Klein elected as State Bar president

Listen to this article

For the third time in the last four years, the State Bar of Wisconsin elected another president-elect who supports a voluntary bar.

Phillips attorney Kevin Klein won the election for president-elect, defeating Janesville lawyer Jim Carney, a mandatory bar supporter, by about 500 votes.

Klein will serve in that post for one year beginning July 1 and will then take office as president of the State Bar for a one-year term beginning July 1, 2012.

Klein, who could not immediately be reached for comment, received 2,651 votes to defeat Carney, who received 2,144 votes.

The 1981 University of Wisconsin Law School graduate has been a sole practitioner serving clients in Price County and neighboring jurisdictions. He has served in a variety of senior State Bar leadership positions, including currently on the Board of Governors and its Executive Committee.

The election of Klein comes three years after the election of current past-president Doug Kammer and two years after the election of current president Jim Boll, both voluntary bar supporters.

Klein will succeed Jim Brennan, a mandatory bar supporter, as president-elect this July.

In other races, Kelly Nickel of Elkhorn was elected State Bar treasurer, defeating Nick Vivian of Stillwater, Minn., and Nick Zales of Milwaukee. The treasurer holds the position for two years. Nickel received 1,608 votes, Vivian received 1,576 and Zales received 1,250.

Bill Gleisner of Milwaukee was elected to a seat on the Judicial Council, which studies and makes recommendation to improve court organization and operations. He defeated Joe Cardamone of Kenosha and Beth Hanan of Milwaukee. The Judicial Council representative serves for three years. Gleisner received 1,801 votes, Hanan received 1,712 and Cardamone 1,061.

A total of 18 members were elected to the Board of Governors, the State Bar’s policy-making body, where they will serve two-year terms. Districts 1, 2, 3, 5, 6, 7, 9, 11, 13, and 15 elected governors in 2011. District 2 (Milwaukee) elected seven; District 9 (Dane) elected three; and all other districts elected one. Those elected to serve on the Board of Governors are:

• District 1: Joe Cardamone of Kenosha
• District 2: Andrew Beilfuss, Art Harrington, Margaret Hickey, Lisa Lawless, Atheneé Lucas, Theodore Perlick Molinari and Tom Phillips, all of Milwaukee
• District 3: Jessica King of Oshkosh
• District 5: Charles Hanson of La Crosse
• District 6: Kimberly Haines of Delafield
• District 7: Bill Curran of Mauston
• District 9: Sue Collins, Patty Struck and Jim Thiel, all of Madison
• District 11: Richard Summerfield of Bloomer
• District 13: Fred Kaftan of West Bend