Louis B. Butler

Biography

Louis B. Butler, Jr., a former city and state court judge with extensive judicial experience, was the first African-American to serve on the Wisconsin Supreme Court.  Mr. Butler is a permanent member of the faculty of the national Judicial College in Reno, Nevada, where judges from across the nation and around the world take continuing judicial education classes.  He has extensive knowledge of litigation, dispute resolution and court processes at all levels.

Mr. Butler has argued before the United States Supreme Court and helps guide the firm’s appellate practice group.  He has served as a Senior Visiting Lecturer at the University of Wisconsin Law School, where he taught Appellate Advocacy and also has a special understanding of matters that involve criminal risk and defense.  Mr. Butler also concentrates his practice to help clients with special areas of criminal, complex, and appellate litigation.

Partial List of Recognitions & Accomplishments:

Mr. Butler has been nominated by President Barack Obama to be a United States District Court Judge for the Western District of Wisconsin. Prior to becoming a city and state court judge, he was the first public defender in Wisconsin history to argue before the United States Supreme Court in McCoy v. Wisconsin Court of Appeals, 486 U.S. 429 (1988).  His practice experience includes nine years of exclusive appellate litigation and includes arguing before Wisconsin Supreme Court over 20 times.  As a Supreme Court Justice, Mr. Butler authored numerous significant decisions affecting the civil and criminal landscape in Wisconsin.

Mr. Butler has received a number of awards throughout his career, including the Thomas G. Cannon Equal Justice Award from the Legal Aid Society of Milwaukee, the William M. Coffey Memorial Award, presented by the Wisconsin Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers, the NAACP Foot Soldiers’ Award, the Outstanding Citizen’s Award from the Wisconsin Council of Deliberations, Prince Hall Masons, and the Trail Blazer Award presented by the Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority in 2002 and 2004.  He also was named “Humanitarian of the Year” by the American Federation of Teachers, Local 212.

Mr. Butler formerly directed the Wisconsin Public Defender Clinical Program at Marquette University Law School as an adjunct assistant professor of law.  He was a member of the American Bar Association’s Standing Committee on Judicial Independence from 2008 through
2011.  He was inducted as a member of the Fellows of the Wisconsin Law Foundation in November 2008, and in February 2011, he was elected to serve on the Board of Trustees for Lawrence University.  Mr. Butler is also a member of the State Bar of Wisconsin, Milwaukee Bar Association, NAACP, Wisconsin Association of African-American Lawyers, Community Brainstorming Conference, and Thomas E. Fairchild Chapter of the American Inns of Court.

Mr. Butler received a J.D. from the University of Wisconsin Law School, and a B.A. from Lawrence University, where he also received an Honorary Doctorate in Humanities.  He is admitted to practice in Wisconsin and Illinois.

Education & Bar Admissions

Education

• University of Wisconsin Law School, J.D.
• Lawrence University, B.A.
• Lawrence University, Honorary Doctorate in Humanities

Bar Admissions

• Illinois
• Wisconsin

In the News

• 8/11/2011 – Gonzalez Saggio & Harlan welcomes former Justice of the Wisconsin Supreme Court, Louis B. Butler, Jr. as a Partner