Committees

Communications

The Communications Committee is currently co-chaired by the two most immediate Past Presidents of the Association. The Communications Committee is primarily responsible for soliciting and gathering material for the WDBA’s quarterly newsletter and overseeing its production. Newsletters are typically issued in September, December, March, and June.

Newsletter content is broadly defined to include matters of interest to federal court practitioners generally, or affecting practice before the United States District Court for the Western District of Wisconsin. Members of the WDBA are encouraged to submit articles to the Communications Committee.

Chair

Katelynn Williams
Foley & Lardner

Courthouse Facilities

The Courthouse Facilities Committee is the intermediary between the physical courthouse and the bar. The courthouse has facilities available for attorneys, including an attorney’s room for use during trial and a nursing room. The Courthouse Facilities Committee communicates suggestions and feedback to the Clerk’s office to help those facilities better serve the bar.

Chair

R. Rick Resch
Strang Bradley LLC

Courthouse Rules, Practice & Procedure

The Western District of Wisconsin is unusual in that it has very few local rules. Instead, the judges have developed practices and procedures to be followed by parties appearing before the Court. Some, but not all, are set forth in standing orders of the Court.

The purpose of the Practices and Procedures Committee is take note of such information, working with the Court, and to disseminate such information to the Bar Association’s membership and others who appear before the Court.

Chair

Tanya Salman
Michael Best & Frierich

Criminal Justice

The Criminal Justice Committee welcomes participation by all WDBA members with an interest in federal criminal law. We especially encourage Federal Public Defenders, CJA panel attorneys, and prosecutors to join.

This committee’s goals are

  1. to provide continuing legal education and training to criminal law practitioners on trends and topics in federal criminal law and trial practice, and

  2. to help maintain a competitive yet amicable bar by supporting professionalism, communication, and civility among federal criminal practitioners.

Chair

Catherine White
Hurley Burish, S.C.

Diversity, Equity & Inclusion

The Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Committee works with WDBA leaders, WDBA members, and partners in the broader Wisconsin legal community to cultivate and sustain a diverse, equitable, and inclusive legal community in the Western District of Wisconsin.

Chair

Aaron Bibb
WI Dept of Justice

Membership

The Membership Committee assists the WDBA in recruiting new members and maintaining its current members. Its activities include participating in the Court’s semi-annual swearing-in ceremony for new members of the Western District Bar, and helping to plan social events for the WDBA’s members.

Chair

Elijah Van Camp
DeWitt LLP

Pro Bono / Pro Se

In an average year, more than 350 cases are filed in the Western District of Wisconsin by plaintiffs representing themselves — the great majority by prisoners alleging denial of their civil rights. In some cases, the court has determined that obtaining representation for the plaintiff is important.

The Western District of Wisconsin Bar Association Pro Bono Committee helps the court find lawyers who are willing to volunteer in appropriate cases. In addition to assisting in the recruitment process, the Committee administers a fund for reimbursing volunteer attorneys for some of their out-of-pocket costs. The Committee also provides informal support to volunteer attorneys who need it and conducts CLE programs ON pro bono representation. The Committee encourages participation by all WDBA members.

Attorneys interested in taking pro bono cases in the Western District of Wisconsin should send an email to pro_bono@wiwd.uscourts.gov. Attorneys who agree to take a pro bono appointment should fill out this form for approval of reimbursement by the presiding judge. The procedures for reimbursement of expenses are available here.

Co-Chair

Emily Feinstein
Quarles & Brady

Co-Chair

Catherine White
Hurley Burish, S.C.

Website

2002, the Western District Bar Association established a Website Committee. The Website Committee, with the assistance of the State Bar, established a website accessible by both its members and the public alike at http://www.wisbar.org/bars/west/.

The Committee is responsible for determining the content of the WDBA’s website. During 2003, the Website Committee included the following information on the WDBA’s site:

  • calendar of events

  • past newsletters

  • past CLE materials

  • Judicial Practice Expectations

  • committee mission statements

  • links to helpful Federal web sites

The Website Committee’s on-going mission is to chose appropriate content and maintain a web site that serves as a useful resource for members of the organization. To that end, the Committee welcomes any suggestions to expand or improve the content of the site. Future projects include providing sample electronic documents, and evaluating whether the posting of unpublished opinions would be useful to its members.

Chair

Bryce Loken
Quarles & Brady