Henak Law Office, S.C. - Premier Wisconsin Criminal Appeal Lawyers

Publications and Legal Education Activities

The attorneys at Henak Law Office, S.C. actively work to improve the criminal justice system by training other lawyers, speaking out on important issues, and educating others about the justice system. Both have been frequent speakers at attorney training seminars.

For the past several years, Attorney Ellen Henak has been an adjunct professor at the Marquette University Law School, teaching a course on Advanced Brief Writing.

Attorney Ellen Henak has published "When the Interests of Self, Client and Colleagues Collide:The Ethics of Ineffective Assistance of Counsel Claims" in the American Journal of Trial Advocacy and "From Tricked-out Brief to Persuasive Petition for Review," both in the Wisconsin State Bar Appellate Practice Section's newsletter, De Novo, and in the State Bar's publication, Inside Track, in 2009. In 1997, she wrote "The Changing Rules Governing Relief After Direct Appeal and Their Effect on Direct Appeals," which was published in Wisconsin Defender in 1997.

Attorney Ellen Henak spoke on Nuts and Bolts of Appeals in Termination of Parental Rights Cases in Wisconsin in February of 2013, on the ethical implications of internet use in December of 2010, on litigating appeals in sexually violent person commitment cases in November of 2010, on writing petitions for review in September of 2009, on sentence credit in 2008, and on handling confidential documents in the appellate process.

In addition, Attorney Ellen Henak has been actively involved in law-related education. For several years, she was a co-chair of the State Bar's High School Mock Trial Program and helped write the case materials for many years. For over ten years, she taught high school teachers about the Wisconsin court system at the Judicial Teaching Institute (a joint project of the Wisconsin State Bar, the Wisconsin Supreme Court, and the University of Wisconsin).

Beginning in August, 2016, Attorney Robert R. Henak has presented a series of Continuing Legal Education programs on the intricacies of federal habeas corpus. Federal habeas is a highly complex and specialized area of law. Having competent attorneys ready and able to pursue such relief on behalf of criminal defendants is critically important both to increase the chances that justice will be done in a particular case and to encourage state courts to comply with federal constitutional requirements.

Attorney Robert R. Henak is a frequent presenter at the annual Wisconsin State Public Defender Conference. The topics have included the following (with links to his outline materials):

2017 SPD Conference - Panel discussion on Strategies to Effectively Argue Prejudice in Ineffective Assistance of Counsel Claims
2015 SPD Conference - Panel discussion on Proving Prejudice and Disproving Harmlessness
2014 SPD Conference - Presentation on Appellate Arguments You Should Preserve for Federal Court

Attorney Robert R. Henak also spoke on New Federalism and Constitutional analysis at the Marquette University Law School conference on the Wisconsin Supreme Court in December, 2010, and spoke on Recusal for Judicial Bias in Wisconsin at the same conference in October 2009. He previously spoke on Supervisory Writs in State Criminal Cases at the Milwaukee Bar Association's 2008 program, Appeals from Start to Finish, and on the Duty of Competency for Appellate Lawyers at the 2004 Wisconsin State Bar Convention, and Remedies after Direct Appeal at the Wisconsin State Public Defender Conference.

Attorney Robert Henak spoke out when the Seventh Circuit published a decision affecting thousands of prisoners without appointing counsel or even granting briefing on the issue. His Letter to the Editor of the Wisconsin Law Journal brought much needed attention to the issue. Similarly, Attorney Henak wrote a letter to the Wisconsin Court of Appeals Publication Committee urging it not to publish a decision affecting the requirements for Knight petitions. Attorney Henak also has objected to the Court of Appeals' practice of issuing published decisions in criminal cases where the defendant is not represented by counsel.

Both attorneys spoke at the 2013 SPD Conference on Framing Ineffective Assistance Claims in Wisconsin Courts. Outline. PowerPoint Presentation