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“Southold is a pleasant country village.” Lavinia Goodell, July 1, 1863 Other than her sister, Maria Frost, and her cousin, Sarah Thomas, Sarah Case was one of Lavinia Goodell’s closest friends. Sarah Case held such a special place in Lavinia’s heart that Lavinia’s 1879 will bequeathed her $1500 and a gold locket. It is unknown when and where Lavinia and Sarah met, but it seems likely they became acquainted in Brooklyn in the early 1860s. Lavinia first mentioned Sarah in an 1863 letter to her sister, saying, “I wish you knew her. She is a very fine girl. She is…
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On Friday, September 24, 2021, the Safer Federal Workforce Task Force (Task Force) issued its COVID-19 Workplace Safety: Guidance for Federal Contractors and Subcontractors (Guidance) as directed by President Biden in an executive order (EO) on September 9, 2021. Click here to see the full Guidance (a helpful FAQ starts on page nine of the Guidance.) Who: According to the Guidance, a “covered contract” is any contract or contract-like instrument that includes the clause specified in Section 2(a) of the EO: The contractor or subcontractor shall, for the duration of the contract, comply with all guidance for contractor or subcontractor workplace…
​The State Bar of Wisconsin’s Board of Governors held its first meeting of the fiscal year in Kenosha, engaged in other State Bar-related activties there, and met with local leaders. Pictured at the Civil War Museum in Kenosha, from left, State Bar Executive Director Larry Martin, Kenosha Bar Association President Zach Brost, Kenosha Mayor John Antaramian, State Rep. Tip McGuire, Immediate Past State Bar President Kathy Brost, State Bar President-elect Margaret Hickey, and current State Bar President Cheryl Furstace Daniels. Photo credit: Andy Manis. Sept. 24, 2021 – Adopting and implementing a plan to address the shortage of lawyers in Wisconsin’s rural counties…
Twenty volunteer Wisconsin lawyers, including those pictured here, took part in the free expungement clinic on Sept. 21 in Kenosha. Sept. 22, 2021 – An arrest or criminal conviction has serious and long-lasting consequences for people who are trying to obtain housing, employment, educational, or other opportunities. Imagine if your criminal record contained false information or inaccuracies that you did not realize. Shannon Green is communications writer for the State Bar of Wisconsin, Madison. She can be reached by email or by phone at (608) 250-6135. ​ On Sept. 21, the State Bar of Wisconsin hosted a free expungement legal clinic…
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“Has Willie enlisted yet?” Lavinia Goodell, August 12, 1862 Lavinia Goodell did not have children, but she clearly doted on her four nephews and had a special relationship with the eldest, William Goodell Frost. Named after his maternal grandfather, the family affectionately called him Willie. Willie was born in 1854, when Lavinia was fifteen. When he was four years old, his mother wrote to Lavinia, “Willie says, ‘I wonder if Aunt Vinny curls her hair yet. How pretty it must look. I do want to see her.’” William Goodell Frost The Frosts visited Lavinia and her parents in 1860. In…
Earlier today, the Law & Society Association has issued a statement on U.S. News’ decision not to proceed with its proposal to add a measure of “scholarly impact” to its law school rankings.  LSA is pleased that the measure will not proceed. The Law & Society Association was concerned with the implications for our members, many of whom write books, book chapters and peer-reviewed articles that appear in and are frequently cited in publications other than law reviews. For that reason, the scholarly impact of our members’ scholarship would not have been accurately represented in the proposed metric. In addition,…
So many interesting articles, so little time to read them.  Enter FreeTTS, a free online tool that creates an audio version of any text as a downloadable MP3 file so I can listen as I go about my day – on my commute, walking the dogs, doing the dishes, etc. It’s very easy to use.  Just copy the text you want to convert, then paste it into the text box on the FreeTTS home page.  Select the language and the voice that you prefer.  Finally, click the “Convert to MP3” button to listen to it right away, or click…
In interviews with prospective employees, can an employer ask about their COVID-19 vaccination status? The short answer is a qualified yes. The Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) prohibits you from asking applicants questions likely to reveal the existence of a disability before making a job offer. The Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) has clarified that asking employees whether they have received the COVID-19 vaccine isn’t a disability-related inquiry under the ADA. Just like with most areas of the law, however, you should be careful about how you ask the question, and how you follow up on it. For example, if…
