A lawsuit revived over the summer contests the right of graduates of Wisconsin law schools — including Marquette — to practice law in the state without taking the bar examination.
The suit was originally filed and dismissed in 2007. After an appeal, 7th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals Judge Richard Posner ruled in July of this year that the case should not have been dismissed.
The defendants in the case are the Wisconsin Supreme Court and the Wisconsin Board of Bar Examiners. Christopher Wiesmueller, who filed the suit as a third year law student at the Oklahoma City University School of Law, said Wisconsin’s diploma privilege violates the Constitution’s protection of interstate commerce by discriminating against law school graduates from other states.
“The commerce clause has also been interpreted to mean that states can’t discriminate against commerce coming from other states unless Congress approves it,” he said. “Goods and people are supposed to basically flow freely over state lines.”
Wiesmueller, who passed the bar and is now an attorney in Waukesha, said his intent is not to do away with the diploma privilege, but rather to open it up to more students.
But Kenneth Davis, dean of the University of Wisconsin-Madison Law School, said the diploma privilege should only be extended to Wisconsin law school graduates because the state Supreme Court can verify the quality of Wisconsin schools but does not have the ability to monitor all other law schools.
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The suit was originally filed and dismissed in 2007. After an appeal, 7th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals Judge Richard Posner ruled in July of this year that the case should not have been dismissed.
The defendants in the case are the Wisconsin Supreme Court and the Wisconsin Board of Bar Examiners. Christopher Wiesmueller, who filed the suit as a third year law student at the Oklahoma City University School of Law, said Wisconsin’s diploma privilege violates the Constitution’s protection of interstate commerce by discriminating against law school graduates from other states.
“The commerce clause has also been interpreted to mean that states can’t discriminate against commerce coming from other states unless Congress approves it,” he said. “Goods and people are supposed to basically flow freely over state lines.”
Wiesmueller, who passed the bar and is now an attorney in Waukesha, said his intent is not to do away with the diploma privilege, but rather to open it up to more students.
But Kenneth Davis, dean of the University of Wisconsin-Madison Law School, said the diploma privilege should only be extended to Wisconsin law school graduates because the state Supreme Court can verify the quality of Wisconsin schools but does not have the ability to monitor all other law schools.
Read more...