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.

Website: https://www.wisbar.org/
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Latest from State Bar of Wisconsin​ - Page 10

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In this episode of the Bottom Up Podcast, produced by the State Bar of Wisconsin, host Kristen Hardy talks with former Milwaukee Circuit Court Judge Ellen Brostrom, now a mediator at Resolute Systems LLC, and Wauwatosa Municipal Court Judge Krista LaFave, also a personal injury attorney at Warshafsky Law.

Both explore their unique career paths, motivations for public service, and the differences between circuit and municipal courts. They discuss the importance of courtroom presentation, the challenges with pro se…
Continue Reading Episode 25: Practice Insights and Tips with Judges Ellen Brostrom and Krista LaFave

Wis. Stat. section 938.34(3)(f) allows for children to be placed in a juvenile detention facility as a dispositional placement for up to 365 days. However, the regulations for holding kids in juvenile detention facilities for up to 365 days are woefully inadequate. History The guidelines under which juvenile detention centers operate were last reviewed and modified in 2010. They were designed to address safety and basic programming standards for the traditional short-term placements for which juvenile detention facilities and…
Continue Reading The 365-day Secure Detention Programs for Youth are Poorly Regulated

Federal projects can be complicated – prime contractors must deal with often exacting government performance standards and obscure federal legal requirements.

Subcontracting on a federal project adds an increased level of complexity, as the subcontractor must not only meet the prime’s contractual requirements but also comply with many of these same federal clauses, which are duplicated or “flowed down” from the prime contract to the subcontract.

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Samuel W. Jack, George Washington University 2008, is of counsel with Dempsey

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Continue Reading Navigating Flow-Down Clauses in Federal Projects

The start of 2025 brought with it new challenges for health care providers in interacting with law enforcement while maintaining compliance with the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act of 1996 (HIPAA) and related privacy laws, like 42 CFR Part 2 governing the confidentiality of substance use disorder records. First, covered entities faced the Dec. 23, 2024, compliance date for the HIPAA Privacy Rule To Support Reproductive Health Care Privacy (Final Rule), which requires covered entities and their business

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Continue Reading Interacting with Law Enforcement: Reproductive Health Privacy and ICE Enforcement

In April 2024, the Supreme Court decided Muldrow v. City of St. Louis,1 and in so doing, reduced the magnitude of harm some courts (including courts in the Seventh Circuit) previously required to establish an “adverse action” in Title VII discrimination claims. Muldrow resolved “a Circuit split over whether an employee challenging a job transfer under Title VII must meet a heightened threshold of harm – be it dubbed significant, serious, or something similar.”2

Martin Kuhn headshot Martin C.

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Continue Reading Title VII Damage Cases in the Seventh Circuit Since Muldrow

On Jan. 16, 2025, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) reclassified ​several counties in southeastern Wisconsin from moderate to serious nonattainment for the 2015 ozone National Ambient Air Quality Standards (NAAQS).1 Ozone pollution is an ongoing challenge for the Greater Milwaukee area that affects the environment, the region’s economy, and the public health of approximately one-third of Wisconsin’s population that calls the area home.

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Michael Moran, Michigan State 2020, is a staff attorney with the Wisconsin Department of

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Continue Reading Clearing the Air about Serious Ozone Nonattainment in Southeastern Wisconsin

A significant barrier for individuals reentering communities after incarceration is accessing health care. For many, health appointments are conditions to release and parole, and often medical care is lifesaving for those with mental health issues and substance use disorders. This article discusses the health care options under the federal Medicare program. New changes expanding access to recently incarcerated individuals took effect Jan. 1, 2025.

Christine Huberty headshot Christine Huberty, William Mitchell 2013, is an attorney with Center for Medicare Advocacy.

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Continue Reading Medicare Expands Health Care Access for Formerly Incarcerated Individuals


Photo from September 2024 State Bar of Wisconsin Board of Governors meeting. From left: Chairperson Melodie Wiseman, Past-president Dean Dietrich, and Secretary Martina Rae Gast.

March 3, 2025 –The State Bar of Wisconsin’s 52-member Board of Governors (Board) in a virtual meeting Friday, Feb. 28, approved a motion to defer action on a proposal for a pilot project to expand lawyer access to court filings on the Wisconsin Circuit Court Access (WCCA) website.

