University of Wisconsin Law School

The University of Wisconsin Law School is located on historic Bascom Hill in the heart of the beautiful UW–Madison campus. It boasts a renowned faculty, an extensive curriculum and a dynamic student body. As part of a world-class university located in the state’s capital, the Law School also offers an unparalleled wealth of experiences beyond its walls.

Our curriculum emphasizes the dynamics of the law—how the law relates to social change and to society as a whole—while at the same time stressing skill development. In addition to nationally recognized programs in several substantive areas, the Law School also has one of the largest clinical programs in the country. UW Law School offers many dual degree programs, concentrations and certificate programs.

With a focus on skills-based learning, our students graduate practice-ready and prepared for success. Most UW Law School students are pursuing a J.D. (Juris Doctor) degree, while many others are earning an LL.M. (Master of Laws) or the S.J.D. (Doctor of Juridical Science).

The UW Law School's nationally recognized faculty and staff work together to provide an outstanding learning environment for our students. Our faculty and staff come from a wide range of backgrounds and bring varying experiences, views and approaches to the Law School. They are inspired by the UW’s distinctive law-in-action approach, and they are committed to helping students develop into confident, successful lawyers.

Website: https://law.wisc.edu/
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University of Wisconsin Law School Blogs

Wisblawg

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Emma Babler
Bonnie Shucha

Latest from University of Wisconsin Law School

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Last week, the University of Wisconsin Law School launched the new Journal of American Constitutional History, a peer-reviewed, web-based journal publishing high-quality scholarship on U.S. constitutional history. JACH welcomes articles from the disciplines of law, history, or political science that focus on historical questions touching on the American Constitution or constitutional development, or that contain a substantial element of historical analysis in addressing contemporary issues of U.S. constitutional law.

The journal was created by David S. Schwartz, Frederick W. & Vi…
Continue Reading UW Law School Launches New Peer-Reviewed, Journal of American Constitutional History

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On the latest episode of the WI Law in Action podcast from the UW Law Library, host Kris Turner interviews Nina Varsava, Assistant Professor of Law at the University of Wisconsin Law School and scholar on procedure, courts, judicial administration, ethics, and jurisprudence.  She is especially interested in precedent, interpretation, and inter-systemic adjudication.  In this episode, she discusses her recent article,  “Precedent, Reliance, and Dobbs”.which is forthcoming in the Harvard Law Review.
 Varsava on the importance…
Continue Reading WI Law In Action Podcast: Nina Varsava on Precedent, Reliance, and Dobbs

Last week, in our first session of Advanced Legal Research at the University of Wisconsin Law school, we discussed ChatGPT as a tool for conducting legal research.  Why take the time to learn and conduct legal research if an AI can do it for you? Our students raised a lot of great points and showed a sophisticated understanding of the pros and cons of the tool.  Overall, they were pretty skeptical.

We started with a demo by asking ChatGPT…
Continue Reading Law Students Assess Pros and Cons of ChatGPT as a Legal Research Tool

ChatGPT is a new AI-powered chatbot that answers complex questions conversationally.  This remarkable tool that can assist with a wide range of tasks, from generating humanlike text to providing helpful answers to questions.  This raises huge implications for research, education, business, and much more. “So the best way to think about this is you are chatting with a omniscient eager-to-please intern who sometimes lies to you,” describes Ethan Mollick , Professor of Management at the University of Pennsylvania.  If…
Continue Reading ChatGPT Chatbot Can Write Anything from Student Essays to Legal Briefs

Feedspot, a social feed reader that curates news feeds from online sources, has recently compiled a list of the 60 Best Law Librarian Blogs and Websites.  What a great round-up of content from an impressive list of law librarians of all types!  I’m honored that WisBlawg appears as #3.
Chances are good that you can learn a thing or two from these bloggers.  As several legal commentators have attested, law librarians play an instrumental role in navigating information,…
Continue Reading Directory of 60 Best Law Librarian Blogs & Websites Showcases Expertise of Law Librarians

Here is the latest faculty scholarship appearing in the University of Wisconsin Law School Legal Studies Research Papers series found on SSRN.

Since the mid-1990s, American financial assistance programs have increasingly shifted to require evidence of labor market participation as a criteria for eligibility. This shift signals a change from previous welfare…
Continue Reading Recent UW Law Faculty Scholarship: The Tax-Invisible Labor Problem: Care, Work, Kinship, and Income Security Programs in the IRC; The Future of Civil Society Research in China, Hong Kong and Vietnam; Modified Textualism in Wisconsin: A Case Study; Beyond Perfect- Reforming the Economic Analysis of Public Policy; Chapter Eight- Technology and the Law: The Automobile; Foreword: Willard Hurt’s Unpublished Manuscript on Law, Technology, and Regulation; and Structuring Techlaw

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On the latest episode of the WI Law in Action podcast from the UW Law Library, host Kris Turner interviews Nyamagaga Gondwe, Assistant Professor of Tax Law at the University of Wisconsin Law School and scholar of economic justice, race and the law, and tax policy.  Professor Gondwe discusses her article, “The Tax-Invisible Labor Problem: Care, Work, Kinship, and Income Security Programs in the IRC” which is forthcoming in the Boston University Law Review.
 
