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The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit recently reversed a decision from the District Court for the Eastern District of Wisconsin, which had dismissed a Title VII employment discrimination complaint for failure to state a claim. The law underpinning the District Court’s decision had been overruled by the Supreme Court of the United States, resulting in the Seventh Circuit reversing the District Court. In its April 17, 2024, decision in Muldrow v. City of St. Louis, the…
Continue Reading Seventh Circuit Enforces Supreme Court’s Landmark Overhaul of Standards for Title VII Employment Discrimination Claims

It’s a Sunday Night. Dinner is done and you’re winding down and getting ready for another week ahead.
You decide to scroll social media when you see a post from a distraught mother of two young children asking some legal questions on a public forum. You scroll through the comments from a wide array of people and notice a plethora of information being provided to the young, frantic woman – none of which is correct.

As a family law…
Continue Reading Should You Respond to Bad Legal Advice on Social Media?

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Aug. 6, 2024 – Former State Bar of Wisconsin President Michelle Behnke was elected ABA President-elect at the end of the ABA’s annual meeting in Chicago on August 6.​“Congratulations to Michelle Behnke on her election as American Bar Association President-elect,” said State Bar of Wisconsin Executive Director Larry Martin. “Her extensive experience in the ABA and her tenure as a trailblazing State Bar President will serve the ABA and it’s 400,000 members well.”

Behnke served as president of the…
Continue Reading Michelle Behnke Elected American Bar Association President-elect

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Hon. Jeh Charles Johnson, former U.S. Secretary of Homeland Security and ABA Task Force for American Democracy co-chair, speaks on “The Threat to Democracy.”

July 11, 2024 – A dozen speakers recently gave sobering presentations on the threat to democracy during a nonpartisan event from the American Bar Association’s Task Force for American Democracy, in partnership with the State Bar of Wisconsin.

The program, called
Wisconsin: Elections in the 21st Century (watch now) was held in-person July…
Continue Reading American Bar Association Brings Democracy Listening Tour to Wisconsin

Typesetting Blocks

“Typography matters because it helps conserve the most valuable resource you have as a writer—reader attention.” Matthew Butterick — Typography for Lawyers.

Lawyers, especially appellate lawyers, spend a lot of time on content and organization. But often when it comes to font and other typographical issues, it is easy to settle for the default—like Times New Roman, bold a few headings, and call it a day. Lawyers often perceive this as the “safe” choice.

Typography is more than what…
Continue Reading Not Just a Matter of Looking Pretty—Why Typography Matters in Legal Writing

Before April 24, 2024, Roger G. Merry was a licensed lawyer in the State of Wisconsin despite numerous disciplinary actions. On that date, the Supreme Court finally decided enough is enough and revoked his license, overriding the recommendation of the referee who (amazingly) recommended a one year suspension. Disciplinary Proceedings Against Roger G. Merry, 2024 WI 16. In a concurring opinion, authored by Chief Justice Annette Ziegler, five justices (a majority of the court) agreed with the decision…
Continue Reading Life Means Life, or Not

crumbled contract

On Tuesday, April 23, 2024, the Federal Trade Commission (the “FTC”) issued its long-awaited Non-Compete Clause Rule (the “final rule”). The final rule prohibits non-compete clauses as an unfair method of restraining competition under the Federal Trade Commission Act (“FTC Act”). The broad scope of the final rule extends to all workers, whether paid or unpaid, including, employees, independent contractors, interns, externs, volunteers, and apprentices.

The final rule follows the FTC’s proposed rule from January 2023 and ongoing conversations…
Continue Reading FTC Issues Final Rule Banning Non-Competes

The administrative agencies are having a busy week! In addition to the DOL issuing an updated rule on the salary basis to be overtime exempt, on Tuesday, April 23, 2024, the Federal Trade Commission voted 3-2 on its long-awaited non-compete ban, which was initially issued as a proposed rule in January 2023. The FTC estimates that this rule will affect 2,301,874 employees in Wisconsin and increase wages of each of those employees by $524 annually.

