From the Archives

A Parade of Women for the Vote

The Women's Suffrage Parade on March 1, 1913, in Washington, D.C., drew nearly 8,000 marchers. Photo: Library of Congress

On March 1, 1913, a massive parade engulfed Washington, D.C., the day before the inauguration of President Woodrow Wilson. It was the Women’s Suffrage Parade, organized by Alice Paul and the National American Woman Suffrage Association.

The parade of about 8,000 women called for a constitutional amendment that would allow women to vote.

According to a report at the time, “Marchers were jostled and ridiculed by many in the crowd. Some were tripped, others assaulted. Policemen appeared to be either indifferent to the struggling paraders, or sympathetic to the mob. Before the day was out, one hundred marchers had been hospitalized.”

The mistreatment of the marchers amplified the event – and the cause – into a major news story and led to congressional hearings, where the D.C. superintendent of police lost his job.

Wisconsin's Belle Case LaFollette addresses farmers at Blue Mounds on the issue of women's suffrage, circa 1915. Photo: State Historical Society of Wisconsin, WHi (X3) 3996]

Closer to home during this time, Belle Case LaFollette – the first woman to graduate from the U.W. Law School, in 1885; a women’s suffrage activist; and wife of “Fighting” Bob LaFollette – traveled on the Chautauqua circuit speaking on women’s suffrage.

What began in 1913 took another seven years to make it through Congress. In 1920, the 19th Amendment secured the vote for women.

Source: The Atlantic

Sara’s Law Makes Bodily Harm to Lawyers a Felony

Sara’s Law, a bill passed by the Wisconsin Assembly, makes it a class H felony to intentionally cause or threaten to cause bodily harm to lawyers (or their family members) involved in proceedings affecting children and families. The bill includes private attorneys, corporation counsel, and attorneys serving as guardian ad litem.

The bill was named in memory of Schofield attorney Sara Quirt Sann (pictured at left), one of four victims killed last year in a shooting rampage in the Wausau area. Quirt Sann was representing the gunman’s estranged wife in divorce proceedings. The gunman, who later died after a shootout with police, shot Quirt Sann inside her law office.

Rep. Pat Snyder (R-Schofield) and Sen. Jerry Petrowski (R-Marathon) sponsored the legislation. The State Bar of Wisconsin actively supported it.

The Assembly will send Sara’s Law to the Senate for approval this month. The Senate has a 10-day floor period to vote on it.

Tech Tip

Does Your Firm Have a Bad Google Review?

Google your firm’s name to learn if your firm has a Google review. The search results will display a panel on the righthand side of the page listing photos of your firm, your firm’s address, and Google reviews. Click on the Google reviews hyperlink to read any posted reviews.

Occasionally, Google reviews are placed by someone who has never interacted with a business. What if this happens to your firm? Google has a process to flag inappropriate reviews, but there is no guarantee that the reviews will be removed.

Tweeting @Google or having multiple different users flag the review as inappropriate might increase your odds of removing these posts. However, absent extremely offensive comments in the reviews, the chances of removal are slim and you might have to resort to legal action to remove these reviews.

Source: Christopher C. Shattuck – Practice Management Advisor (Practice 411™), State Bar of Wisconsin

Out There

A New Trend in Lawyer Advertising?

Landon Shell, a boy in South Carolina, had an interesting request recently for his fourth birthday: he wanted a “George Sink all 9s” birthday party.

A local personal injury attorney, George Sink, runs Landon’s favorite TV commercial. Sink’s phone number, as repeatedly advertised on TV, is 999-9999.

So the boy’s mother threw an all 9s George Sink-themed birthday party, with a cake, balloons, clothes, and decorations. But the biggest surprise was yet to come. George Sink – the lawyer, the legend – made a personal appearance.

“I was so excited. Seeing George Sink was my favorite part,” Landon told CBS WLTX 19 in Columbia.

This was actually the second lawyer-themed toddler birthday party on record. In 2015, a two year-old in Louisiana had one. The lawyer, Morris Bart, could not appear at the party but provided a life-sized cardboard cutout of himself.

Source: Lowering the Bar

By the Numbers

$6.7 million

The amount of statutory damages that a New York federal judge last month awarded to 21 graffiti artists.

Under cover of night, a real estate developer whitewashed the artists’ elaborate murals on the 5Pointz complex in Queens, known as a mecca for urban art. Artists called it “the world’s largest open-air aerosol museum.”

The federal judge ruled that destroying the murals violated the federal Visual Artists Rights Act (VARA), which gives visual artists the right “to prevent any destruction of a work of recognized stature.”

One lawyer who specializes in art law said it was the first-ever case of VARA protecting graffiti artists. The lawyer for the graffiti artists, Eric Baum, called it a “victory not only for the artists in this case, but for artists all around the country.”

Sources: ABA Journal; New York Times.