Marquette University Law School

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The Marquette University Law School is the professional school for the study of law at Marquette University in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. The law school began in 1892 when students seeking legal education in Milwaukee founded what was to be known as the Milwaukee Law Class. The Law School, which became a part of Marquette University in 1908, is the only law school in the City of Milwaukee. The Law School became a member of the Association of American Law Schools in 1912 and received American Bar Association approval in 1925.

1 Programs
2 Journals and publications
3 Diploma privilege
4 Notable faculty
5 External links

[edit] Programs

Marquette University Law School maintains a number of specialized academic programs. Most notable is its sports law program, which offers the nation's most comprehensive offering of sports law courses and internships with local sports organizations. The program also has connections with the Marquette Sports Law Review and the Sports Law Moot Court team. The school also has notable programs in health care law, intellectual property law and alternative dispute resolution.

[edit] Journals and publications

Journals published at the Marquette University Law School include the flagship journal, the Marquette Law Review, as well as the specialty journals--the Marquette Sports Law Review, the Marquette Intellectual Property Law Review and Elder's Advisor.

[edit] Diploma privilege

Graduates of the Marquette University Law School, along with graduates of the University of Wisconsin Law School, are eligible for the diploma privilege as a method of admission to the bar. Unlike all other jurisdictions in the United States, Wisconsin's state bar allows graduates of accredited law schools within the state to join the bar without taking the state's bar examination if they complete certain requirements in their law school courses and achieve a certain level of performance in those courses.

While the University of Wisconsin law students have enjoyed admission on presentation of a diploma since 1870, it was not until 1931 that the Wisconsin legislature amended the law to permit the graduates of any law school in the state that the supreme court found to have standards as high as those of the University of Wisconsin Law School to be admitted on diploma. This imposed an unwelcome duty on the supreme court.

In January 1932, Clifton Williams, then Dean of Marquette University Law School, wrote the State Bar Committee on Admission to the Bar, saying: "You are authorized to state anywhere at any time that Marquette University Law School is opposed to the diploma privilege ... ."

The state bar committee recommended that the law be changed to its original form, granting diploma privilege only to University of Wiscoinsn graduates. However, in 1933, the "Fons bill" was enacted, extending the diploma privilege to Marquette University Law School graduates. That school acceded in 1935, when the school also made three years pre-legal college work a requirement for law school admission.

[edit] Notable faculty

Daniel D. Blinka, former prosecutor, expert on evidence and trail law, and a legal historian (PHD University of Wisconsin-Madison)
Janine P. Geske, former Wisconsin Supreme Court justice
Joseph Kearney, Dean and former clerk for United States Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia
E. Michael McCann, will join the law faculty upon retiring as Milwaukee County District Attorney (Jan. 2007), after more than 38 years of service in that position