Any adult in Wisconsin can file for a name change at the circuit court in their county of residence. The forms required to file for a name change – CV-450 – can be found for free on the Wisconsin Circuit Court Access (WCCA) website. Name changes in Wisconsin are normally required to be public processes, and petitioners must publish notice of a proposed name change in a newspaper for three weeks before the name change can be granted. When
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State Bar of Wisconsin
We are a professional association for Wisconsin lawyers. The State Bar provides educational, career development, and other services to more than 25,000 members. We also provide public services, including attorney referrals, public education, and reduced-fee legal assistance for low-income state residents. Our mission is to improve the administration of justice and the delivery of legal services and to promote the professional interests of Wisconsin lawyers.
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On Tolerance and the Practice of Law. And Goats.
I was talking to an experienced farmer a few years ago about my little farm. I had a few goats, hogs, and chickens. I told him, “I hate goats!” In truth, I do not actually hate goats, but I had developed a dislike of those on my farm.
Peter S. Trotter, Illinois 2000, is vice president, general counsel, and secretary of Mason Companies, Inc., in Chippewa Falls. After making this strong statement, I felt the need for further…
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Proposed House Bill Freezes Provider Tax Revenue: What It Means for Wisconsin Medicaid
By Zeke Shen
It is well known that Wisconsin’s Medicaid program, like those of all states, plays a ubiquitous role in providing residents access to health care.
Zeke Shen, U.W. 2023, is an attorney with
Hall, Render, Killian, Heath & Lyman, PC in Milwaukee, where he focuses his practice on government reimbursement, general payment practices, operational efficiencies, and regulatory compliance.
Recent data from ForwardHealth places the number of Wisconsinites covered by Medicaid at nearly 1.3 million, amounting to over 20% of…
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Wisconsin Supreme Court: No Burden of Proof at TPR Disposition
By Jay D. Jerde
June 11, 2025 – No specific burden of proof applies when a circuit court decides whether termination of parental rights (TPR) is in the best interest of the child, the Wisconsin Supreme Court decided recently in
State v. H.C., 2025 WI 20. In unanimously affirming the TPR against H.C., the majority opinion written by Justice Rebecca Grassl Bradley explained, “we hold the best interests of the child governing the dispositional phase of a TPR proceeding constitutes a discretionary…
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Supreme Court: Doctor Potentially Liable Even if Not Physically Present
By Jay D. Jerde
June 4, 2025 – A 5-2 majority of the Wisconsin Supreme Court decided Friday in
Hubbard v. Neuman, 2025 WI 15, that a patient’s informed consent complaint against her doctor could proceed even though the doctor didn’t participate in the surgery that resulted in the patient’s ovaries being removed. “Taking [Melissa] Hubbard’s allegations as true and drawing all reasonable inferences from a required liberal construction of those allegations, we determine Dr. Neuman failed to show that under no…
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Executive Order Effectively Eliminates Disparate Impact Liability in Federal Employment Discrimination Cases
Title VII of the Civil Rights Act and other U.S. anti-discrimination laws have traditionally relied on two key theories of liability – disparate impact and disparate treatment. An April 23, 2025 Executive Order issued by President Trump effectively eliminates the disparate impact theory in federal employment cases. Disparate Impact vs. Disparate Treatment Theories Disparate impact discrimination occurs when a facially neutral workplace policy or practice disproportionately harms a protected group. Katherine M. O’Malley, Marquette 2014, is senior manager,…
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Off the Beaten Path, But Never Alone: Leveraging Wisconsin's Law Libraries
In rural communities and solo practice settings, it is not uncommon for attorneys to face unique challenges in accessing current, comprehensive legal research tools and support. Even with expanding digital availability, access to comprehensive legal databases remains cost-prohibitive for many solo or small firms.
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…
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Nine States Now Require Commercial Financing Providers to Provide Consumer-Like Disclosures
Burdensome consumer-like disclosures are making their way into the commercial realm as nine states have enacted legislation mandating that specific disclosures be made to financing recipients in certain commercial financing transactions at (or, in some cases, before) the consummation of the financing transaction.
Patricia Lane, Chicago 1986, is a partner with FisherBroyles, Milwaukee, where she is chair of the firm’s Banking and Financial Services Practice Group.
