property Rights Reconsidered; Pathology Logics; and Regulating Social Media in the Free-Speech Ecosystem
DAO NFT Doh!
That headline just caused more than a few eyes to glaze over. I get it, but this post is to point out that just because we had fancy new terms and abbreviations, that doesn’t change a lot of fundamentals. Recently, the Spice DAO discovered that copyright law still applies – even to them.
First things first. A DAO is a decentralized autonomous organization. It has no central governing body. Generally, decisions are made collectively aimed towards a common goal. …
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Defense win! TPR reversed due to insufficient notice of grounds for termination
Brown County v. J.V., 2022AP532, 7/28/22, District 3 (1-judge opinion, ineligible for publication); case activity
In a modified CHIPS dispositional order, the circuit court stated that it was suspending Jennifer’s visitation rights to her son, subject to her completing certain conditions. The court did not orally warn her that her parental rights could be terminated if her visitation rights weren’t reinstated within 1 year. Nor did the written order indicate that her rights could be terminated based on…
Continue Reading Defense win! TPR reversed due to insufficient notice of grounds for termination
When Can Alleged Drug Crimes Lead to Federal Charges?

Law enforcement officials take drug charges very seriously. Those who are accused of possessing, selling, distributing, or transporting controlled substances may face a variety of criminal charges. The severity of these charges can vary depending on whether a person is charged with an offense at the state or federal level. In many cases, federal charges are more serious, and a conviction may result in very large fines, a lengthy prison sentence, and other consequences.
Federal…
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Can I Pursue Compensation for Injuries in an ATV Accident?

By: Attorney Chris Strohbehn
Wisconsin residents and visitors to the state can enjoy many outdoor activities during the summer, including riding ATVs on trails in state parks or on private property. While this can be a great form of recreation, it can also be dangerous, and multiple types of accidents involving ATVs can occur. In fact, there have been nine fatal ATV accidents in Wisconsin so far in 2022. Following these types of accidents, injury victims or the surviving…
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21st Century Trust Account Rules? Petition Seeks To Simplify

Recently, a viral Twitter conversation asked participants born before 1990 about their first online purchase. I’m really not sure—was it a book from the early days of Amazon? Some long-forgotten kitchen gadget? I know I was long out of college, but this was still when “e-commerce” was something distinct from just buying stuff. Even though it quickly became apparent that online shopping was secure, quick, and soon to be inevitable, it took awhile for people’s habits and risk tolerance…
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