“I didn’t want to be the kind of judge that created more stress for them, because I knew what they were going through, so I tried to be as patient as I could be with the lawyers without letting them run roughshod over me.” Former U.S. Magistrate Judge William Callahan.

Nov. 1, 2023 – For former U.S. Magistrate Judge William Callahan, a career in the law wasn’t a given.

Callahan, who grew up in Park Ridge, a suburb of Chicago, didn’t come from a family of lawyers. His father worked as an executive with International Harvester – a position he attained after beginning his career with the company selling pickup trucks.

“He worked his way up from the bottom, he didn’t have a college degree,” Callahan said of his father. “But he was one of the smartest men I’ve ever known.”

Those smarts passed to Callahan. After obtaining his undergraduate degree from Marquette University, graduate school was a no-brainer.

“I was either going to go law school or become a history professor,” Callahan said. “I ended up going to law school. I made a good choice.”

Early Litigation Experience

Callahan obtained his law degree from Marquette University School of Law. His first job after law school was with Previant, Goldberg and Uelman, S.C., a Milwaukee law firm.

At the firm, Callahan handled personal injury, workers’ compensation, and criminal defense cases. But after only two years he applied for a position with the U.S. Attorney’s Office.

A college friend of Callahan’s, attorney Joe Stadtmueller, worked at the U.S. Attorney’s Office and encouraged Callahan to apply.

Stadtmueller told Callahan that the position involved handling civil cases. Would he be able to handle any criminal cases? Callahan asked.

“He said, ‘Well, you’ll have a lot better chance doing criminal cases if you’re here than if you’re not,’” Callahan said.

Callahan applied and got the job.

Assistant U.S. Attorney

Callahan worked as an assistant U.S. attorney for nearly ten years. He ended his time in the office as the first assistant under Stadtmueller, who was appointed U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of Wisconsin in 1981.

Callahan relished trial work, despite the rigors.

“It’s hard,” Callahan said. “There’s a lot of pressure, a lot of anxiety.”

One of the memorable cases that Callahan prosecuted involved Tony Peters, who was convicted of selling cocaine to Major League Baseball (MLB) players.

Peters, a former ice cream salesman, was sentenced to 22 years in prison. Prosecutors said that Peters ran a narcotics operation that involved players from all 26 MLB teams and grossed $17 million a year.

Callahan co-chaired the case with Larry Anderson, before U.S. District Court Judge Robert Warren, a former Wisconsin attorney general.

“It was a fun case,” Callahan said, before adding that he and Anderson labored to keep names of MLB players mentioned during grand jury proceedings from leaking to the press.

Return to Private Sector

Callahan’s work at the U.S. Attorney’s Office didn’t go unnoticed. In 1985, he was recruited by Davis and Kuelthau, S.C.

“That was right when the metropolitan desegregation case was filed,” Callahan said. “Because I had experience in federal court, they recruited me to do litigation.”

“The first few years, the bulk of my work was representing the school districts of Elmbrook and Wauwatosa in the metropolitan desegregation case.”

In 1984 – eight years after a federal judge ordered the desegregation of Milwaukee schools – Milwaukee school officials filed a desegregation case against the state of Wisconsin and suburban school officials.

The lawsuit alleged that the state and suburban school district officials maintained a system that consigned 95% of Milwaukee’s Black students to sub-standard Milwaukee schools.

The aim of the lawsuit was to compel the suburban school districts to participate in the desegregation efforts mandated in the 1976 order.

After a two-month trial, the case settled in 1987. The terms of the settlement included an expansion of a city-suburban desegregation plan.

Under the expansion, 6,000 Milwaukee students attended suburban schools and 800 students attended Milwaukee schools.

Ascension to the Bench

Callahan was appointed a federal magistrate judge for the U.S. District for the Eastern District of Wisconsin in 1995.

The appointment came on Callahan’s second try for a magistrate judge position. For Callahan, applying for the magistrate judge position seemed natural.

“I thought to myself, ‘I’ve done criminal work, I’ve done civil work, I’ve represented plaintiffs, I’ve represented defendants, I’ve done a lot of federal work, maybe I’d be OK as a magistrate judge,’” Callahan said.

