About Law & Entrepreneurship News
Law & Entrepreneurship News is a collaborative project involving Professor Gordon Smith and students at the University of Wisconsin Law School. The purpose of this project is to provide links and commentary on recent developments relating to law and entrepreneurship. More specifically, we will track judicial, legislative, regulatory, transactional and scholarly developments related to various topics. Each topic will be the primary responsibility of a student editor, who will research and write the blog entries.
About Us
Gordon Smith, Faculty Advisor
Gordon Smith is a Professor of Law at the University of Wisconsin Law School, where he also serves as Associate Director of the Initiative for Studies in Technology Entrepreneurship (INSITE).
After a stint as a corporate and securities lawyer in the Delaware office of Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom, Professor Smith began his academic career at Lewis & Clark Law School in Portland, Oregon,
where he began teaching and writing about entrepreneurial businesses and venture capital. Professor Smith's official biography contains
more details, and you can also find him at his blog, Venturpreneur.
Chris Anderson, Editor, International Trade
Chris Anderson came to law school after a year living in rural Japan teaching English. He graduated from Lawrence University in Fall of 2002 with a degree in Government and an interdisciplinary in International Studies, with a Spanish
background. He spent the Summer of 2004 as a student intern with the University of Wisconsin Consumer Law Litigation Clinic, working on everything from fraud and misrepresentation to enforceability of arbitration agreements.
After graduation from law school, he hopes to go into international business law and live in Chicago. Brought up in Milwaukee, the youngest of four, he became a big Brewers fan and an even bigger Packers fan. His favorite sport,
however, remains European football, which he became enthralled with while spending his junior year of high school as an exchange student outside of Barcelona. Visca Barca!
Brian Buchanan, Editor, Wisconsin
Brian Buchanan graduated from the University of Wisconsin in 2003 where he majored in political science and journalism. The next fall, he started at the
law school, where he is now in his second year. During the summer of 2004, he worked in Dane County Circuit Judge Bill Foust's office, researching and
observing everything from spoliation of evidence to what to do when a defendant is a cult member who refuses to speak a recognized language or
acknowledge people sitting higher than him. In his free time, he enjoys attending Badger athletic events, following Wisconsin's pro teams and keeping up
with politics. He is originally from Kenosha, Wisconsin.
Alec Dobson, Editor, Administration
Alec Dobson worked as a newspaper reporter and editor for 22 years, mostly as an editor and mostly at The Milwaukee Journal and the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel.
This summer, he began working for the Wisconsin Innocence Project, providing legal assistance to inmates who have proveable claims that they were wrongly
convicted.
Mandy Gibbs, Editor, Bankruptcy & Debtor/Creditor
Mandy Gibbs graduated from the University of Wisconsin in 2002 with a BBA in management and marketing and a specialization in international business. She is
currently a third year law student and a TA for Organizational Behavior in the School of Business. She spent the summer of 2003 working as a law clerk at
the Department of Natural Resources in Madison and the summer of 2004 working as a law clerk at Herrling Clark Law Firm in Appleton, WI.
Kenny Hoeschen, Editor, Venture Capital
Prior to enrolling in the UW Law School, Kenny Hoeschen worked for 16 years in the Information Technology industry. He received his B.S. in Computer Science and began working as a Systems Engineer for Electronic Data Systems in 1986. Following EDS, he worked as a Project Manager at Philips Electronics then as a Senior Consultant for MicroStrategy. He then accepted the position of Vice President of Software for LCC International, the world's leading supplier of software, hardware, and consulting for cellular network design and optimization. After two years, the division was sold to Ericsson and Kenny left to found his own company, ProxySource, a developer of a proprietary component-based software development tool. While the company was unsuccessful in obtaining funding, the team was active in the Washington DC area VC community and participated in both the University of Maryland's Dingman Center for Entrepreneurship as well as the MIT Enterprise Forum. Kenny now happily lives in Wisconsin with his wife, Vesla, and their two Beagles, Dewey and Maisy.
Nick Infusino, Editor, Small Business
Nick Infusino was born and raised in Kenosha, Wisconsin. For as long as he can remember, he has been immersed in a small business atmosphere. His father has owned a wide range of small businesses
including a construction company, a cell phone business, gas stations, land development companies and a project management company. When he was 16, he and two friends started a lawn care business
that they managed and owned through their high school years and into their undergraduate careers at the University of Wisconsin. He is now interning at a law firm in Kenosha, Wisconsin where he helps
other small business owners navigate through the muddled waters of small business laws and regulations.
Quentin Johnson, Editor, Alliances
Growing up in small-town Wisconsin, Quentin Johnson chose to do his undergraduate work at the University of Wisconsin, which included a year abroad at the University of Madrid. After Madison, he moved
to London, where he worked in administration for four London Hospitals. While in London, he decided he liked the city but not the work and enrolled in business school earning his MBA in International
Business. Upon graduation, he returned to the States, where he started a small M&A consultancy, began teaching for the College of Business and Management at Cardinal Stritch University and entered the
University of Wisconsin Law School, where he is now a second-year student. In his free time, he enjoys international travel, playing golf and cycling with his wife.
