Litigators to battle for Judicial Council spot

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A shareholder at von Briesen & Roper SC, Milwaukee, is challenging the chairman of the Wisconsin Judicial Council for his spot on the 21-member body.

Challenger Joseph Russell is a shareholder in the firm’s litigation and risk management practice group. He is a 2003 graduate of the Northwestern University School of Law.

He faces incumbent Thomas Bertz, who was first elected to the council in 2009 and has served as chairman since 2011. Bertz, of Anderson, O’Brien, Bertz, Skrenes & Golla LLP, Stevens Point, graduated from Marquette University Law School in 1962.

The attorneys are competing for a three-year term on the council, to begin July 1.

The state Legislature created the council in 1951 as an independent judicial branch agency, according to a news release from the State Bar of Wisconsin. The 21-member body is responsible for studying and making recommendations relating to court practices, procedures and administration of state courts.

According to his law firm bio, Russell previously worked as a partner in the Chicago office of Kirkland & Ellis LLP and in the Civil Division (Torts Branch) of the United States Department of Justice.

Bertz is past president of the Western District of Wisconsin Bar Association, the Portage County Bar Association and the Wisconsin Association of Worker’s Compensation Attorneys, according to the release.