Best Lawyers-Turned-Politicians

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Gov. Jim Doyle, U.S. Sen. Russ Feingold

Wisconsin Gov. Jim Doyle and U.S. Sen. Russ Feingold, who tied among our readers for Best Lawyer-Turned-Politician, have followed in the footsteps of Wisconsin’s Progressive tradition.
Feingold ran successful “underdog” campaigns, first in his bid for state Senate in 1982, and then his run for U.S. Senate in 1992. He’s been re-elected twice.

The Middleton Democrat is probably known best across the nation for pushing through campaign finance reform with Republican Sen. John McCain. He also cast the Senate’s lone vote against the USA PATRIOT Act.

Feingold graduated from the University of Wisconsin-Madison in 1975 with a Bachelor of Arts degree, and then he received a second degree from Oxford University as a Rhodes Scholar in 1977. In 1979, he earned his law degree from Harvard Law School. Between 1979 and 1985, he practiced law at Foley & Lardner and the firm then-known as La Follette & Sinykin.

Doyle, the son of a federal court judge, also received his bachelor’s degree from UW-Madison and his law degree from Harvard – those coming in 1967 and 1972 respectively.

Matthew J. Flynn, a partner with the Milwaukee office of Quarles & Brady LLP, says Doyle’s family was among the architects of the state’s Democratic party, and he could’ve done just about anything as a brand new Harvard graduate.

Doyle’s choice? He practiced law at a Navajo Indian reservation in Arizona. That was not Doyle’s first effort to help those in need. Between college and law school, he and his wife worked for two years as teachers in Tunisia, Africa in the Peace Corps.

In 1976, he was elected Dane County district attorney where he served three terms. He spent eight years in private practice before successfully running for and state attorney general in 1990. He served in that capacity until he was elected governor in 2002, tackling the challenges of a $3.2 billion deficit. He was re-elected to that role in 2006.