Under the FTC’s…
Continue Reading Employment LawScene Alert: FTC Bans Employee Non-Competes, but Legal Challenges Expected

Hi, everyone. It’s been a minute. It may be another minute, or several, before I write again, or it could be tomorrow. (Remember when I launched this blog in 2019 and I thought I would be writing weekly or more and then a few months later everything went sideways? Good times.)
I write to revisit a topic I wrote about a couple of years ago—the fact that Wisconsin does not have true, lifetime “disbarment.” My position hasn’t changed since…
Continue Reading When “Revocation” isn’t Revocation

Federal Trade Commission bans most non-compete agreements in employment contracts
On April 23, 2024, the Federal Trade Commission approved a Final Rule that bans almost any agreement that restricts where a worker may work after he or she leaves his or her current employer. Such an agreement is a non-competition agreement. The Final Rule is effective 120 days after publication in the Federal Register absent a successful legal challenge. We anticipate legal challenges to be filed very soon.
Continue Reading FTC Voted to Ban Almost All Non-Competition Agreements

close-up view of water flowing from tap into glass

Law Clerk Klara A. Henry assisted in the drafting of this blog post.

On April 10, 2024, the EPA issued a highly anticipated final rule establishing legally enforceable limits for five types of PFAS (per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances, often called “forever chemicals”). The rule sets individual limits for these five forms of PFAS, as well as limits on two or more of the substances mixed together. The larger class of PFAS substances consists of almost 15,000 synthetic chemicals, many…
Continue Reading EPA Finalizes First-Ever National Drinking Water Standard for PFAS

Jury box
Jury box

Yes, you read correctly; I’m not a fan of jury trials.

Case in point: The death of O.J. Simpson serves as a reminder of the failure of the jury system. Does anyone really believe that Simpson was not the murderer? If not, why would someone stab two strangers to death for no reason whatsoever?

Two reasons demonstrate that such a belief would be stupid. First, unlike a shooting, stabbings are almost always an act of passion. If a thief…
Continue Reading The Case Against Jury Trials

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Governor Proclaims June 17, 2024 Wisconsin Women Lawyers Day
To commemorate the 150th anniversary of Lavinia Goodell becoming Wisconsin’s first woman lawyer, Governor Tony Evers has proclaimed June 17, 2024, Wisconsin Women Lawyers Day.

The proclamation praises Lavinia Goodell for pioneering a path for women in the legal profession across the state and for facing the many obstacles thrown in her path with unwavering resilience. It recognizes the lasting impact of women lawyers on the fabric of the…
Continue Reading Governor Proclaims June 17, 2024, Wisconsin Women Lawyers Day

Earlier this week, the U.S. Supreme Court resolved a split in the circuits as to whether an employee is required to show a “significant” injury or harm in connection with a job transfer to meet the threshold for proving an adverse employment action under Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964.  The Court rejected the “significant” injury standard, and adopted a new standard that only requires an employee who is involuntarily transferred from one position to another…
Continue Reading SCOTUS Eases the Standard for Proving a Discriminatory Job Transfer under Title VII

What is a Trademark?

A trademark can be any mark representing words, phrases, symbols, designs, or a combination of these that identifies your goods or services. In practice, the most common trademarks are business names and logos. Trademarks accomplish several objectives. They (1) identify the source of your goods or services; (2) provide additional legal protection for your brand; and (3) help to guard against counterfeiting and fraud. Creative and unique trademarks are the most effective in accomplishing these…
Continue Reading A Beginner’s Guide to Trademarks: Part One — Trademark Basics

In Muldrow v. City of St. Louis, Missouri (Docket No. 22-193), the U.S. Supreme Court was asked to decide whether a unilateral job transfer could be challenged as discrimination under Title VII, where the position had the same pay and title but changed the employee’s schedule, overtime opportunities, and other conditions of employment. In a unanimous decision, the Court held that an employee challenging a job transfer under Title VII must show that the transfer brought about some harm…
Continue Reading U.S. Supreme Court Holds That A Unilateral Job Transfer Maintaining the Same Pay and Benefits Could Be Discrimination Under Title VII