Who inspired you to pursue a legal career?
My father inspired me to pursue a career in which I could serve others. He served as an oncologist/hematologist at Sinai Samaritan Medical Center, located one block from the Milwaukee County Courthouse, where I now serve within the same community. While at U.W.-Madison, I became interested in public service, specifically in the fields of law and public management, which led me to my current position with the Milwaukee County District Attorney’s Office. Beyond my father, I benefited from many invaluable mentors, who he urged me to find, along the way.
What was your funniest or oddest experience in a legal context?
The funniest moment of my career is the time I was the state’s bond counsel. In preparation for a closing, after the state treasurer had finished signing – with the help of a “signature machine” – $100 million in general obligation bonds, a courier from the escrow agent came to take custody of the now negotiable securities until the closing the next day. Because this was my first closing, I diligently asked the courier for identification. Without a word (or a smile), the gentleman showed his revolver. That was identification enough for me.
What’s your advice to Packer fans about how to cope with their loss in the NFC championship game?
As a die-hard Packer fan, it was one of the worst losses I have seen by a sports team, and what made it so bad is that it felt so personal. Packer fans are unique in the world of sports because we can own a share of the franchise. That makes us connected to our team in a way that no other fans experience.
To make matters worse, we as fans had absolutely no control over how the events on the field unfolded. Resilience is about identifying where you have control, influence, or leverage in a tough situation, and to have none drives helplessness and strong negative emotions.
As a result, it’s important to process all those emotions. I’m guessing that many fans have moved on from the loss, but those negative emotions and the “what if’s” are going to resurface as the draft, training camp, and the new season get closer. The result of the NFC championship game isn’t going to change, so it becomes important, from a resilience standpoint, to choose hope as the upcoming season approaches.
Tough situations give you the opportunity to find the lesson in the adversity so you can learn from it and grow. Coach McCarthy is going through that process now. He’s decided to give up his play-calling responsibilities, and he’s rearranging the coaching staff to allow that to happen. I think that’s a great sign because he’s gone from, “I have no regrets,” to realizing that serious changes needed to be made, starting with him.
What are the two greatest accomplishments in your professional career?
As a lawyer who has devoted most of his career to teaching and scholarship, I don’t have the big trials or big deals that many other attorneys might point to as their top professional accomplishments.
As I look back over 15 years as a law professor, what gives me the greatest sense of gratification are the conversations with students and former students in which I have been able, in some small way, to provide assistance in a time of need – whether that be by clarifying a difficult point of law, or by making an introduction to help with a job search, or simply by offering reassurance during a period of self-doubt. I regard it as a great privilege for me to be able to participate in the professional formation of our next generation of lawyers.
As a second accomplishment, I might point to the Marquette Law School Faculty Blog (http://law.marquette.edu/facultyblog), which I proposed to Dean Joseph Kearney in 2008. Working with Dean Kearney and a few other faculty colleagues, I helped to design the blog and served as its managing editor for several years. We’ve now had more than 1 million visitors to the website, and I think it has lived up to my hope that it would serve as a significant point of engagement between Marquette Law School and the Wisconsin legal community.
What’s on your bucket list?
This question flummoxed me for a moment because I’ve never kept an actual “bucket list.” Of course, I’ve often thought “that would be fun to do someday” – see a show in New York City; curl (my winter sport) in Scotland; take a toboggan run in Banff. But on reflection, my current bucket list is:
Visit New Orleans and sample all the local food.
Take a road trip to Kansas. Kansas is the only lower-48 state that I’m missing. If you collect states, you know why this is on my list.
Take a hike in all the national parks in the lower 48. So many are difficult to visit in the summer because of the heat, so I may be delayed on reaching this goal until I retire.
Go ice fishing. People think I’m kidding when I try to get myself invited. Eventually, someone will take me seriously.
Stay at the lodge at Yellowstone National Park in the winter.
Grab a donut or two (or more) at a place called Bogart’s Doughnut Company in Minneapolis. This is a recent addition to my list and should be accomplished this summer.
What are the top two or three unconventional lessons you’ve learned about law practice (so far)?
I have learned a number of unconventional lessons about the practice of law. First, there are a number of excellent attorneys in the Madison area. This is a great environment for the practice of law, and I continue to learn more every day. Many of us are very fortunate to practice here.
Second, I have learned that great attorneys do not necessarily make great business managers or human resources representatives. Lawyers seem to get in the most trouble when they exceed their area of expertise and assume that their proficiency as an attorney automatically translates into other endeavors.
Finally, I have learned that cooperation with opposing counsel in litigation saves time and money and yields better results for clients. My article in this issue addresses this topic in the e-discovery context.
