01-2611-BA In the Matter of the Bar Admission of Wendy Lynne Helgemo, petitioner v. Board of Bar Examiners

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However, we conclude that the Board erred in denying petitioner’s separate application to sit for the Wisconsin Bar exam and we direct that plaintiff be permitted to sit for the Wisconsin bar exam at her earliest convenience.

“The applicant’s employment as a law clerk for the Prairie Island Indian Community in Minnesota prior to her admission to the practice of law in Minnesota was not countable as the practice of law for she was not admitted to nor was it conducted before the court of the United States or another state or territory or the District of Columbia.

The applicant’s practice as a tribal attorney by the Ho-Chunk Nation in Wisconsin, a state where she was not admitted, is not practice in the court of the United States or another state or territory or the District of Columbia. …

“Although Indian tribal courts may be located within the geographic or geopolitical boundaries of a state, they are not state courts; they are courts of separate sovereign nations. [Citation]. As such, while practice before a tribal court may certainly constitute the active practice of law, it is not the active practice of law ‘in the courts of the United States or another state or territory or the District of Columbia. . . .'”

So ordered.

CONCURRING OPINION: Abrahamson, Ch. J. “I join the opinion. I do think, however, that the court ought to reexamine its reciprocity rule and ought to adopt a rule relating to how the practice in tribal courts fits into our system for admitting lawyers.”

Board of Bar Examiners; Per Curiam

Attorneys:

For Appellant: Gordon E. McQuillen, Madison; Wendy L. Helgemo, Black River Falls

For Respondent: Alan Lee, James E. Doyle, Madison