Rental registries are essentially databases that contain information about rental properties and their owners. They can be used to track information about ownership, document certification or licensing based on rental inspections – a powerful local tool to identify and stabilize deteriorated but occupied rental properties. Sometimes, where applicable, these registries can help enforce municipal
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Commutations in Wisconsin: A Rare Opportunity for Relief
Earlier this month, Wisconsin Gov. Tony Evers signed two executive orders: Executive Order #287, creating an advisory board to review applications for commutations, and Executive Order #288, creating a specific process for commutation requests from people who were sentenced to life imprisonment while they were juveniles. The Wisconsin Constitution grants the governor the…
Permitless Carry: Observations on a National Trend
Earlier this year, Wisconsin legislators began holding public hearings on Wisconsin Assembly Bill 609. This bill, sponsored by State Rep. Chanz J. Green and a number of other state lawmakers, proposes to make changes to Wisconsin’s concealed carry laws by eliminating the need for a permit to carry a weapon concealed.

Matthew Kline, Ohio
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5 Tips for Representing Survivors of Domestic Abuse
Intimate partner violence is a pattern of controlling behavior that includes threats, psychological manipulation, verbal degradation, financial coercion, sexual abuse, physical abuse, educational deprivation, spiritual abuse, stalking, and other tactics to control a
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Pro Bono Work Sharpens Your Practice
If you practice in Wisconsin, there is a plethora of opportunities that will enable you to provide these essential services while also
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Boosting Successful Reentry: RLS Helps Formerly Incarcerated People Access Benefits
Heidi Mangelsen, St. Thomas 2010, is a Reentry Legal Services (RLS) attorney with Legal Action of Wisconsin, in Oshkosh. Her practice focuses on providing legal services …
The Myth of 50/50 Placement: What Wisconsin Law Actually Requires
Many parents expect that equal (50/50) shared placement of the children is the standard placement schedule that every court uses unless there is evidence that one party is a “bad parent.” Even some legal professionals or court officials
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Proper Remedies Under a Void Lease: Koble v. Marquardt
For the past year and a half, the tenant side of landlord tenant law in Wisconsin has had serious ammunition when landlords provide their tenants with leases that are void and unenforceable under Wis. Stat. section 704.44 and Wis. Admin. Code ATCP 134.08. One case is
Koble Investments v. Marquardt (2022AP182), a Wisconsin Court of…
Infestation Injustice
A tenant starts to notice little red marks on her body. Unsure where they came from, she assumes it was a mosquito bite or something innocuous. But she also overheard in the lobby that someone else in the building might have bed bugs. A few days pass, but now there are even more red marks.…
Under the Radar – Quiet Changes to Medicare by the One Big Beautiful Bill Act
On July 4, 2025, President Trump signed into law H.R. 1 – the One Big Beautiful Bill Act (OBBBA). The purpose of the law was to extend 2017 tax cuts and fund other administration priorities. In order to pay for these policies, however, significant cuts were made to programs that provide health care and other…