Lawyer in MKE. Licensed WI/IL.
@EthickingStacie
(or just my name) most everywhere. She/her. Tweets are personal, not legal advice, maybe atty advertising.
@alittleleader
It’s so random sometimes—some airports want everything in a bin, some just want electronics and shoes in a bin but not the same bin, and I can’t remember the last time I had to separate the baggie with toiletries.
@DrJenGunter
Nobody ever says "I think appendectomy should be safe, legal, and rare." I am pro-abortion the same way I am pro-appendectomy, pro-quadruple-bypass, pro-chemo, and so forth.
@DrJenGunter
I'm a lawyer, with the ability to sit on hold during business hours, and an understanding of insurance and some medical language. It took 2 years to resolve my anesthesiologist bill (apparently an emergent c-section is too novel?). We need better.
In 2010 I got fired from my first law job while pregnant.
Today I argued my first case before the Wisconsin Supreme Court.
Today probably wouldn’t have happened without 2010.
@shaydeofgold
I think I have the converse of your story--I had honors grades through law school but was not a BigLaw person and ended up fired from my crappy small firm job with no benefits, a year into law practice, while pregnant.
I landed better. Success is not linear.
90% of lawyering is figuring out how to say "opposing party/counsel/the lower court/this court/whoever is full of shit" in a nice respectful tone and with citation to authority
@clapifyoulikeme
I'm 48 and there were no out kids in my high school graduating class of 500. (Some came out later, of course.)
Meanwhile, 13's class president is an out lesbian. He watched the first legal same-sex weddings here in 2014, a few weeks before he turned 4. Not all that long ago.
@DrJenGunter
@cvspharmacy
I was at the OBGYN yesterday and the nurse told me they now mostly dispense misoprostol from the office rather than send the scripts to retail pharmacies. The pharmacists aren't refusing but they're asking a TON of questions they don't ask about other drugs.
What is the cringiest thing about lawyering and why is it reading transcripts where all your verbal tic filler words are right there on display in a row?
@J_Dot_J
During the recount in Nov. a guy on social media mansplained the Republican WI recount strategy to me.
Which may not have been 100% obvious to everyone except I was co-counsel for Biden at the recount in MKE and this guy knew that but “wanted to make sure I understood.”
My favorite opposing counsels are the ones who innately understand my coded "we both hate this case and everyone involved in it but we gotta do the thing" language in emails
Why are women's suits all terrible right now?
I have to buy an actual suit in a conservative style and color and everything is camel or bright orange or boxy or palazzo or cropped (even in the jacket) or or has military-style buttons or has a combination of several of the above.
Senior and partner-type lawyers: Where did this profession get the idea that hoarding credit is a good idea? Sharing a signature block or other credit with a junior, where it is due, costs absolutely nothing.
I bombed OCI. Graduated second in my class, got fired from my small firm after a year while pregnant.
I’m now one of the top legal ethics lawyers in Wisconsin and I have a huge role in the 2024 election, and I can practice how I want.
Success is not linear.
Didn’t get a single OCI (on campus interview). Ended up getting first job through LinkedIn/law school post about me. Took that and bounced around between medium/small firms and in-house.
Now in-house at a tech company in a hybrid legal/business role.
@queerBengali
My issue is with the claim that it's "simple." (And "it" can be pretty much anything big--Gaza, Ukraine, climate change, immigration.)
"He could do it with one phone call." No, probably not, and certainly not without huge consequences his team has gamed out and you haven't.
@inreGray
I think about early 2019 a lot. Things were good personally and professionally. I don't want to relive the last five years but I'd be OK visiting there for a bit.
It is not "unprofessional" to wear a headset in a Zoom. No it's not pretty. But I can actually hear what's being said, which I can't always through a speaker. I don't have diagnosed hearing loss but auditory processing is sometimes difficult and this helps me actually do my job.
"Why won't you honor your rates from the last time we worked together?"
Sir, the last time we worked together was during the Obama administration and your matter now is way, way more ridiculous.
@ParkerMolloy
These people: “this book about a mermaid and this one about penguins are grooming our children”
Also these people: “unless they could see his penis actually in her vagina during the banana boat song it’s all good”
@KGnadinger
@J_Dot_J
“You know AR doesn’t stand for assault rifle it’s ArmaLite rifle and that distinction is soooper important.” — in conversation about zoning
@A2Jess
@kath_rothschild
A friend and I stumbled upon a copy of "The Joy of Sex" at her parents' house. (This was the 1970s version with the line drawings.)
