Milwaukee Court Reporter Volunteers At Marquette University Law School

By Linda Saari, Registered Merit Court Reporter

On Monday February 27, 2012, at the invitation of David Hanson of Reinhart Boerner Van Deuren, I was asked to be the reporter for a class that he teaches entitled “Intellectual Property Workshop” at Marquette University Law School for second and third year law school students.  The class was also taught by Jonathan Margolies of Michael, Best & Friedrich and Lisa Kass of Reinhart Boerner.  David, Jonathan and Lisa are adjunct professors at the law school.

Although this may seem like an unusual assignment, I had previously been invited by David to participate in his class on three prior occasions going back to 2003.  The prior classes were held at the former Sensenbrenner Hall, but Monday evening’s class was held at the new state-of-the-art Eckstein Hall. 

At the beginning of the class David introduced me and asked a few questions of me about depositions, especially the importance of having attorneys and witnesses to the deposition speaking one at a time, and also to explain how and what we write on our little machines.

In preparation for the class I had asked David to provide me with a roster of the students’ names so that I could input their names into a job dictionary for the class.

The students had prepared for the case of Airway Industries, Inc. v. Pirate, Inc., a case in which Airway Industries alleges that its Airway zipper bag was infringed by Pirate, Inc.’s Roll ‘N Go bag.  The students were divided into two teams – Team Airway and Team Pirate.  Each student was given five minutes to question a witness, or witnesses of their choice, and then the questioning would pass to the next student.  There was sufficient class time for the students to have two rounds of questioning.

The students were given a list of seven names of witnesses for the parties that they could depose; they would just have to indicate the witness’ name during their portion of the deposition.  They even had me read back!

David and Jonathan would role play as the various witnesses and/or the attorney that would make objections to the students’ questions. 

At various times during the questioning David or Jonathan would indicate to go off the record. They would offer suggestions or hints to the students on their questioning, advice on how to keep narrowing their questions to obtain maximum information from the witnesses, how to handle a difficult witness, and a witness that would give long answers.  After questioning by each student David and Jonathan would offer a critique of the student’s questioning before moving on to the next student. 

I also provided a transcript to David so that he could distribute it to the students for their benefit.

I enjoyed working with the students at Marquette Law School.  I wish them all success as they embark upon their legal careers.

Milwaukee Court Reporters:  Meals For Minds After School Pantry

Submitted By:  Court Reporter Andrea Reichle, RPR 

Brown & Jones Reporting has begun a new initiative for the 2012 year.  We will be volunteering once every quarter for a local organization.  Our first opportunity was on Tuesday, February 28, for Feeding America Eastern Wisconsin. 

Feeding America Eastern Wisconsin was founded in 1982 by the Rotary Club of Milwaukee and is a food bank. Through the warehouses in Milwaukee and the Fox Valley, more than 15 million pounds of food a year is distributed to more than 1,000 pantries, meal programs and other nonprofit agencies that serve 330,000 people in eastern Wisconsin. Through the Milwaukee distribution center, food is provided to nearly 800 nonprofit programs in nine counties. The Fox Valley branch provides food to nearly 300 nonprofit programs in 27 counties.

We participated in the Meals for Minds program, which is an innovative program created by Target with the goal of feeding undernourished children so they can perform well in school.  Since 2010, Target has awarded Feeding America programs nationwide with grant money in order to make this event possible.  Feeding America Eastern Wisconsin is organizing monthly distributions from September through May at Forest Home Elementary School.  During each distribution, each child enrolled at the school receives 22 lbs. of food, of which 25% of that total consists of fresh produce. 

The Meals for Minds event takes place at Forest Home Elementary School, 1516 W. Forest Home Ave, in Milwaukee. The volunteer shift is from 3:15 to 6:30 pm. Volunteers are needed for various tasks including, but not limited to: bagging produce and other food items, assembling and dressing tables, prepping food cartons for distribution, breaking down cardboard, monitoring the food as it is distributed, restocking tables, bringing chilled cases from the truck, and clean up. 

Susan Kay, Jane Jones, and Rachel Gwidt were bagging the fresh produce, which included items like onions, celery, oranges, potatoes, tomatoes, etc., and distributing it once the families came through.  I was helping get plastic bags ready for the produce, and then was in charge of distributing loaves of bread to the families.  Each family would get two loaves of bread per child that was enrolled in the school.  I was told by a Feeding America employee, Gina, that around 500 families received food last month.  Gina is hoping that after the grant that Target provided runs out, they will be able to find more financial support to continue this program. 

The next opportunity is on March 22, 2012.  If you are interested in volunteering, please contact Chad Weston Gardner at cwgardner@feedingamericawi.org or 414-831-6310.

Andrea Reichle’s Mission Trip To Haiti

On January  12, 2010, a 7.0 M earthquake hit the country of Haiti, near the Port-au-Prince, which is the capital.  By January 24, at least 52 aftershocks measuring 4.5 or greater had been recorded.  An estimated 3 million people were affected by the quake.  The 2010 earthquake has been rated as the third deadliest in history. 

In June of 2010, I was able to join a group from Elmbrook Church who were going to Haiti for a week to learn of some opportunities to be involved with doing mission work.  Our group split up once we arrived in Haiti.  I was on the team that went to Jeremie, which is at the western end of the Haitian peninsula.  It is a 45-minute flight from PAP or around a nine-hour drive from PAP due to the road conditions being so poor in parts.

While we were there, we worked with a doctor, Dr. Katie Wolf, and a nurse, Cherlie Severe.  Their non-profit organization is called Friends for Health in Haiti.  They currently have a small clinic that is located around 11 miles outside of Jeremie in a village called Gatineau.  It takes about an hour, hour-and-a-half to drive there due to road conditions.  Their patients are generally within a four-hour walking radius of the clinic site.  On clinic days, which is now Monday, Tuesday, and Thursday, there are around 40-50 people that come for treatment.  One of our goals was to figure out a solution for designing a bridge over a creek to build a bigger clinic facility.  There were a few medical people on our team, as well, that got to help in the clinic one day.

Over the last year and a half, plans have been in the works, and the construction has begun on the land.  I recently got to return to Haiti with a group of nine men.  The men had various degrees of experience in construction and were put to use right away.  We built a hut to be used as a temporary pharmacy, chairs and benches that will be used at the clinic, shelving, etc.  There will be future teams going with construction and medical experience.

It is important for Americans to remember those around the world that don’t have as much as we do and to help in a way that will be beneficial for the people and the country.  Little has been done with the money that got donated to the country shortly after the quake.  There is still much poverty and devastation from the earthquake in Haiti.   Do your research before donating to an organization.  Consider taking a mission trip to a third-world country to open your eyes to cultures around us and how you can make a difference.