With new Legislature comes fewer attorneys

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The number of attorneys serving in the Legislature is slated to bottom out again as new lawmakers prepare to be sworn in early next year.

According to the State Bar, 12 incoming members of the Assembly and two state senators will carry law degrees when they are sworn in Jan. 5. At 14, that matches lows reached in sessions between 2000 and 2006.

The number of attorneys who serve in the Legislature has been in decline for about 40 years. After 2006, the numbers began to climb again, topping out at about 17 legislators in 2011-12.

“My gosh, are we down to two [state senators]?” Fred Risser, the Democratic state senator who has represented Madison since 1957, said of the Senate.

Attorneys who serve or served on both sides of the aisle say the drop is often because it is not always feasible to maintain a law practice and be a legislator. Even if being a legislator is not listed as a full-time job, there are other duties, such as fundraising, speaking engagements and meeting with constituents, that can quickly fill a calendar. That leaves little time to practice, even if a law practice is well-established.

“I used to think of the Legislature as the thing that will expand, that will fill all available space,” said Jim Sullivan, a former Democratic state senator from Milwaukee who served from 2006 to 2010. He now heads the child support department in Milwaukee County.

Sullivan likened Risser to someone that other attorney-legislators aspire to be, even if they can’t attain it.

“There is at least one example of success,” Sullivan said, noting that Risser comes from an “old-school, different era.”

But others said having those with legal training is important. While the state Legislative Reference Bureau has attorneys who research and draft bills at the request of lawmakers, looking at it a few more times always helps, state Rep. Dana Wachs, D-Eau Claire and an attorney at Richie, Wickstrom & Wachs LLP, said.

“Buried in these bills are different agendas that need to be analyzed,” he said. “We need more Democratic lawyers. We need more Republican lawyers.”

Risser echoed Wachs’ comments, saying attorneys “are trained to look at all sides of the issue.”

“I think we tend to look at the unintended consequences more often,” Risser said.

State Rep. Jim Ott, R-Mequon, said all but one of the members of a committee he headed this summer to work on structured settlement payments legislation was an attorney. It helped, since committee members were able to ferret out every possible loophole before their work was done, he said.

“Having those extra legal eyes and the wide range of backgrounds, I don’t think there was anything that got through that committee,” Ott said.

Still, others said attorneys should be represented, much in the same fashion farmers, business people and doctors serve in the Legislature.

Adam Jarchow, an attorney with Bakke Norman SC who was elected to represent Balsam Lake, said he doesn’t think it would “hurt” to have more attorneys in the Legislature.

But the incoming Republican assemblyman added that he is “actually a big fan of a good cross section of our community being represented [in Madison].”

The downward trend of attorney-legislators isn’t unique to Wisconsin.

In 1976, lawyers were the most commonly represented profession in U.S. statehouses, according to the National Conference of State Legislatures. But by 2007, full-time legislators had surpassed attorney-legislators, and their numbers had fallen to about 15 percent.

The rate in Wisconsin today is slightly lower. However, according to the State Bar, the Legislature would be better served if more attorneys were in office.

“We’d always like to see more,” State Bar President Bob Gagan said. “We think being an elected official is a great way to work in the law and give back to your community at the same time.” Follow @eheisigWLJ