Many of us have boxes of old photos, home videos on VHS tapes, or cassette recordings tucked away in closets or basements. Wouldn’t it be nice to digitally preserve them and make them more accessible for friends and family? Thankfully, Madison Public Library has you covered.
The Personal Archiving Lab at Madison’s Central Library provides equipment for digitizing various types of analog materials. This free service allows community members to convert their personal collections into digital formats that can
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Recent UW Law Faculty Scholarship
Here is the latest faculty scholarship from the University of Wisconsin Law School Legal Studies Research Papers series vis SSRN.
- Look at What Courts Do, Not What They Say by Peter Carstensen, University of Wisconsin Law School, American Antitrust Institute
- The EITC and Feminized Poverty by Nyamagaga Gondwe, University of Wisconsin Law School
- Steering a Restrictive Course: Rebooting China’s Charity Law by Mark Sidel, University of Wisconsin Law School
- Shadow Forensics: Uncovering 911 Call Analysis by
Study Committee on the Regulation of AI in Wisconsin Issues Recommendations
Last week, the Wisconsin Legislative Council’s Study Committee on the Regulation of Artificial Intelligence issued a report outlining seven recommendations for legislation regarding the use and development of AI.
Overall, I think the committee’s recommendations reflect a measured approach to AI regulation, but I also have some concerns.
Recommendation: Instead of Regulating AI, Focus on Data
“The study committee recommends that instead of focusing on regulating the emerging technology that is AI, the Legislature should focus on ensuring that
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New Legal Scholar Ranking Offers Insight on What Makes Legal Scholarship Impactful
A new study by Rob Willey and Melanie Knapp from George Mason University Law Library ranks The Top 100 Legal Scholars of 2024. The study continues their methodology that counts citations to law journal articles in HeinOnline, limiting to articles written in a recent, three-year period of time (2018-2020). By focusing on more recent scholarship, their approach makes the ranking more inclusive of women scholars, newer academics, and non-traditional scholars like practitioners who may have more limited time
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Recent UW Law Faculty Scholarship
Here is the latest faculty scholarship from the University of Wisconsin Law School Legal Studies Research Papers series vis SSRN.
- A Progressive Judiciary? Judicial Review and National Politics from Reconstruction to the Present by Joshua Braver, University of Wisconsin Law School and Gregory Elinson, Northern Illinois University – College of Law
- Remedying the Google Dual Bottleneck Monopoly in Search and Text Advertising by Peter Carstensen, University of Wisconsin Law School, American Antitrust Institute and Darren Bush
UW Law Library Exhibit Highlights Legacy of Accessibility Pioneer Floyd ‘Mike’ McBurney (Class of 1963)
Many in the UW-Madison community are familiar with the McBurney Disability Resource Center, but fewer may know about the remarkable UW Law School graduate for whom it was named. A new exhibit at the UW Law Library explores the life and lasting impact of Floyd “Mike” McBurney (Class of 1963).
After sustaining a cervical spinal cord injury in a diving accident at age 16, McBurney adapted to new ways of learning and studying. He graduated at the top
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Free WI Ethics CLE on Navigating Generative AI: Ethical Issues and Practical Guidance for Lawyers
Each January, the UW Law School offers a series of free Ethics CLE seminars. This year, I have the pleasure of presenting on GenAI with my Law Library colleague, Kris Turner.
This session will explore the current landscape of generative AI in legal practice, touching on market trends, practical usage of GenAI tools, and key ethical considerations. We’ll discuss both the benefits and potential pitfalls of AI adoption and examine recent guidance from the ABA and the courts. The
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UW Law Library Hosts Exhibit on Lavinia Goodell, Wisconsin’s First Woman Lawyer
The University of Wisconsin Law Library is proud to host a traveling display celebrating Lavinia Goodell, Wisconsin’s first woman lawyer and a pioneer in the fight for gender equality in the legal profession.
