Library Highlights

Libraries Closed: Monday, May 28th

2012-05-23T06:00:00.000-07:00

The Wisconsin State Law Library, Milwaukee Legal Resource Center, and Dane County Legal Resource Center will be closed on Monday, May 28th in observance of Memorial Day.

To submit a question to the Wisconsin State Law Library while we are closed, you may call us at 608-267-9696 or Ask a Librarian online.

We will respond to questions and requests on Tuesday, May 29th.

WSLL Recommends: Sexual Orientation and the Law

2012-05-20T17:00:00.000-07:00

In response to ongoing changes in the law, the 2012 edition of Sexual Orientation and the Law (Thompson/West) includes significant updates. This two volume treatise contains contributions from practitioners throughout the United States and includes a number of sample forms and briefs. The focus is primarily on the legal concerns of lesbians, gay men, bisexuals, and transsexuals, as well as others who live outside societal "norms" regarding gender or sexuality. However, it also includes information for individuals with HIV or AIDS.

Information for attorneys representing same-sex couples can be found in chapters on same-sex marriage, civil unions, and tax planning. A chapter on death, incapacity, and illness covers topics like cohabitation agreements, living wills, provisions for children, health care, life insurance, and more. Advances in reproductive technology are reflected in an updated chapter on raising children and the new family law, which includes new analysis on the parentage, surrogacy, and custody of children.

Civil rights, discrimination, juvenile and criminal justice, and the military and veterans are also covered. A chapter covering state initiatives discusses different types of legislative initiatives and challenges.

The treatise includes a comprehensive index and an updated tables of laws, rules, and cases. This includes a table of Wisconsin laws related to sexual orientation, correlated to the relevant sections from the book. Sexual Orientation and the Law is available for checkout from the Wisconsin State Law Law Library.

New Look On WSLL Public Computers

2012-05-16T22:00:00.000-07:00

Walk-in library users at the Wisconsin State Law Library (WSLL) will notice a new look to our public computers. We recently upgraded to Windows 7 and updated various software packages on the network. In addition, users will now have their choice of three web browsers: Firefox, Internet Explorer, and Chrome. We've added Libre Office, a free open source suite providing word processing and other applications.

The upgrade also allows us to provide seamless in-library access to our Books Unbound subscription of browsable and searchable State Bar of Wisconsin CLE titles.

Please see our Computers & Internet page for complete list of legal research applications available at the library.

Happy Anniversary, WisconsinEye!

2012-05-14T06:00:00.000-07:00

Happy Anniversary, WisconsinEye! On May 16th, WisconsinEye celebrates five years of televising and recording Wisconsin government in action. WisconsinEye provides nonpartisan coverage of legislative, judicial, and administrative actions in Wisconsin. It also covers community events and provides an array of important interviews and conversations with Wisconsin's present and past leaders.

What C-SPAN is to Washington DC, WisconsinEye is to the entire state of Wisconsin! Citizens can view WisconsinEye coverage on television (Time Warner Cable digital Channel 363 and Charter digital Channel 995) and online at www.wiseye.com. Watch it live or catch up on recent events through the web archive.

Upcoming Classes for May and June

2012-05-06T17:00:00.000-07:00

Two CLE classes are now open for registration in May and June. Registration is limited to 8 attendees for each class, so sign up soon - either online or print a registration form.

Introduction to PACER
Wednesday, May 23, 9:00-10:00 a.m.
This one-hour class will demonstrate the Federal Court System's "Public Access to Court Electronic Records (PACER)" database. Learn how you can access federal court dockets through the Internet and obtain full text documents filed in federal civil and criminal court. $35. 1 CLE credit applied for.

Researching Wisconsin Legislative History: Sources and Strategies
Thursday, June 21, 9:00-11:00 a.m.
"I need the legislative history of a Wisconsin statute. Where do I start? What do I do?" In this class, participants will identify and locate the primary sources of law used to research Wisconsin legislative history, navigate the online Wisconsin legislative drafting files, and learn the step by step approach to this kind of research - along with a few timesaving tips. $70. 2 CLE credits applied for.

