New Clinic Focuses On Youth Convictions
Six students participated in the Criminal Defense & Youth Advocacy Clinic, a year-long clinic for second- and third-year law students led by Clinical Assistant Professor Zoe Engberg, which launched in January. In this clinic, nestled within the Legal Assistance to Incarcerated People Clinic, students engage in direct representation, strategic litigation and research initiatives designed to address mass incarceration. In its inaugural semester, the clinic focused on advocacy for minors sentenced to adult prison sentences. Wisconsin incarcerates the second-highest number of people convicted as minors in the country. Some projects students are working on this year are:
- Advocating for minors sentenced to life sentences.
- Submitting early release petitions for people sentenced to prison as minors.
- Challenging juvenile false confessions.
- Investigating the practice of prosecuting minors under 10 in Wisconsin.
Chapter By Chapter: UW Law faculty shape legal thought, one page at a time.
Sumudu Atapattu‘s book chapter, “Linking International Human Rights Law and Climate Change,” was published in “Routledge Handbook of Climate Law and Governance” in November 2024. The chapter argues that, due to the inextricable link between human rights and climate change, a rights-based approach to climate change is needed to limit negative effects on human rights and ensure a sustainable future.
Erin Barbato wrote the chapter “An Unlikely Host in Humanitarian Reception: Fort McCoy During Operation Allies Welcome in the U.S.” for the “Refugee Reception and Camps” book published in March. Barbato’s chapter describes refugee and migrant reception at military bases in the U.S. during Operation Allies Welcome.
Elizabeth Manriquez authored Chapter 9, “Bowie Kent Kuhn,” in the book “Attorneys in the Baseball Hall of Fame,” published by McFarland and edited by Louis H. Schiff and Robert M. Jarvis. Since its creation in 1936, the Baseball Hall of Fame in Cooperstown, New York, has inducted 346 individuals; only 11 have been lawyers. This book, written by law professors and law librarians, celebrates this group.
Miriam Seifter and Jessica Bulman-Pozen wrote a new casebook, “State Constitutional Law: Cases and Principles,” published by Foundation Press.
Emily Cauble and Leandra Lederman (Indiana University Maurer School of Law) wrote the fifth edition of “Understanding Corporate Taxation,” published by Carolina Academic Press. The title is designed to make the complex subject of corporate taxation highly accessible, using straightforward language and numerous helpful charts, checklists, diagrams and numerical examples.
Washington, Buchholz, Williamson Named UW Law Teachers of the Year
Each spring, University of Wisconsin Law School celebrates excellence in teaching through its Teacher of the Year awards. The honorees for 2024 include:
Lisa Washington, Classroom Teacher of the Year
Washington, a 2021-22 William H. Hastie Fellow who returned to UW Law in 2023 as an assistant professor, is “an emerging legal leader in her field,” Dean Dan Tokaji said during a March ceremony.
She is a prolific scholar who recently earned two honors: the Dukeminier Award, which acknowledges the best law review articles concerning sexual orientation and gender identity each year, and the Emerging Scholars Award from the Association of American Law Schools’ Section of Family and Juvenile Law.
“It is extremely rare for someone who has only served on the faculty for one academic year to win this award,” Tokaji said. “It demonstrates her natural and extreme talent.”
Emily Buchholz, Clinical Teacher of the Year
Buchholz is a clinical associate professor and director of the Law & Entrepreneurship (L&E) Clinic, which provides free legal services to nascent entrepreneurs and early-stage companies. The L&E Clinic is the Law School’s most popular and sought-after clinic by students, and each year it serves over 300 clients.
“If you have the good fortune of spending time with Professor Buchholz, you will find that she is a dynamic, approachable individual whose positive attitude and strong work ethic make her a great colleague and partner,” said Tokaji.
One student called Buchholz one of the most supportive professors: “She guided me without holding my hand and incorporated empathy into her legal work in a manner I had not previously encountered.”
Brady Williamson, Adjunct Teacher of the Year
Williamson, who taught election and constitutional law for over four decades, was honored posthumously after passing away Feb. 16. The 79-year-old was described by The Capital Times as a “towering figure in the Wisconsin legal community.”
A skilled constitutional and corporate litigator, Williamson was a shareholder at Godfrey & Kahn; he often appeared in federal and state appellate courts and successfully represented clients before the U.S. Supreme Court. He was also involved in constitutional and election projects around the world. Williamson previously received this honor in 2006.
“Brady will be dearly missed,” said Tokaji. “He was a gentle and kind person. It is clear he had a drive to improve the lives of others that guided him in everything he did.”
A Star in Her Field
Lisa Washington received the 2025 Association of American Law Schools (AALS) Section on Family and Juvenile Law Emerging Scholar Award. Washington, along with this year’s winners, were acknowledged during an awards ceremony at the 2025 AALS Annual Meeting on Jan. 9.
Section awards are granted to individual faculty by AALS sections, the 108 communities within AALS organized around subject matter, administrative area and affinity groups.
Washington is regarded as “one of the most creative young scholars” and a “star in her field” by fellow UW Law peers Heinz Klug and Susannah Camic Tahk.
Stay of Execution Granted
Greg Wiercioch won a rare stay of execution in March for his client, David Wood, who was going to be executed by the state of Texas. Wiercioch has represented Wood for 16 years and, as he told a Guardian reporter, “I’ve never been more firmly convinced of someone’s innocence than I am of David Wood’s.” Due to Wiercioch’s tenacious lawyering, the court ordered an indefinite stay.