What is more important: rehashing an issue that took place a year and a half ago or doing something about rising gas prices? Most Americans prefer that the folks in Washington do something about high gas prices!
I think I was a sophomore when I read Slaughterhouse-Five for a class.
You know what I did after that? Read literally everything else Vonnegut wrote that I could get my hands on.
We complain kids aren't reading and then shut off access to things they want to read.
Students
@FallsSchools
won't have access to Margaret Atwood's The Handmaid's Tale or Kurt Vonnegut's Slaughterhouse-Five starting tomorrow.
33 book titles will be pulled from the high school shelves after material was deemed too "sexually explicit."
@gayforjamie2
@toekneepraysick
I :was: Lindsey Weir in high school, down to the math team and the “freak” friends. Just early 1990s Illinois instead of 80s Michigan.
I will have some things to say about this piece soon.
But right now, I will just say that the guys who fired me for being pregnant, winked at me in court, got caught staring at my ass in court, and called me “young lady” were all polite and in suits.
Anyone ever panic when they get an efiling notice ("oh hell now what") and then remember it's your filing that you authorized just a few minutes ago?
Just me?
I am pleased to announce that as of today, I have become a shareholder at my firm. I look forward to continuing my work on matters of legal ethics, professional licensing, elections, and general WeirdLaw.
@NateSilver538
The "pretty safe" risk is not distributed evenly--a classroom with 15 kids in a new well ventilated building with funding for PPE is different from a classroom with 35 kids with windows that don't open and where the teacher will have to supply masks and hand sanitizer for all.
A bit of trivia: Yesterday two cases were argued at the Wisconsin Supreme Court, and all four arguing attorneys, the marshal, and of course six out of seven Justices were women.
@DrJenGunter
2010, my "one-year contract" ended due to the "bad economy." I didn't have a one-year contract. My maternity-leave temp (man) was hired on and stayed for four years. Pretty sure my file does not reflect that I was 8.5 months pregnant and up until then, "the future of the firm."
@DrJenGunter
How about blood? I lost enough blood during labor and emergency c-section to pass out in the shower and require a 3-unit transfusion a day postpartum, but the law can't compel someone to donate even one unit of blood, even to save someone dying right in front of them.
@Mahalaw
@TimSoefje
I am also a professional liability and ethics attorney who never took a bar exam and have no idea which of my clients or opposing counsels or friends did unless they tell me. The bar exam has no discernible connection to misconduct or malpractice.
"We suggest that gatherings be transitioned to virtual."
No. Just no. If it's optional and it was going to be in person and it can't be, just cancel it.
I am not referring to FaceTiming your grandparents. Do that. But nobody wants to go to Zoom work parties anymore.
@420AttyChicago
I've defended grievances like this--"grievant claims respondent is not communicating enough" AND "grievant claims respondent is overbilling because the bills show 86 emails and 42 phone calls and that's too much for 9 months."
Well, which one is it?
@RottenInDenmark
If BMI was used in babies (it's not supposed to be) my kid would have been obese because he had a giant melon head and that added extra weight versus height.
The doctor was not at all concerned.
Practice tip: A very real phenomenon is "trial drop." After a trial--no matter how long, no matter how well you did or didn't do--there is a crash. You'll be tired and moody. It may come the next day or be delayed a day or two. Try to build in time for your crash, if you can.
@steve_vladeck
Once in the mid 90s when we were laying out our college newspaper we put “O Caption! My caption!/photo by Walt Whitman” as a placeholder in Quark and it accidentally ran
We just learned that a second grader at my son's school died from gun violence earlier this week. The letter asked us to discuss this with our kids. We will.
I don't want to hear "how do we explain THIS to our childen!?!" about two men holding hands ever again.
My firm (lawyers ages 26 to 72, ish) has a “wear clothes” dress code. We say “fuck” a lot. We have actual work life balance. We may not be in suits and genteel all the time but we do good work. I think that’s the important part of professionalism.
@_celia_bedelia_
@thewealthdad
I am 44. Sure, I talk about "do you know a good drywall installer?" or "my usual bike trail is stupid crowded, do you know a better one?" with friends but this dude's conversations sound dreadfully tedious. I'll pay professionals to talk seriously about money and fitness.
Thanks to everybody who provided suit advice.
The winner was, somewhat shockingly, JCPenney. For $111 I got a jacket (regular), pants (petite), and a skirt that all fit and don’t need alterations, delivered to my door. It is boring, but that was what I was going for.
I just got an email about a virtual holiday party and I want to throw things at the wall.