Appointment of Wisconsin State Law Librarian

2012-05-03T06:29:00.000-07:00

We are happy to announce that Julie Tessmer has been appointed as the Wisconsin State Law Librarian. Julie has been with the library since 1982.

Julie's extensive professional experiences include serving as Law Library Consultant in Nigeria and Serbia for the National Center for State Courts and various Chair and Committee assignments in the Law Librarians Association of Wisconsin and the American Association of Law Librarians.

She is also a member of the United States Navy - Reserves Component, has served in active military service in Iraq in 2009-2010, and is certified as Legalman through the Naval Justice School.

Choose Privacy Week: May 1-7

2012-05-01T06:00:00.000-07:00

The American Library Association (ALA) is encouraging Americans to celebrate freedom by participating in Choose Privacy Week, May 1-7. The ALA encourages citizens to examine and support privacy rights in the digital age. One goal is to spark a national conversation about the need for national policies that protect privacy. Events in celebration of this week include a special screening of Big Brother, Big Business: Data Mining & Surveillance on the campus of the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee. Visit PrivacyRevolution.org to learn more!

WSLL at Your Service: May 2012

2012-04-30T09:04:00.000-07:00

The May issue of the WSLL @ Your Service newsletter has been published.

Contents include:

What's New: Law Day events; upcoming classes; new look for public computers; National Library Week wrap-up; WSLL speaking engagements; and upcoming holiday closures;
This Just In…: Newly received and updated books and other materials;
Click to It: Logging into HeinOnline: Quick tips for using this valuable resource from your home or workplace with a State Law Library card;
Tech Tip in Brief: How to deal with user tracking and targeted ads online;
WSLL Recommends: Wharton's Criminal Law
Odds 'n' Endings: Miscellaneous news and May events.

Law Day at the DCLRC

2012-04-27T06:10:00.000-07:00

Tuesday, May 1 is Law Day - the annual celebration of the rule of law created by President Eisenhower in 1958. In recognition of Law Day 2012, the Dane County Circuit Court and the Dane County Bar Association have planned events from 3-4:30 p.m. in the Dane County Courthouse.

The Dane County Legal Resource Center (Dane Co. Courthouse Rm L1007) will host volunteer attorneys providing free consultations in English and Spanish from 10 a.m. - 4:30 p.m. This service is only available in person on a first-come, first-served basis. No appointments will be taken.

Consultas gratuitas con un abogado voluntario; Ayuda disponible en inglés y en español. Martes, 1◦ de mayo, 2012, 10 am – 4:30 pm. Centro de Recursos Legales (Legal Resource Center), cuarto L1007, en La Corte del Condado de Dane. Se atiende por orden de llegada - no aceptan citas!

Greeters will be in the lobby of the building handing out guides to the afternoon's activities, which will kick off with remarks from Chief Justice Abrahamson at 3 pm in the Themis Cafe (LL1), followed by cake and refreshments, "open" courthouse stations on the various floors of the building, a mock trial, and tours. People interested in courthouse tours or middle and high school students who want to be jurors for the mock trial should register by contacting Bob or Le Jordan from the Dane County Bar Association (law@dcba.net or (608) 848-1950).

For more information about Dane County's Law Day events, see:

Courts Open to Citizens – Dane County Law Day 2012

"No Courts, No Justice, No Freedom."

New Lobbyist and Campaign Finance Website

2012-04-22T17:00:00.000-07:00

As part of the Data.gov open government data initiative, Federal ethics information is now searchable at https://explore.data.gov/ethics/.

This site is the central source for United States government data on topics like lobbyist disclosures, campaign finance, and more. In addition to the prominent search box, visitors to this site can opt to browse the datasets by main category, like "Lobbying disclosure reports," or by type of information, agency, or category.

This page is included on our Politics and Elections, as well as our Ethics and Professional Conduct legal topic pages.