Joost Kap, Editor, Comparative Entrepeneurship
Joost Kap was born in the Netherlands but moved to Madison when he was six. His professional experience is broad, ranging from "enzyme harvester"
(read pushing hundreds of gallons of animal remnants around with a canoe paddle) to Economic Development intern for the Wisconsin Counties Association. He
lived in Colorado for three years, spending summers and falls living in a tent. He currently works at the Madison firm of Bell, Gierhart & Moore.
Doug Kassebaum, Editor, Franchising
Doug Kassebaum grew up in Kansas City, then received his undergraduate degree in History and French Literature from Duke University. After graduating, he
taught English to school teachers in Namibia for one year. He then worked as a manager for a small manufacturing company. In need of a rest after
ten years, he enrolled in the University of Wisconsin Law School, where he is a 2L. He enjoys traveling with his beautiful wife Katja, reading and washing the dishes.
Bill Rinehart, Editor, Family Businesses
After spending the first eighteen years of his life in Milwaukee, WI, Bill Rinehart moved to Minneapolis, MN and recieved a bachelors degree in business from the University of Minnesota. He first developed
an interest in family-owned business while in college and that interest has grown as he has made his way through law school. Currrently, he is a law clerk for Dewitt Ross & Stevens, in downtown Madison.
During his free time, he likes to take advantage of State Street activities, run, sail, watch sports, and spend time with his girlfriend.
Nicole Robbins, Editor, Contracts
Nicole Robbins is a second-year law student. She graduated from Marquette University with a BS in Business Administration, where she double-majored in Human Resources Management and
Marketing. Previously, she worked as a Human Resources Associate at M&I Corporation (M&I Bank). In this role, she recruited and coordinated the hiring
process for the M&I Bank High School Co-op Program. She has experience in consulting and other business areas as well. Currently, she is a law clerk for
the United States Attorneys Office for the Western District of Wisconsin, where she assists with criminal and civil cases.
Chris Rotzien, Editor, Securities
Chris Rotzien is currently a third year J.D./M.B.A. candidate at the University of Wisconsin. He also holds two part-time positions during the academic year: one as the Legal Clerk for the Office of General
Counsel of the University of Wisconsin System, and the other as an Associate for Lexis-Nexis. Chris hails from the Midwest and attended Northwestern University, where he earned his B.A. in Economics
and Political Science in 2002. In addition to his academic and professional pursuits, Chris enjoys soccer, live music, and security analysis.
Matt Rutlin, Editor, Corporations
Matt Rutlin grew up in central Wisconsin and attended college at the University of Wisconsin, where he recieved his degree in mechanical engineering.
After graduating, he worked for Rockwell Automation as a sales engineer in Milwaukee and Chicago before moving back to Madison to attend law school.
Currently a third year law student, he has worked in the patent group at the Forest Products Laboratory of the Department of Agriculture, as an intern for
the Wisconsin Court of Appeals and as a summer associate for Ruder Ware law firm in Wausau, Wisconsin. In his free time, he enjoys running, playing hockey
and doing just about anything with his yellow lab, Farley.
Marjorie Sterne, Editor, Patents & Technology
Marjorie Sterne graduated from Sarah Lawrence College in 2000 with a Bachelor of the Arts Degree and focus in the History of Evolutionary Theory and
Social Darwinism. She worked as a natural linguist, natural history teacher and Princeton Review Test Preparatory Assistant Director prior to coming to
law school in 2002. Her focus within the law school has been Bioethics, Law, and Entrepreneurship. Directed Reading projects through 2003-4 include the
1st amendment right to research in the context of the ban on stem cell research, the Bayh-Dole Act of 1980 and technology transfer and the current climate
for venture finance investment in Wisconsin. She was also a legal intern for Planned Parenthood of Wisconsin during the spring semester of 2004 during
which time she helped to develop an argument for a State Constitutional Right of Choice. During the Summer of 2004, she studied in Venice, Italy with
Vanderbilt University Law School, studying International Commercial Arbitration and is currently in Munich Germany with George Washington University
studying Intellectual Property Law in the context of Internet Technology.
Matt White, Editor, Employees
Having lived in Madison most of his life, Matt White never wanted to go to college anywhere but the University of Wisconsin. There he received a BA in
English 2002. He and his wife have worked in management for almost every type of service-industry job, so he came to study law with an interest in the
way that the law mediates between employers and employees. This summer, he is working on health care advocacy with a statewide non-partisan organization.
Zachary Wyatt, Editor, Copyright & Trademark
Zachary Wyatt was born in Knoxville, TN. After living in Nashville, TN and
Aiken, SC, he returned to Knoxville to attend the University of Tennessee. There, he studied Anthropology and Psychology and worked at the University of Tennessee Forensic Anthropology
Facility, informally known as the Body Farm. After graduation, he worked at a regional detention facility administered by the Knox County Sheriff's Office. As a facility security officer, he was charged with coming to the aid of facility guards when things got hairy. He then worked for Cultural Resources Office of Tennessee Valley Authority, heading a project to digitize maps of over 9,000 archaeological sites in seven states, all under TVA protection. With the site project complete, he decided to brave the Great White North and join the law school ranks at the University of Wisconsin. Now in his second year, he loves the school and the city but misses sweet tea, hushpuppies and people who say, "Yes ma'am." He spends his spare time documenting the law school experience at
the Rising Jurist and rock climbing.