The Bankruptcy Insolvency and Creditors Rights

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Continue Reading State Bar Board Defers Action on Proposal for More Access to Online Court Records

Fault divorce, a process requiring one spouse to prove the other’s misconduct as grounds for dissolving a marriage, has undergone a significant transformation in Wisconsin. The Origins of Fault The concept of fault divorce dates back to English common law. In the early 18th century, after the Duke of Norfolk divorced, Parliament created a legal system whereby a husband could petition for divorce on the grounds of adultery (only) and a wife could petition on grounds of adultery with…
Continue Reading Finding Fault: The History of Grounds for Divorce in Wisconsin

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Feb. 28, 2025 – A pandemic-era law that granted immunity to health care providers for medical malpractice claims during the COVID-19 state of emergency unconstitutionally deprived individual liberties, the Wisconsin Court of Appeals District I held in Wren v. Columbia St. Mary’s Hospital Milwaukee, Inc., No. 2024AP126 (Feb. 11, 2025).

“While we acknowledge that the health care system faced unique challenges during the COVID-19 pandemic, ‘[t]here is no pandemic exception … to the fundamental liberties the [c]onstitution safeguards,”

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Continue Reading Appeals Court: Pandemic Medical Malpractice Immunity Unconstitutional

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Feb. 28, 2025 – Wisconsin’s Minority Undergraduate Retention Grant program established in 1985 unconstitutionally discriminates against students of races excluded from the program, a Wisconsin Court of Appeals District II panel on Wednesday unanimously decided in an opinion recommended for publication. The result in Rabiebna v. Higher Educational Aids Board (HEAB), No. 2022AP2026 (Feb. 26, 2025) applied Students for Fair Admissions, Inc. (SFFA) v. President and Fellows of Harvard College, 600 U.S. 181 (2023), which struck down

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Continue Reading Wisconsin Minority Undergraduate Grant Program Unconstitutional

Workers in the health care industries face the highest rates of workplace violence and are five times more likely to be subjected to violence at work than the public, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. Violence against health care workers made headlines again recently with the murder of UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson on Dec. 4, 2024, in New York City.

For attorneys advising health care clients, it is a stark reminder of the increase in violence…
Continue Reading Keeping Health Care Workers Safe: Workplace Violence Prevention Programs

Wisconsin Supreme Court sign in State Capitol building
Feb. 18, 2025 – “Aggrieved” meant something different to the Wisconsin Supreme Court majority and dissent in Brown v. Wisconsin Elections Commission (WEC), 2025 WI 5 (Feb. 18, 2025), leaving a citizen who complained to the WEC about the city of Racine’s alternate absentee voting sites without judicial review.

In an opinion written by Justice Jill J. Karofsky, the 4-3 majority held that the standard definition of “aggrieved,” unless the Legislature specifies differently, required an individual have “an

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Continue Reading Supreme Court: Complainant to Wisconsin Elections Commission Lacked Standing

The outlook for 2025 tax policy in the U.S. can be characterized as a series of “known unknowns.” We are only a few weeks into President Trump’s second term, and these weeks have felt like an eternity for those of us paying attention to the happenings and discourse coming out of Washington. After these first few weeks, we undoubtedly know that 2025 will be a year of sweeping policy changes. What is unknown, though, is what those policy changes

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Continue Reading Estate Planning in Uncertain Times

I devote a not-so-small portion of my practice to serving as a guardian ad litem in cases involving minor settlements. I scratched my head a number of times last year at anecdotes I heard and things I witnessed myself when it came to dealing with minor settlements.

And that got me thinking; maybe we should all think a bit more about how to most effectively and efficiently approach settlements offered to minors.

I am hopeful that anyone reading this…
Continue Reading Some Thoughts on Minor Settlements and GALs in Personal Injury Cases

stock photo with a gavel on a desktopFeb. 12, 2025 – All the members of the Wisconsin Supreme Court agreed Friday in Wisconsin Elections Commission (WEC) v. LeMahieu, 2025 WI 4 (Feb. 7, 2025), that WEC Administrator Meagan Wolfe may continue in that position past the expiration of her term because the position is not vacant.

The court then disagreed in concurrences written by Justices Ann Walsh Bradley and Rebecca Grassl Bradley on whether the Supreme Court properly decided the case governing this decision, State

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Continue Reading Supreme Court: Wisconsin Elections Commission Administrator Remains as Holdover