Goodell was an active member of the 1870s “Woman’s Rights” movement, working as an editor for Harper’s Bazar and publishing numerous articles on women’s rights in the national press. Her legal career began in 1874, when she achieved a significant milestone by being admitted to
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IL Supreme Court’s New AI Policy Takes a Balanced Approach
The Illinois Supreme Court has released its new policy on generative AI use in courts, effective January 1, 2025. The policy takes a balanced approach – acknowledging AI’s potential while setting clear boundaries for its use.
Some notable elements of the policy:
- First, the policy opens with the phrase “Embracing the advancements of artificial intelligence” – signaling an intentionally forward-looking perspective. It explicitly states that AI use “should not be discouraged” when it complies with legal and ethical
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Tips for Lawyers: Keeping Pace with the Law
The current legal landscape might be comparable to an alien world in a sci-fi movie, exceedingly complex and constantly changing. Myriad statutes, regulations, rules, ordinances, case law, and other sources of law create a legal multivariate calculus problem. Due to practical necessity and ethical requirements, attorneys are required to understand applicable law in order to provide guidance to their clients.
Regardless of the preparation that law school provided, that preparation will be insufficient for legal problems that attorneys eventually
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AI is Not an Oracle: Designing More Effective Prompts
I read two thought-provoking articles today that got me thinking about how we approach prompting when using generative AI tools. Ted Underwood, writing in the Chronicle of Higher Education, makes a key point – we shouldn’t treat AI as an all-knowing oracle. “Instead of assuming that the model already has an answer to every question in memory,” he writes, “any special assumptions or background knowledge the model will be expected to use” should be included in the prompt.
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Getting Started with GenAI in Legal Practice
I recently wrote an article on Getting Started with GenAI in Legal Practice for the December issue of Wisconsin Lawyer that I wanted to share. It examines how attorneys can approach generative AI tools thoughtfully and ethically in their practice.
The ABA’s recent opinion on Generative Artificial Intelligence Tools makes clear that “even in the absence of an expectation for lawyers to use GAI tools as a matter of course, lawyers should become aware of the GAI tools relevant
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SDRI Adds More States to Constitutional Amendments Visualization Tool
Last fall, we reported that the UW Law School State Democracy Research Initiative launched a new resource called 50constitutions.org, which provides easy access to the text of all 50 state constitutions and allows users to search within and across states.
One of the features, Tracking Constitutional Change helps visualize the many amendments made to state constitutions and allows researchers and the public to see how state founding documents have developed over time. Initially, this feature was available for
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Recent UW Law Faculty Scholarship
Here is the latest faculty scholarship from the University of Wisconsin Law School Legal Studies Research Papers series vis SSRN.
- Defining Law but Not Justice by Franciska Coleman, UW Law School
- Remedying the Google Dual Bottleneck Monopoly in Search and Text Advertising by Peter Carstensen, UW Law School and Darren Bush
- Interdisciplinary Expertise in Law and Public Policy (LPP): Goals, Design and Evaluation, Enactment and Implementation, Legal Education, Interconnectedness of Policy and Institutions by William H. Clune
MBA’s Annual Law & Tech Conference Returns This Friday
The Milwaukee Bar Association’s annual Law & Technology Conference will be held this Friday, bringing together legal professionals to explore the latest developments in legal tech, cybersecurity, and artificial intelligence. The conference offers both in-person attendance at the MBA and a virtual option for remote participants.
I’ve attended this conference many times over the years – it’s always an excellent event. This year, I’m excited to be participating as a panelist!
I’ll be joining my UW Law Library colleague
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Attorney Mason Higgins Presents during Annual Debtor-Creditor Bankruptcy Update for State Bar
Attorney Mason Higgins to present at State Bar of Wisconsin’s Annual Debtor-Creditor Bankruptcy Updates
Stafford Rosenbaum Attorney Mason Higgins will present on real estate issues in bankruptcy, including single-asset real estate issues commercial leases, on Wednesday, November 6, for the Annual Debtor-Creditor Bankruptcy Update for the Eastern District, and on Thursday, November 7, for the Western District. Both updates are presented by the State Bar of Wisconsin. This year’s updates feature time-tested legal techniques, the latest case
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