I've been done with purely social Zoom for about a year. Just cancel. It's not a party. It's yet another meeting.
@DrJenGunter
Do these folks believe that people should be required to give a kidney to save a life? What about giving blood--that's low risk and disruptive for about an hour, yet nobody can be compelled to do that to save a life. Even their own child's life. Yet we don't hear boo about that.
Yes, because there is so much poverty in MPS that administering a program to decide who gets free lunch based on income is actually more expensive than just giving everybody free lunch.
Means testing is useful for some things, stupid for others.
@VaGyver
In Wisconsin, don’t do this. You can register at the polls with proof of residence, which can often be pulled up on your phone. Call (608) 336-3232 for Q’s.
Provisional ballots are for very limited circumstances involving ID.
To the people I have met here who are sitting for a bar exam this week, or who’ve made a difficult decision not to go in person, or whose exams got canceled or delayed without recourse: I’m sorry. I’m sorry our profession has failed you before you’ve even started. 1/3
@UnionSaltBae
That attending CLE--particularly online CLE where nobody knows whether you've got the presentation minimized in one corner of one of your screens-- contributes to staying current in developments in the law.
So when did "brunch" become something to sneer at?
People do all sorts of recreational things that cost money, are unnecessary, take time away from the revolution or whatever, and are perhaps risky in a pandemic. Why does "brunch" get the scorn?
@transscribe
The dress code at my office is "if we didn't trust you to dress we wouldn't have hired you." We don't have any out trans employees but I hope if someone transitioned or joined us we wouldn't make it harder for them. (Court can still be a minefield, sadly.)
@ParkerMolloy
@Ring_Sheryl
My 19-year-old stepson transitioned when my now-11-year-old was in early elementary school. How on earth would you stop a yappy first grader from discussing his brother at school? It's not sexual. It's family.
The Wisconsin Law Journal's December issue will be out soon. Congratulations to all of our award-winners including:
@EricJToney
@Emil_Esq
@EthickingStacie
just to name a few. It's not too late to buy tickets for next Wednesday's All Star Event.
@michellekaycamp
And these would have been records that existed on paper at the time, right? At best, maybe, on a floppy disk or a mainframe? Storage wasn't cheap. Why would anyone hang on to that stuff longer than necessary, or even digitize it?
@magi_jay
@notcapnamerica
If you wanted insurance to cover pregnancy and birth you might have had to buy a rider.
Oh, and I had to bring my 22-year-old self into our (middle aged man) CFO's office to ask for the birth control pill mail-in form, because that was the only way to get them covered.
@DWUhlfelderLaw
Wait… People who want to work and will be working are being told to take sick leave if they want to do that work from home?
Does Florida have wage and hour laws for government employees?
@LizCGil
"This is a bar mitzvah and we have no expectation of privacy here. If you need legal advice, please contact my assistant so she can run conflicts, and then we'll make an appointment and get a fee agreement together."
@Ugarles
My kid was three years old and watched some of the first legal same-sex weddings in Wisconsin. I asked him what he did at the courthouse that day and he said he “watched friends get married.” Easy enough.
@Matty_Wagz
@ItsMattsLaw
I’ve seen people wondering if this was a false flag operation. Somebody who failed the exam twice has an enemy who knows that?
My hot urbanist take: I guess I get “trunk or treat” as something a school or church or whatever can do for community but when we substitute going car to car for regular Trick or Treating because going door to door is too unsafe (in part, because cars) we’ve lost the plot
@Niles4life
@_celia_bedelia_
What somebody wears in a picture is different from who people sleep with.
That said? The second sentence can still be controlling, if it’s unilateral or demanded by fiat. Have a discussion about monogamy like grown-ups.
posting for no reason
SCR 20:8.2 (a) A lawyer shall not make a statement that the lawyer knows to be false or with reckless disregard as to its truth or falsity concerning the qualifications or integrity ... of a candidate for election or appointment to judicial or legal office.
@AngryBlackLady
I asked for a copy of "It" for my 13th birthday and my parents bought it for me, and I read it at school in front of teachers, and I might have gotten a couple of "wow, is that too scary for you?" comments and meanwhile the [you know what scene I'm talking about] went unremarked
These constitutional amendments are terrible, horrible, no-good very bad amendments and the linked article has a good rundown as to why.
Important: the governor can't veto amendments. Think about why the Republican legislature might have wanted to bypass the veto here.
Wisconsin is just a week away from a referendum, placed by the GOP on a low-turnout day, that'd affect election administration in the run-up to November.
do you know about it? because local elections officials want you to!