Gondwe…
Continue Reading WI Law In Action Podcast: Nyamagaga Gondwe on the Tax-Invisible Labor Problem and the Reinforcement of Oppressive power Dynamics

Today’s post is from UW Law School Professor and Associate Dean for Research and Faculty Development, Susannah Camic Tahk:

My dad, a sociologist of intellectual history, once glumly told me that people doing US intellectual history never seem to find rare archival gems anymore. Regardless of whether he was correct at the time, his always-skeptical daughter now points out that he spoke too soon.
A couple of years ago, BJ Ard, himself a trailblazer in the burgeoning…
Continue Reading Professor BJ Ard Finds Lost Manuscript by Willard Hurst; Continues Discussion on Technology & the Law

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November is Native American Heritage Month, a time dedicated to celebrating the rich and diverse culture, history, and contributions of Native people.  Each year, the UW–Madison campus cultivates a diverse portfolio of events in recognition of this important heritage month.  One of these events, organized by the UW Law School and the Indigenous Law Students Association (ILSA), was a flag ceremony in which thirteen Native Nations with ancestral ties to Wisconsin presented their flags.  I feel privileged that…
Continue Reading Law Libraries Fostering Research & Learning on American Indian Law

The Wisconsin Law Review’s annual symposium is this weekend, October 28 and 29.  The symposium, entitled Controlling the Supreme Court: Now and “far into the future,” features a panel of national constitutional experts who will reflect on the extraordinary events of this past Supreme Court term, from overruling Roe v. Wade to new interpretive approaches in the areas of religion, gun rights, administrative, and Native American law.
More information, including a schedule, list of panelists with biographies, and registration…
Continue Reading WI Law Review Hosts Symposium on the Supreme Court Now and “Far into the Future”

Business information can be an important source of intelligence for attorneys.  Carol Hassler from the Wisconsin State Law Library has compiled an excellent guide to “Researching Private and Public Businesses, Specialized Industries” in the latest Inside Track from the State Bar of Wisconsin.

She offers advice on:

  • Requesting Annual Reports
  • Finding Registered Agents and Officers
  • Examining UCC Filings
  • Researching Public Companies
  • Finding Information for Specialized Industries
  • Locating Industry Data

This guide is part of the Legal Research 101 series…
Continue Reading Guide to Researching Private and Public Businesses, Specialized Industries

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The UW Law Library is pleased to announce the installation of a new exhibit, “Justice for All: The Legacy of Chief Justice Shirley S. Abrahamson.”  On loan from the Chief Justice Shirley S. Abrahamson Legacy Committee, the exhibit will be on display through December 15th.
The exhibit presents the groundbreaking career of Wisconsin’s first woman justice, her impact on the Wisconsin court system, and her place in history. It highlights causes she championed—women’s rights, civil rights, public understanding…
Continue Reading UW Law Library Hosts New Exhibit, “Justice for All: The Legacy of Chief Justice Shirley S. Abrahamson” 

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State Bar of Wisconsin recently launched an improved interface for their Books UnBound online digital library.  The collection includes State Bar treatises, aka “the brown binders,” the Wisconsin Attorney’s Desk Reference, Wisconsin Judicial Benchbooks, and other books previously released in print only.

The new interface is a definite step up over the previous one.  It features an improved dashboard a more robust search engine with the ability to search by Boolean operators (AND, OR), proximity operators (/p, /s,…
Continue Reading State Bar of Wisconsin Updates Books UnBound Interface

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Over $52 million was spent on lobbying in Wisconsin in 2021. Nationally, total lobbying spending amounted to a whopping $3.73 billion.  You can follow the money with these tools.

Lobbying in Wisconsin from the Wisconsin Ethics Commission allows anyone to search and view public lobbying information.  See who is lobbying, what they are lobbying about, and how much they are spending.  You can also search by legislative proposal to view who is lobbying for or against it and how…
Continue Reading Tools for Tracking Federal and Wisconsin Lobbying

Yesterday, I blogged about new scholarship by Rob Willey, Melanie Knapp, and Ashley Matthews at George Mason University Law Library that explores how and why women are frequently underrepresented in law scholarly impact rankings and suggests alternative metrics to mitigate the imbalance.
Toward the end of the paper, the authors consider the merits of a ranking based on SSRN downloads rather than or in addition to law journal citation rankings.  They correctly note that SSRN downloads:

  • capture interest from readers

…
Continue Reading Pros & Cons of a Law Faculty Scholarly Impact Ranking using SSRN Downloads