Archive
Sykes in the Classroom: Torts
My first-year torts class reaches something of a climax when we read Palsgraf v. Long Island Railroad Co., the landmark 1928 New York Court of Appeals decision. Palsgraf is one of those old chestnuts that are simply irresistible to law professors. It combines engrossing facts, beautiful writing, and philosophical richness. I would probably assign it…
Sykes in the Classroom: Legal Writing
Every fall semester, my first-year class in Legal Analysis, Writing & Research 1 is filled with eager students, excited to learn the law. Law students and lawyers know that legal writing is a skills class. I don’t teach doctrine for its own sake, as does, say, a torts professor who teaches about negligence, its elements,…
Sykes in the Classroom: Criminal Law
A little more than a decade ago, I switched from teaching Criminal Law with a traditional casebook, featuring opinions from across the United States, to doing so using almost entirely Wisconsin materials. One of the benefits of the change is that it allows students to start to familiarize themselves with the criminal code many of…
Sykes in the Classroom: Contracts
In Contracts, a required first-year course each fall, we use one opinion by Judge Diane Sykes. And this past year, a second of the judge’s opinions shaped my final exam. The case we study together is Karma International, LLC v. Indianapolis Motor Speedway, LLC, a 2019 Seventh Circuit decision. The opening line draws us in:…
Sykes in the Classroom: Property
I switch over late in the semester in first-year Property from traditional common-law doctrine to modern zoning law. The students for the most part welcome the switch, but some find the abundant map amendments, conditional permits, special uses, and assorted variances as problematic additions to existing zoning ordinances. Fortunately for instructor and students alike, Justice…
Sykes in the Classroom: Copyrights and Civil Procedure
We have used opinions by Judge Diane Sykes in two of my classes. In both instances, I looked for an opinion that presented a complicated doctrinal issue in clear terms that students could understand and debate. In Copyrights, for many years, I supplemented the casebook with Kelley v. Chicago Park District, a Seventh Circuit decision…
Sykes in the Classroom: Advanced Civil Procedure
Some cases break ground or set precedent, while others are less well-known but useful for their representativeness of a doctrine or concept. In Advanced Civil Procedure, an upper-level elective offered each spring, we have occasion to read all or parts of five opinions by the Hon. Diane Sykes. One we consider for its role in…
Judge Sykes in the Classroom
The hundreds of opinions written by the Hon. Diane S. Sykes in her career on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit and the Wisconsin Supreme Court make up a wealth of material about the law. In the links below, seven members of the Marquette Law School faculty discuss how various of Sykes’s…
Restorative justice and the return of purpose: A law student’s reflection
This is the first of three blog posts, at the end of the academic year, by Mary Triggiano, director of Marquette University Law School’s Andrew Center for Restorative Justice.
Marquette Law School Poll finds 4 out of 5 say Wisconsin legislature should have passed Evers/GOP property tax, rebates, and special education bill
Also: Please note: Complete Poll results and methodology information can be found online at law.marquette.edu/poll MILWAUKEE — A new Marquette Law School Poll finds 80% of Wisconsin adults say the legislature should have passed a proposed bill using the projected state budget surplus to reduce property taxes, increase special education funding, and provide rebates to…