I imagine a lot of you got into law for the same reason I did – I wanted to help people and make a decent living while doing it. It hasn’t always been easy, whether it is a difficult client or a difficult issue.
Now, after 37 years of practice, I’m preparing to retire with one clear certainty: we are better lawyers when we’re not alone.
I’ve been thinking about what made the difference over these decades. It wasn’t
Ultimately, every business will close. All businesses fail eventually.
In March 2025, the oldest business in North America filed bankruptcy. Hudson’s Bay Company, incorporated May 2, 1670, filed under the Canadian equivalent of Chapter 11. They quickly determined that it would not be able to put forth a viable restructuring plan and entered into liquidation. In June 2025, after 355 years, all its retail stores closed.
General Motors was one of the largest industrial companies in the world.
Continue Reading Bankruptcy Isn’t the End: Tools Lawyers Can Use to Help Business Clients Rebuild
FinCEN (the Financial Crimes Enforcement Network) is a subdivision of the U. S. Department of the Treasury and is tasked with combating money laundering and other financial crimes.
Recently, FinCEN made headlines related to their proposed rule that would have instituted stringent beneficial ownership reporting requirements for many U.S. companies and their attorneys, accountants, and advisors. However, following strenuous objections to the proposed rule, FinCEN ultimately exempted U.S. companies from the reporting requirements.
FinCEN is now back with a
Continue Reading FinCEN’s New Real Estate Reporting Rule: More Traps for the Unwary
The COVID-19 pandemic changed the world in many ways, including how we work. In the five-plus years since then, the number of employees working remotely has dramatically increased. By some estimates, the number of remote workers has tripled or even quadrupled since 2019. This is often framed as a benefit for the workers, giving them flexibility and convenience.
Yet, the flexibility of remote work can benefit the employer, too. The available labor pool is no longer necessarily limited to
Continue Reading Personal Jurisdiction in Wisconsin Employer Lawsuits Against Remote Workers
Jody L. Cooper, Marquette 1995, is an attorney with Turke & Steil LLP, in Janesville, where she focuses on collections and estate planning manners.Yet in Wisconsin, solo and small firm practitioners – particularly
Continue Reading Off the Beaten Path, But Never Alone: Leveraging Wisconsin's Law Libraries
Continue Reading Helping Your Clients Understand the Tax Consequences of Settling Debt
Wis. Stat. chapter 704 and Wis. Admin. Code chapter ATCP 134 govern landlord tenant law in Wisconsin. However, municipalities throughout Wisconsin have enacted their own ordinances that create variations in the Wisconsin statutes and administrative code.
It is important to understand local ordinances when practicing landlord tenant law in Wisconsin. These variances may provide additional protections to tenants or require specific procedures for landlords or tenants in relation to disputes regarding the rented premises.
An Example: Repairs
Repairs at
Continue Reading Variations in the Legal Rights of Residential Landlords and Tenants
Discovering an undisclosed problem shortly after moving into a newly purchased house can be an aggravating experience for a new homeowner.
It is particularly frustrating for the homeowner who obtained a pre-purchase inspection as part of the house purchase. When the basement of the house begins to experience water intrusion after every rain, the homeowner begins to theorize that the home inspector negligently overlooked critical signs during the inspection.
Kevin Trost, U.W. 1998, is the founding member of
Continue Reading What Home Inspectors Aren’t Legally Responsible for May Surprise You
A recent appellate court opinion out of New Jersey, McGinty v. Zheng (Sept. 20, 2024), which addressed issues surrounding arbitration agreements in the context of personal injury claims, sparked my interest.
The McGinty case is a pivotal example of how courts are interpreting arbitration agreements in the digital age, and serves as a significant reminder for lawyers about the enforceability of arbitration clauses and the implications of user agreements in digital platforms.
Teresa Kobelt, U.W. 1988, is an
Continue Reading A New Jersey Case and the Insidiousness of Arbitration Agreements
A recent Wisconsin Court of Appeals case complicates residential leases by applying the Wisconsin Consumer Act (WCA) to residential leases and uniquely calculating pecuniary loss under Wis. Stat. section 100.20(5) for a violation of Wis. Admin. Code § ATCP 134.08(10).
The case is Koble Investments v. Marquardt.1 A petition to review the decision is currently pending before the Wisconsin Supreme Court.
Landlords and tenants alike should be aware of its holding, as it has the potential to significantly
Continue Reading Koble Investments, the Wisconsin Consumer Act, and Residential Leases
Continue Reading Representing Clients with Diminished Capacity in Civil Litigation
In rural Wisconsin, attorneys face distinctive obstacles including inadequate access to resources and overburdened calendars (often due to travel).
For attorneys with offices in secluded or rural locations, covering extensive territories to serve their clients and managing multiple duties is essential to maintain their legal practice. Skillfully managing business costs is crucial. Client appointments and court dates necessitate appearances. Leveraging the skills of competent legal assistants can significantly mitigate these hurdles.
Paralegals as trained professionals can perform tasks that
Continue Reading Rural Lawyers: Reap the Benefits of Teaming Up with Paralegals Remotely
In March 2023, a New York attorney represented a client suing an airline company. The attorney submitted a brief citing over half a dozen cases.
When the judge reviewed the citations, the cases could not be found. The lawyer then admitted to using OpenAI’s ChatGPT to perform the legal research. The artificial intelligence tool had provided fake caselaw and fake citations.
The incident resulted in a $5,000 fine for the attorneys and law firm that submitted the brief.
The
Continue Reading Artificial Intelligence: The New Frontier in Legal Research?
