April 15, 2015 – Jon Wilcox played a lot of fiddles in his day. A practicing attorney, trial judge, legislator, state supreme court justice, and a tree farmer – when Justice Wilcox looks back on his career, he can say he did a thing or two, or three.

“There are so many different things to do in life,” said Wilcox from his home near Wautoma. “You can’t do all of them, but you can certainly try.”

Justice Wilcox, a 1965 graduate of U.W. Law School, celebrates 50 years in the legal profession this year. He spent most of his career on the judiciary – 13 years as a circuit court judge in Waushara County and 15 years on the Wisconsin Supreme Court.

But he also served as state legislator in the Assembly, from 1969 to 1975, elected as a young 33-year-old lawyer in private practice to represent Green Lake, Waushara, and part of Fond du Lac counties. He was there in 1969 when protesters organized by Father James Groppi marched into the State Capitol and seized the Assembly chamber.

“They broke the doors of the Assembly down and carried [Assembly Speaker] Harold Froehlich off the podium,” Wilcox recalled.” The National Guard came and camped around the Capitol with tents and vehicles. This went on for several weeks.”

“It was an interesting time in Wisconsin’s history,” said Wilcox, who left the legislature under pressure from his law firm partners. “They wanted me to earn my keep.”

Getting Schooled

It all started in Wild Rose, a little town 10 miles north of Wautoma. That’s where Wilcox grew up, spending a large portion of his youth fly fishing trout streams. He excelled in school, and his mother planted a promising seed. “You should be a lawyer,” she said.

“I was always good at reading and writing,” said Wilcox, valedictorian of Wild Rose High School in 1954. “My mother put the thought in my mind, and it just stuck.”

He earned his undergraduate degree at Ripon College, then served in the Army for two years. He traveled the world with a military police company that escorted classified weaponry. From Japan to Korea, from Alaska to Hawaii, Wilcox saw the world beyond.

And he almost stayed. “I had to make a choice whether I was going stay in the Army as an officer or come back and go to law school. It was a good choice.”

After graduating from U.W. Law School in 1965, Wilcox started out in private practice at Steele, Smyth, Klos & Flynn in La Crosse. Wilcox said Jerry Klos was his mentor.

But it wasn’t long before Wilcox returned to his roots. He and his wife Jane (who helped put him through law school) borrowed money from the bank to buy about 2,500 acres of farmland near Wautoma and returned to the countryside. In 1968, he formed Wilcox, Rudolph, Kubasta & Rathjen.

Among his earliest cases was a quadruple homicide, representing the defendant. “It was bifurcated jury trial that lasted two weeks,” said Wilcox. “It was a real experience in dealing with the press and the public. I was not the most popular lawyer in town.”

On the Bench

As a rural lawyer, Wilcox developed a niche helping area farmers set up family farm corporations. After his six-year stint moonlighting in the Legislature, a new opportunity presented itself: a judicial vacancy in the one-judge Waushara County Circuit Court.

Tragically, then-Gov. Martin Schreiber’s judicial appointee, attorney James Poole, died the same day he filed papers to run uncontested for the judicial seat. The governor’s aide called Wilcox to break the news, and asked if he would consider running.

“At first, I wasn’t interested because I had the law firm. But eventually, I ran as a write-in candidate against three others. I won that race and took the bench in August of 1979.”

“I remember when I first started, the lawyers in this product liability case were making oral motions. I could feel the sweat running down my back. I called another judge and said, ‘what should I do?’ He gave me my first lesson in demanding written motions.”

As the only judge in Waushara County, Wilcox saw everything from murders to traffic cases, from product liability to real estate. His work garnered respect across Wisconsin.

In 1985, Judge Wilcox was appointed chief judge of Wisconsin’s sixth judicial district. In 1990, he was elected chairperson of the chief judges, a position he held until 1992, when his next duty came calling. Wisconsin Supreme Court Justice William Callow resigned midterm, and insiders urged Wilcox to put his name in.

“I said I wasn’t interested. I liked being a trial judge in Waushara County,” said Wilcox, who was later convinced to submit his name. Gov. Tommy Thompson appointed him.

“I came to Madison, and Chief Justice Nathan Heffernan gave me three boxes of briefs and said, ‘we are having a conference next week.’ I thought, do I have to read all these?” Wilcox joked. “That was my initiation to the supreme court bench.”

Wilcox served out Justice Callow’s term and was elected to a 10-year term in 1997. In all, he served the 15 years as a supreme court justice, opting not to run again in 2007. “My wife and I decided there were some other things we wanted to do in life,” he said.

“It was really the cap of my career,” Wilcox said. “I enjoyed the scholarship and the intellectual aspects, including the oral arguments. I enjoyed the camaraderie of my peers. I got to know great people. It was also nice to have a month off in the summer.”

Now, Wilcox has come full circle. He and his wife are back at the farm, enjoying the Wisconsin rural life. They manage a tree farm of white and red pine, oak and maple. Wilcox is still an active fisherman, and spends time hunting and hiking the land.

But Wilcox stays active in Wisconsin politics and law. He chairs the board of Ripon College’s Center for Politics & the People. A cancer survivor, Justice Wilcox also serves on the advisory board of the U.W. Carbone Cancer Center, his opportunity to give back.

“I have enjoyed retirement immensely, but I also enjoyed my career on the judiciary and before that. I owe a great deal to the legal community,” Justice Wilcox said.