In 2015, during the NCAA basketball tournament, SCOWstats conducted a university contest of another sort by comparing the number of oral arguments delivered at the Wisconsin Supreme Court by graduates of participating law schools. Although the cancellation of the basketball tournament this year has eliminated the prospect of coordination with the NCAA, we will persevere—with five more years of data—to stage the law-school portion of the event.

The big picture.
For an overview, let’s begin with all 604 oral arguments in cases decided during the past five terms (2014-15 through 2018-19).^[1] Table 1 displays every law school whose graduates engaged in at least six arguments (1% of the total) over this period.[Continue Reading…]

This week, Axley Brynelson contributed 8 points to the Affirmed with a brief, oral argument, and partially-favorable decision in Steven J. Piper v. Jones Dairy Farm. As a result, only two points now separate the Affirmed, the Waivers, and the Citations—all still trailing the first-place Gavels.

Click here for the complete, updated standings.

The Supreme Court did not file any new decisions this week, and thus there are no changes in the standings.

These tables are derived from information contained in 283 Wisconsin Supreme Court decisions that were turned up in a Nexis Uni search for decisions filed between September 1, 1968, and August 31, 1969.  The total of 283 decisions does not include rulings arising from (1) disciplinary matters involving lawyers, and (2) various petitions, motions, applications and the like (generally disposed of without oral argument and in short per curiam decisions). Smith v. State, a 3-3 per curiam decision, is omitted, as is Rich v. Schweda, a two-sentence per curiam ruling “without opinion.”

The tables are available as a complete set and by individual topic in the subsets listed below.

Four-to-Three Decisions
Decisions Arranged by Vote Split
Frequency of Justices in the Majority
Distribution of Opinion Authorship
Frequency of Agreement Between Pairs of Justices
Average Time Between Oral Argument and Opinions Authored by Each Justice

With this week’s decisions, Crivello Carlson and Weiss Law Office each contributed a point to the Citations (for an amicus brief in Antoinette Lang v. Lions Club of Cudahy Wisconsin, Inc.)—thereby nudging the Citations over the Waivers back into second place.

Click here for the complete, updated standings.

This week’s decisions elevated the Waivers over the Citations into second place on the strength of five points from Boardman & Clark (for a brief and oral argument in DSG Evergreen Family Limited Partnership v. Town of Perry).

Click here for the complete, updated standings.

Three and a half years ago, we measured certain aspects of the Wisconsin Supreme Court’s performance against corresponding activity at the supreme courts of Minnesota, Iowa, Illinois, and Michigan over the period 2013-14 through 2015-16. Since then, three more terms have gone into the books, providing enough information for another look at the output of these five judicial summits.[Continue Reading…]

The supreme court did not file any new decisions this week, and thus there are no changes in the standings.

The flurry of decisions filed this week produced a dramatic change in the standings. Although the league-leading Gavels of the State Public Defender’s Office maintained their hold on first place with 10 points for a brief, oral argument, and favorable decision in State v. Charles L. Neill, IV, there was upheaval below them. The once-dormant Citations burst into contention, vaulting over both the Affirmed and the Waivers into second place by amassing 18 points—10 from Hinshaw & Culbertson (brief, oral argument, and favorable outcome in Roger Choinsky v. Germantown School District Board of Education) and 8 from Godfrey & Kahn (brief and favorable outcome, also in Choinsky).

Click here for the complete, updated standings.

These tables are derived from information contained in 293 Wisconsin Supreme Court decisions that were turned up in a Nexis Uni search for decisions filed between September 1, 1969, and August 31, 1970.  The total of 293 decisions does not include rulings arising from (1) disciplinary matters involving lawyers, and (2) various petitions, motions, applications and the like (generally disposed of without oral argument and in short per curiam decisions).

The tables are available as a complete set and by individual topic in the subsets listed below.

Four-to-Three Decisions
Decisions Arranged by Vote Split
Frequency of Justices in the Majority
Distribution of Opinion Authorship
Frequency of Agreement Between Pairs of Justices
Average Time Between Oral Argument and Opinions Authored by Each Justice