Faculty & Scholarship

The rich intellectual environment at University of Wisconsin Law School is driven by a faculty of renowned legal scholars and innovative thinkers. They are the thought provokers. The idea generators. The pathbreakers who ask tough questions.

This stellar scholarly tradition makes UW Law the vibrant institution it is today.

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Erin McBride, Jay Tucker Receive Partners in Giving Awards

Erin McBride and Jay Tucker were among the award recipients for the 2026 Partners in Giving Recognition Ceremony, which took place March 18. McBride and Tucker both received the 2025 Doug Palm Community Service Award, which recognizes those who demonstrated creativity, resourcefulness, enthusiasm, integrity and outstanding achievement during the Partners in Giving campaign. Additionally, Tucker also received the 2025 Robert A. Alesch Award for serving in multiple leadership roles over an extended period. Partners in Giving is an annual workplace giving campaign for state, Universities of Wisconsin and UW Health employees and retirees. The 2025 campaign raised over $2 million for over 500 organizations. Learn more.

Peter Carstensen: Will the DOJ Reverse Seed Mergers?

Peter Carstensen recently published “The DOJ Knows What To Do About Those Seed Mergers. Will They Reverse Them?” In the paper, Carstensen, professor of law emeritus, argues that recent signals from the Department of Justice (DOJ) — particularly a shift away from hands-off antitrust enforcement — could have meaningful implications for food prices. While current attention is focused on price-fixing in consumer markets, Carstensen contends that lowering food costs requires addressing consolidation upstream, especially the rising costs faced by farmers. It highlights mergers among major seed companies during the Trump administration as a key area of concern, suggesting these deals may have reduced competition and increased input costs. The paper ultimately urges antitrust authorities to investigate and potentially challenge these mergers as part of a broader strategy to make food more affordable. Read more.

Jason Reinecke, Co-Authors Ask 'Can AI Hold Office Hours?'

Jason Reinecke, with co-authors Lisa Larrimore Ouellette, Amy R. Motomura and Jonathan S. Masur, recently published "Can AI Hold Office Hours?" Rapid improvements in AI tools offer transformative opportunities in legal education, including the possibility of students using AI tools to answer questions they might otherwise ask during office hours. But a critical challenge is the accuracy of these tools' responses, write the authors. "Both general-purpose and law-specific AI models have been shown to 'hallucinate' incorrect responses to a range of legal questions," they continue. In this paper, the authors evaluate current capabilities of AI models when given the more constrained task of answering questions about a specific legal text. "We found that a substantial number of responses were unacceptable in the sense of being harmful for learning, and many more responses failed to fully answer the question or had minor errors," they wrote. The paper is forthcoming in the Journal of Legal Education.

Bridget Lavender On How SDRI Untangles Complex Research

Bridget Lavender, State Democracy Research Initiative (SDRI) staff attorney, joined the Wisconsin Law in Action podcast to provide a deep dive into the difficulties of researching, explaining and influencing state-level cases and statutes. Lavender highlights how it is SDRI's mission to fill the gap in legal research by focusing on state constitutions and state-level democracy. One great example is Lavender's explainer about whether states can prohibit federal agents from masking while on the job, updated to include recent case decisions. Most of the conversation centers on the legal complexity of states attempting to regulate federal law enforcement — such as mask bans on federal agents — and how the Supremacy Clause makes these questions highly fact-specific with no easy answers. She also discusses how SDRI's work — through amicus briefs, legal explainers, white papers and direct engagement with policymakers — shapes real-world legal outcomes, even when not directly cited. Listen and follow on SoundCloud or Apple Podcasts.

Read Our 2025 Brochure

Erin McBride, Jay Tucker Receive Partners in Giving Awards

Peter Carstensen: Will the DOJ Reverse Seed Mergers?

Jason Reinecke, Co-Authors Ask 'Can AI Hold Office Hours?'

Bridget Lavender On How SDRI Untangles Complex Research

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Minnesota ICE Shooting: UW Law Experts Explain Legal Issues

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Faculty & Scholarship

Read Our 2025 Brochure

Erin McBride, Jay Tucker Receive Partners in Giving Awards

Peter Carstensen: Will the DOJ Reverse Seed Mergers?

Jason Reinecke, Co-Authors Ask 'Can AI Hold Office Hours?'

Bridget Lavender On How SDRI Untangles Complex Research

Faculty News

A Thriving Community

Research Centers & Initiatives

Clinics & Experiential Learning (PDF)

William H. Hastie Fellowship

Visiting Scholars Program

Scholarship Repository

View Faculty & Staff Directory

Minnesota ICE Shooting: UW Law Experts Explain Legal Issues

View Public Calendar

Law in Action

Bluesky

podcasts Podcasts

newspaper Activities & Scholarship