WSLL Recommends: Whartons Criminal Law

2012-04-13T08:37:00.000-07:00

This month the State Law Library recommends Whartons Criminal Law. This 4-volume set is published by West. It was last updated with 2011-2012 supplements and is supplemented annually. The author, Charles E. Torcia, has been a law professor at Dickinson School of Law, the Marshall-Wythe School of Law of the College of William and Mary, and New York University School of Law.

This respected resource is a great starting place for criminal law research, as it covers the history of various criminal law principles, developments, and the present status of the law. It also contains an extensive list of defenses - both generally and as they apply to specific offenses such as burglary, forgery, libel, homicide, and more. One of the assets of this set is the thorough primary and secondary law annotations, with a particular focus on A.L.R articles. It also provides both state and federal analysis, as well as an in depth look at the Model Penal Code.

Happy National Library Week!

2012-04-08T17:00:00.000-07:00

This week we are celebrating National Library Week, complete with online and in-person games. The library will also be decorated with baseball-themed displays, so come on in!

Hit a grand slam with our online quizzes, learn about our WSLL Recommenders All Star Team, and don't miss our spring training class on April 12th: Advanced Westlaw.

WSLL at Your Service: April 2012

2012-04-04T09:32:00.000-07:00

Read about National Library Week plans, Milwaukee Legal Resource Center updates, and get tips for your smartphone - all in our April issue of WSLL @ Your Service, now online.

In this issue:

What's New: National Library Week - Spring Training; Law Day is May 1; WSLL staffer attends Library Technology Conference
This Just In...: New and updated library materials; monthly new titles list
MLRC News: Milwaukee County legal-related service programs expand to meet need
Tech Tip in Brief: Springtime ideas for your smart phone
WSLL Recommends: Banking Crimes
Odds 'n' Endings: Food, fools and libraries - an interesting combination?!

As always, your comments are welcome. Please direct them to the editor Connie.VonDerHeide@wicourts.gov

New April CLE Class (new date)

2012-04-02T10:05:00.002-07:00

Sign up for our latest April class, part of our National Library Week Spring Training celebration.

Advanced Westlaw
Thursday, April 12, 1:30 - 2:30 p.m.

Ready to move beyond basic Westlaw searching? Learn power-searching techniques using both Natural Language, Terms and Connectors and field restrictions; discover the power of Key Number searching; and gain a better understanding of research via KeyCite.

Fee: $35. 1 CLE credit. Register online or print a registration form.

New April CLE Class

2012-04-01T18:00:00.000-07:00

Sign up for our latest April class, part of our National Library Week Spring Training celebration.

Advanced Westlaw
Wednesday, April 11, 1:30 - 2:30 p.m.

Ready to move beyond basic Westlaw searching? Learn power-searching techniques using both Natural Language, Terms and Connectors and field restrictions; discover the power of Key Number searching; and gain a better understanding of research via KeyCite.

Fee: $35. 1 CLE credit. Register online or print a registration form.

Must Cheese Be Served with Apple Pie?

2012-03-25T17:00:00.000-07:00

To answer this, we turn to our very first WSLL @ Your Service article, written by Connie Von Der Heide:

It certainly sounds plausible since after all this is the Dairy State, but the answer is no.

1935 Laws of Wis., ch. 106 came close; it required serving a small amount of cheese and butter with meals in restaurants (eff. June 1935 – March 1937). And by the way, that was the first Wisconsin law with a sunset provision, i.e. a legislated ending time. Interestingly, Vermont passed a law in 1999 designating the apple as the state fruit and apple pie as the state pie. It also required a good faith effort to serve either a glass of cold milk, a 1/2 ounce or larger slice of cheddar cheese, or a large scoop of vanilla ice cream with a slice of apple pie. For the current Vermont law, see Title 1 Vermont Statutes Annotated, secs. 512 & 513, eff. July 1, 1999)

Now I've never had my apple pie with cheese before, but I imagine I should test out this question for myself. Should cheese be served with apple pie? Perhaps!

