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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Here’s a trio of articles about the use of generative artificial intelligence in legal writing:

Using AI to assist in the representation of a client is neither new nor an automatic violation of the Rules of Professional…
Continue Reading Trio of Articles Explore Questions about the Use of AI in Legal Writing

The Wisconsin Document Depository Program is a statutorily mandated program that requires Wisconsin state agencies to provide copies of their documents to preserve and make available a record of major state government programs. Documents are made available in two ways: at depository libraries like the University of Wisconsin Law Library and online through the Wisconsin Digital Archives.

  • The Wisconsin Digital Archives contains state documents that describe activities of state government including statistics, reports, and studies published by government agencies

…
Continue Reading Three Digital Collections of Wisconsin State Government Documents

This summer, UW Law Library will be refreshing our fifth-floor space with new carpeting. To that end, the library will be closed Monday, June 26 to Friday, June 30 as new carpet is installed at and around the fifth-floor entrance. In addition, furniture and equipment on the fifth floor may be moved or unavailable in the weeks before and after the closure.
However, if you have a legal research question or need library materials, staff will still be available…
Continue Reading UW Law Library Closed from June 26-June 30

Feedspot, a social feed reader that curates news feeds from online sources, has recently compiled a list of the Top 80 Wisconsin Law Blogs. What a great round-up of content from legal experts in the Badger State.  I’m honored that WisBlawg appears as #2.

The ranking is based on
  • Relevancy
  • Blog post frequency, freshness, total posts
  • Social media follower counts and engagements
  • Domain authority
  • Age of the blog

Continue Reading WisBlawg Ranks #2 in List of Top 80 Wisconsin Law Blogs

University Staff are the backbone of UW Madison campus operations. This includes everyone from library assistants, accountants, steamfitters, painters, translators/interpreters, financial specialists, and many more specialized personnel whose expertise enables students and faculty to conduct their work with efficiency, comfort, and satisfaction.
Each year, UW Madison recognizes select University Staff for their outstanding contributions.  I am very pleased that two UW Law Library staff members were recognized this year.
Eric Taylor received a University Staff Recognition Award for his…
Continue Reading Two Law Library Team Members Recognized by UW Madison

Two interesting developments on attorney use of ChatGPT in court filings:

A New York attorney is facing sanctions for using ChatGPT in an affidavit that he submitted without checking the accuracy of the information it provided.  From Business Insider:
“Six of the submitted cases appear to be bogus judicial decisions with bogus quotes and bogus internal citations,” [Judge Kevin] Castel wrote… Neither the lawyers for the airline nor Castel himself were able to find the cases mentioned in…
Continue Reading Pitfalls and Certifications on the Use of ChatGPT in Court Filings

I’m very proud to share that the University of Wisconsin Law Library, in partnership with the National Indian Law Library, the Open Law Library, the UW Great Lakes Indigenous Law Center, and the Stockbridge-Munsee Community Band of Mohican Indians, has been awarded the 2023 Public Access to Government Information Award by the American Association of Law Libraries for our Digital Publication of Tribal Laws Pilot Project.
The right to know the laws by…
Continue Reading Digital Publication of Tribal Laws Pilot Project Wins AALL Public Access to Government Information Award

One of the hottest topics in legal technology (really, all of legal practice) is the rise of ChatGPT and other AI-related tools. We’ve already seen an influx of existing and new tools that integrate some form of AI, particularly generative AI tools that allow lawyers to quickly create documents and analyze their work.
Over the past year, the Law Library staff taught courses (and will continue to do so each year) on legal tech and advanced legal research. One…
Continue Reading Generative AI Legal Tools – a white paper snapshot

Historical federal legislative history research just got a little easier.  For the last few years, the Library of Congress has been working to add the Bound Congressional Record to Congress.gov.  It is now available all the way back to 1873, when the Bound Congressional Record started, to 1994. With the daily edition, which is available from 1995 to the present, users can now search the complete run of the Congressional Record using the free Congress.gov.

Screen shot of the Congressional Record

The Bound Congressional Record…
Continue Reading Complete Congressional Record Back to 1873 Now Searchable in Congress.gov

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

In this paper, I undertake a qualitative exploration of how social regulation of speech works in practice on university campuses, and of the extent to which social regulation in practice affirms or undermines the stereotypes and caricatures…
Continue Reading Recent UW Law Faculty Scholarship: The Anatomy of Cancel Culture; The First French BIT; Taxpayers’ Tax Election Regrets; The International Law Origins of Compact Theory: A Critique of Bellia & Clark on Federalism; and Transparency, Accountability, and Influence in the International Investment Law System

The latest episode of the Wisconsin Law in Action podcast from the UW Law Library features Elizabeth Manriquez, Head of Reference and Scholarly Support and manager of the UW Law School Digital Repository.  She joins host Kris Turner to discuss the numerous collections and features of our repository, as well as several new and upcoming collections.  Manriquez also provides insight into the future of scholarly communications and information discovery.

Last month, the Digital Repository celebrated its 5th…
Continue Reading WI Law In Action Podcast: Elizabeth Manriquez on the UW Law School Digital Repository

The University of Wisconsin Law Library seeks an energetic and intellectually curious professional to join our team as the Digital Collections and Reference Librarian.  This newly-created position will be responsible for the day-to-day management of our growing, open-source UW Law School Digital Repository while also supporting an amazing group of legal scholars and law students. The position will play an integral role on our Public Services staff and in our nationally recognized scholarly visibility program. 
The application is…
Continue Reading UW Law Library Seeking a Digital Collections & Reference Librarian to Manage our Growing Repository

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

This chapter explores impeachment and the Rule of Law, and for framing that discussion of several possible approaches come to mind. One could connect impeachment and the Rule…
Continue Reading Recent UW Law Faculty Scholarship: Impeachment and the Rule of Law: It’s Complicated; The Original Meaning of Enumerated Powers; Saving Democracy, State by State?; and Gender, Race, and Judicial Power

WI Law in Action podcastLast week, Wisconsin Law in Action from the UW Law Library welcomed Richard Monette back to the podcast (both audio and video available).  Monette is Professor of Law and Director of the Great Lakes Indian Law Center at the University of Wisconsin Law School.  Monette talks with host Kris Turner about Brackeen v. Haaland which is currently before the U.S. Supreme Court.  This case focuses on the Indian Child Welfare Act (ICWA) and whether its placement preferences, which currently…
Continue Reading WI Law In Action Podcast: Richard Monette on Brackeen v. Haaland & Bringing Together the Doctrines of Plenary Power, Preemption, & Trust Relationship in Federal Indian Law

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.
Screenshot of JACH webpage
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

WI Law in Action podcastOn 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