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“Wasn’t Gerrit Smith a dashing good creature?” Lavinia Goodell, November 7, 1861 Gerrit Smith was a prominent abolitionist and social reformer who was a longtime acquaintance of Lavinia’s father, William Goodell. The Goodell family remained friends with Smith for the rest of his life, and Smith was one of Lavinia’s mentors. Gerrit Smith Smith was born in Utica, New York in 1797. (Lavinia Goodell was born in Utica in 1839.) Smith’s father was an early partner of John Jacob Astor in the fur trade. Shortly after Smith’s father died in 1837, a financial crisis led to a depression that lasted…
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If you’re an art enthusiast, a history buff, or simply a lover of Madison, head to the Goodman South Branch of the Madison Public Library this Thursday, Sept 9th from 6-7:30 for a talk by Doug Haynes, local artist, and creator of the State Street Adult Coloring Book. This coloring book depicts a central intersection in Madison, Wisconsin from multiple points of view.  All the art was created between November 2020 to May 2021.  In that short span of time, Artist Doug E. L. Haynes drew over 30 locations on and around State Street in a way that…
Workers’ compensation serves as the “exclusive remedy” for employees claiming benefits arising out of a work injury (if there’s no other nonemployee third party responsible for the injury). The Wisconsin Supreme Court recently explained an employee’s secondary injury, namely a self-inflicted gunshot wound, following a work injury where he was gored by a bull, was also subject to the Act’s exclusive remedy provision. Read on for the interesting facts of the case as well as some guidance on the Act’s exclusive remedy provision. Exclusive Remedy Provision The Wisconsin Worker’s Compensation Act (WWCA) is best described as a compromise between employers…
In response to the rising need for eviction defense, the University of Wisconsin Law School is launching a new Eviction Defense Clinic this fall.  This new clinic will join five other civil, anti-poverty clinical programs (listed below) as part of the University of Wisconsin Law School’s Economic Justice Institute (EJI).  The funding for the program comes as part of federal emergency rental assistance funding. From UW Law News: “Through the existing work we do in EJI, we have witnessed the importance of maintaining housing stability,” said EJI Director Mitch. “Stable housing benefits everyone, whether they rent or not.…
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Estate planning is a process that must be customized to fit each individual’s unique situation.  Each individual has their own priorities and issues to address.  The priorities and issues for an unmarried individual are often different than those for married couples.  Some of the common priorities and issues that arise in estate planning for unmarried individuals include the following: Planning for Partners – The law provides married couples with certain rights and obligations that unmarried partners may not have.  For example, states have laws for married couples regarding property division in the event of divorce or the death of a…
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The University of Wisconsin Law School is thrilled to welcome two new faculty members: Nate Atkinson is an assistant professor whose research focuses on the fields of corporate misconduct, contract law, and social choice theory. As an economist, Atkinson applies quantitative analysis to the study of the law. Atkinson’s current research projects include examining how prosecutors’ concerns for collateral consequences affect their assessments of corporate penalties; estimating corporations’ profits from violating environmental laws; the behavioral effects of efforts clauses in contract design; and the design of better procedures for aggregating preferences. Learn more about Professor Atkinson.   Stephanie Holmes Didwania joins the…
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“Health is more important than writing.” Clarissa Goodell to Lavinia Goodell, August 5, 1861 Lavinia Goodell grew up in a family that believed in healthy living practices. Good nutrition, scrupulous sanitary customs, and regular exercise were part of their daily program. Here is how Lavinia’s sister, Maria Frost, described the household routine at the time of Lavinia’s birth in 1839: The habits of the household [included] regularly stated hours of rising and retiring, the table regimen was according to the principles of Dr. Sylvester Graham, with some exceptions suggested by constitutional needs, as learned by careful experience and strong common…
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HeinOnline recently introduced a new feature called PathFinder that offers more robust subject searching.  PathFinder is a multi-level subject taxonomy in which broad research concepts are divided into increasingly granular levels.  Both text and graphical interfaces are available as shown below.   PathFinder is available as a search option from the HenOnline Law Journal Library page or in the advanced search form.  PathFinder subjects appear in the search results, on document pages, as well as on author profile pages. I really like this concept and I think it has a lot of potential to 1) provide greater context to the…