WSLL Recommends: Banking Crimes: Fraud, Money Laundering and Embezzlement

2012-03-19T08:27:00.000-07:00

Banking Crimes: Fraud, Money Laundering and Embezzlement explores issues with the investigation, prosecution, and defense of crimes against federally insured financial institutions. Author and private attorney John K. Villa specializes in civil and criminal corporate and financial services related litigation in Washington D.C. Using his expertise from years of practice, Banking Crimes is an attempt to collect and extract the significance of all the Federal court opinions interpreting the many criminal statutes passed by Congress in recent years. This work is comprised solely of the author's interpretation; federal prosecutors, defenders, and bankers would all benefit from this comprehensive examination of white collar crimes. The text includes primary excerpts of US Code and the Code of Federal Regulations. Appendices include relevant supplementary materials such as excerpts from the United States Attorneys' Manual and Financial Institution Fraud Federal Prosecution Manual.

Includes analysis of the following noteworthy federal statutes:

Financial Institutions Reform, Recovery and Enforcement Act--FIRREA (Chapters 3 and 7)
Misapplication and Embezzlement, 18 U. S. C. A §656 and §657 (Chapter 3)
Bank Secrecy Act (Chapter 6)
Annunzio-Wylie Anti-Money Laundering Act (Chapter 6)
Right to Financial Privacy Act--RFPA (Chapter 9)
Continuing Financial Crimes Enterprise Statute, 18 U.S.C.A. §225 (Chapter 10)
Obstruction of Justice (Chapter 10)
Bank Holding Company Act (Chapter 10)

Banking Crimes is available for check out from the Wisconsin State Law Library.

Online Access to Government Documents

2012-03-11T17:00:00.000-07:00

On March 16, 2012 the government website GPO Access, online since 1994, will shut down. Those accustomed to going to GPO Access to search for Federal government documents will be redirected to the new GPO Federal Digital System site, FDsys.

FDsys, active since 2009, updates and replaces the old GPO Access website. Use FDsys for free online access to official publications from each branch of the Federal government. Search by title or by keyword, or browse by collection, Congressional committee, or date.

Do you need help finding a document? Ask a librarian online or call us at (608) 267-9696.

WSLL at Your Service: March 2012

2012-03-04T17:00:00.000-08:00

Get tax research tips and other legal research suggestions in the March issue of our newsletter, WSLL @ Your Service. The Tech Tip for this month also features an overview of Google's new privacy policy, which debuted on March 1st.

In this issue:

What's New: Staff news
This Just In...: New and updated library materials; New titles list and RSS link
Tech Tip in Brief: Google's new privacy policy: what does it mean for you?
Start Here: A selective list of tax law sources
WSLL Recommends: Waters and Water Rights
Odds 'n' Endings: Another reason to love chocolate; March notables

As always, your comments are welcome.Send comments to Connie Von Der Heide.

Taxpayers and Identity Theft

2012-02-28T12:40:00.003-08:00

Reports of identity theft have begun to crop up during this tax season. As individuals file their returns some have learned that tax returns have already been filed in their name, with their social security number. The Internal Revenue Service (IRS) has created a page for taxpayers affected by identity theft. This page links to guides for determining whether you are a victim of identity theft, as well as agencies to contact. Their one page Taxpayer Guide to Identity Theft is a quick overview for concerned taxpayers and includes IRS and credit bureau phone numbers.

A recent press release from the Federal Trade Commission noted that identity theft still tops the Top 10 Consumer Complaints list - for 12 years in a row now. Get quick access to information on our Identity Theft legal topic page. As the tax season rolls on, don't forget to check out our Tax legal topic page for links to Wisconsin and federal forms, how-to guides, agency contacts, and links to rulings.