Federal magistrate judges generally handle pre-trial matters, including warrant hearings, initial appearances, and arraignments. They may also preside over civil trial if the parties consent.

Unlike federal district court and appeals court judges, magistrate judges aren’t appointed by the president or confirmed by the U.S. Senate. Instead, they are vetted by a selection panel, then appointed by a majority of the U.S. district court judges on the court.

Magistrate judges serve renewable eight-year terms.

“It was very apolitical in the approach,” Callahan said of the appointment process.

Scope of Work as Magistrate Judge

As a magistrate judge, Callahan presided over hearings on search warrant and arrest warrants, as well as detention hearings and evidentiary hearings.

For part of his time on the bench, Callahan and the other magistrate judge in the district wrote reports and recommendations in civil cases. But that ended when the magistrates’ reports and recommendations began to grow in length and read almost like opinions in their own right.

“There came a time when it was decided that it was a ‘One-judge, one-case district,’” Callahan said.

“So, every case was assigned directly to either a district judge or a magistrate judge, and if the parties consented to keep the magistrate judge, then the magistrate judge would handle those cases through trial.”

For Callahan, it was a welcome change.

“Once it was ‘One-judge, one-case,’ then I didn’t have to worry about reports and recommendations,” Callahan said.

“I would just handle the case and issue a decision – it was all mine. It was great, and it was very efficient, I thought.”

Callahan said that he drew upon his own experience as a trial lawyer during his time on the bench.

“I didn’t want to be the kind of judge that created more stress for them, because I knew what they were going through, so I tried to be as patient as I could be with the lawyers without letting them run roughshod over me,” Callahan said.

“I know how hard it is, especially in private practice. It’s hard to get work, it’s hard to do the work, and oftentimes it’s hard to get paid for the work.”

Of Cheeseheads and Copyright

In 1996, Callahan presided over a copyright infringement dispute between a company that made foam cheeseheads worn by Green Bay Packers fans and a group of people who were making their own cheeseheads.

The defendants argued that the company lacked a valid copyright.

In Foamation, Inc. v. Wedeward Enterprises, 970 F. Supp 676 (E.D. Wis. 1997), Callahan ruled for the defendants.

In his decision, Callahan pointed out that: 1) all the cheeseheads sold by the company for two years lacked any copyright notice; and 2) a copyright notice later affixed to the cheeseheads was illegible.

“I thought at the time, ‘I’m a Bears fan, so what better person to make the decision,’ because I didn’t care how many cheeseheads they sold,” Callahan said.

‘A Wonderful Profession’

Callahan retired from full-time service as a magistrate judge in 2015. He continues to serve part-time on recalled status, which finds him often mediating civil disputes.

Callahan said that mediation requires a different skill set than making rulings from the bench.

“You have to listen a lot,” Callahan said. “You have to let people talk, maybe ask a few questions, but give them a chance to really be heard. People just want to be heard half the time.”

“Trials are structured in such a way that they can’t really tell you their story very easy. Mediation allows them to do that, and sometimes by being able to let them talk makes it easier for the mediator to come up with a solution that both sides are content with.”

When he’s not working, Callahan and his wife Jodi enjoy spending time at their condo in Hilton Head, South Carolina, especially during the winter months. Callahan also enjoys the occasional round of golf.

The Callahans, who’ve been married for 52 years, also enjoy spending time with their 15 grandchildren.

Looking back, Callahan said the practice of law is “a wonderful profession,” despite the challenges.

“One time I remember talking to a doctor and I said, ‘The difference between lawyers and doctors is, when you’re a doctor and you’re trying to treat somebody, everybody’s pulling for you, and when you’re a lawyer the other side is pulling against you, they want you to fail,’” Callahan said.

“I think sometimes lay people may not entirely appreciate the stress and the pressure. I always say, ‘Everybody hates lawyers until they need one.’”

“That’s the nature of the profession,” Callahan said. “Sometimes you don’t always get the thanks you’d like to get, but every once in a while, somebody thanks you for helping them, and that’s worth its weight in gold.”