To date California, Connecticut, Florida, Georgia, Kansas, Missouri, New York, Utah,…
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Court of Appeals: Gas-Fired Power Plant Rule Requires Remand
By Jay D. Jerde
May 19, 2025 – A Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources (DNR) permit did not need to require supplementary battery storage for a new natural gas-fired electric generating plant, the Wisconsin Court of Appeals decided Thursday in
Sierra Club v. DNR, No. 2024AP673 (May 15, 2025). The court remanded the permit to DNR because part of the permit’s basis comes from the agency’s Background Concentration Protocol, which the court held was an unpromulgated rule – created outside the required…
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Seventh Circuit Court of Appeals: Rough Handling Not Wrongful Seizure
By Jay D. Jerde
May 13, 2025 – Three victims of a violent 2015 hostage-taking in Neenah recently lost their Fourth Amendment claims before a three-judge panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit, in Moderson v. City of Neenah, No. 23-2843 (May 9, 2025).
In a decision written by Circuit Judge Candace Jackson-Akiwumi and joined by Judges Frank H. Easterbrook and Ilana Diamond Rovner, the dangerous crime scene made brief seizures reasonable even when two victims were handcuffed…
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Helping Your Clients Understand the Tax Consequences of Settling Debt
Most bankruptcy attorneys have settled claims or debts being asserted against our clients. We try to get the best settlement, which is usually the least amount for our client to pay. Clients appreciate that. They want to save money. But, when the same client later gets an income tax bill (1099) for the amount of debt forgiven, we may have some explaining to do.
J. David Krekeler, U.W. 1979, is the principal of
Krekeler Strother, S.C., Madison,…
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Saving Private Ryan's Nest Egg: The Veteran Improved Pension Program
There’s potential money out there for wartime veterans and the surviving spouses of wartime veterans through the Veterans Affairs Improved Pension. Peter Harbach, Marquette 2008, is a partner with Hooper Law Office in Appleton, where he focuses on elder law. I want to encourage attorneys who practice in elder law to consider becoming accredited with the Department of Veterans Affairs, because there are about 330,000 veterans and only 44 accredited attorneys in our state. Program Basics Although not…
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Best Job in the World: A 3L’s Opinion on the Challenges and Thrills of Environmental Law
When I started law school, I wasn’t really sure what exactly I wanted to practice. To be honest, I wasn’t even sure at the time if I liked law. I was unsure of myself, I felt out of place in the law school because my classmates seemed to know exactly what they wanted to do and where they wanted to go.
Jonathan Fuller, U.W. Law School Class of 2025, has interned at the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources…
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State Bar of Wisconsin Welcomes 22 New Wisconsin Lawyers
May 2, 2025 – Some of Wisconsin’s newest lawyers include those fulfilling long-held dreams.
Twenty-two new Wisconsin lawyers were admitted in a ceremony before the Wisconsin Supreme Court on April 23, 2025, taking the Attorney’s Oath and signing the Wisconsin Supreme Court Roll book as the final steps to be admitted.
Jacquelynn B. Rothstein, director of the Board of Bar Examiners, said 41% of the 66 individuals who took the bar exam in February passed it, and 55% of…
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Constitution Allows Partial Veto Fixing Biennial Budget Increase for 402 Years
By Jay D. Jerde
May 2, 2025 – The partial veto power extends to allow Gov. Tony Evers to change a biennial budget provision to last 402 years, a 4-3 majority of the Wisconsin Supreme Court recently held in LeMieux v. Evers, 2025 WI 12.
The dissent found this partial veto problem greater than the acts of the current governor – 49 years of supreme court decisions strayed from the constitution, necessitating correction.
Revenue Increase Through 2425
In the 2023-25 biennial budget,…
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Checks and Balances: Embracing Our Patriotic Skepticism
May 1, 2025 – On Law Day (established by President Eisenhower to celebrate the rule of law and observed annually on May 1) I think about the colonial rebels who risked their lives to create a better society. I admire their brave fight for independence. I equally admire the government they created when the war was won.
Ryan M. Billings, Harvard 2004, is a litigator at Kohner, Mann & Kailas S.C., Milwaukee, and chairs the firm’s business…
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