February Website Additions

2012-02-27T07:11:00.001-08:00

Among our latest website updates and additions, we would like to highlight the following:

VinCheck, a database to check whether a vehicle is lost or stolen, to the Records subsection of our Vehicles page.
The WI Bureau of Consumer Protection's Pepper Spray FAQ to our Firearms & Weapons legal topic page; their Medical Billings FAQ to our Medical Law page; their Living Trusts: Don’t Believe All You Hear to our Trusts legal topic page.
Recent concealed carry articles for municipalities added to the right sidebar of our Firearms & Weapons legal topic page.
Guides and recent articles to our Mining Law (Metallic and Nonmetallic) legal topic page.
Additional guides and court case links to the redistricting section of our Politics and Elections page.

Family Court Resource Booklet

2012-02-19T17:00:00.000-08:00

A new and improved version of the Dane Co. Family Court Resource Booklet is now available on the Dane Co. Family Court Counseling's website.

Topics covered include divorce, child support and custody, and paternity procedures. The booklet also provides information on enforcing or changing court orders, CHIPs, domestic abuse, and restraining order proceedings, adoption, and termination of parental rights.

Parents and kids alike will be interested in the court frequently asked questions and guides to words used in court. A recently updated directory of relevant officials and agencies, as well as community service organizations is included.

This local resource is now much more user-friendly online and features:

Links to available forms;
Links to current statutes and administrative code sections, and;
Internal links to cross-referenced sections in the booklet.

It is currently only available online but will be available for purchase as a booklet sometime this spring. Contact Lisa Winkler, Dane County Librarian, at lisa.winkler@wicourts.gov for details.

WSLL Recommends: Waters and Water Rights

2012-02-15T07:35:00.000-08:00

Waters and Water Rights is a comprehensive analysis of water-related laws contained in a five volume set. Authored by a team of practicing attorneys and legal scholars, chapter topics include:

riparian rights
reasonable use and correlative rights of groundwater
infrastructure for water distribution and storage by public water districts and private organizations
public right to water
constitutional foundations of federal water
reserved water rights and Indian reserved water rights
ownership of water, state water rights, and the acquisition of water for federal uses
impact of the Endangered Species Act on private water rights
climate change
interstate water allocation and the interstate export of water
international waters
environmental issues including water quality, groundwater protection, water pollution, drainage, flooding and wetlands preservation

Volume 4 offers an overview of each state's water laws compiled by an expert in the water law of that particular state. The state surveys include references to other state-specific sources of information. Also contained in the volume are surveys covering five river basins.

Volume 5 includes an extensive glossary, table of case law, and a table of state and federal laws with references to sections and footnotes within the set.

Waters and Water Rights is updated annually. The library also owns the 1st , 2nd and 3rd editions originally edited by Robert Emmett Clark

WSLL at Your Service: February 2012

2012-02-10T12:44:00.000-08:00

Learn about mobile document scanning and get library news in our February 2012 newsletter.

In this issue:

What's New: Looking for mining law? Interview with DCLRC librarian; WSLL librarian published in Inside Track; Upcoming legal research classes
Looking Back, Moving Forward - Julie Tessmer, Interim State Law Librarian
This Just In... : New and updated library materials; monthly new titles list, RSS
Tech Tip in Brief: Mobile scanning

As always, your comments are welcome. Please direct them to the editor, Connie.VonDerHeide@wicourts.gov

Wisconsin Mining Law Information

2012-02-07T09:01:00.000-08:00

Are you trying to find out more about mining laws and proposed laws in Wisconsin? Our mining legal topic page continues to grow as agencies and authors publish additional information.

Recent additions to this page include a new Wisconsin Legislative Reference Bureau bibliography on iron mining and frac sand and Wisconsin Legislative Council guides to 2011 Assembly Bill 426 regarding ferrous metallic mining. Links to recent Wisconsin Dept. of Natural Resources publications on metallic mining can be found under "Library Resources" in the right-hand sidebar.

We have also added additional related Wisconsin agency and statute links.

We are always on the lookout for new resources to help visitors when they reach our site. Visit our Mining (Metallic and Nonmetallic) legal topic page now and tell us what you think. If you have questions, please Ask a Librarian.