Brennan wins State Bar election

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A record number of candidates in the State Bar of Wisconsin President-elect race did little to motivate members to vote.

Attorney James M. Brennan, of Catholic Charities, topped three other candidates and won the 2010 race with 1,718 votes. He will begin his one-year term on July 1. About one-fifth of those eligible to vote cast their ballots.

Margaret Wrenn Hickey finished second (1,551), Jay A. Urban was third (1,379) and Sarah Fry Bruch was fourth (583).

Despite four nominees, evenly split on the mandatory vs. voluntary bar debate, only 20 more votes were cast in this election compared to last year’s, when current President-elect James C. Boll defeated James R. Troupis.

While Boll became the third candidate in five years to win as a voluntary bar advocate, Brennan has said he favors a mandatory organization.

At its May 5 Board of Governors meeting, the board could vote on whether to draft a petition or petitions to the Supreme Court asking it to review the membership status of the bar.

Brennan, who currently serves as chairman of the board, suggested that the bar has done a good job serving its members, but could probably benefit from a Supreme Court review.

He serves on the Strategic Planning Committee, which earlier this year heard testimony from members on the mandatory-voluntary issue. The committee recommended that the Board of Governors support a petition to the Supreme Court.

Beyond the membership status debate, Brennan has said he plans to focus on advancing the Access to Justice initiative designed to provide and promote legal assistance to poor people.

Brennan is a 1976 graduate of Marquette University Law School and currently serves as Interim Executive Director of Catholic Charities of the Archdiocese of Milwaukee, a nonprofit social and legal service agency serving ten counties in Southeastern Wisconsin. Twenty percent of his professional time is committed to pro bono work serving homeless individuals and veterans.

Jack Zemlicka can be reached at [email protected].