Brennan shows no signs of slowing down

Listen to this article

Judge Kitty K. Brennan likes to be on the run.

An avid jogger, the appellate court judge has been known to navigate the streets of downtown Milwaukee during her lunch hour, often with fellow judge and longtime friend Mel Flanagan.

The exercise serves as a sanctuary for Brennan, who spent 14 years as a Milwaukee County Circuit Court Judge, including her last four as the county’s first female chief judge, where she annually fought against proposed budget cuts to the court system.

Prior to first taking the bench in 1994, she worked in private practice and as an assistant district attorney in Milwaukee County.

In 2008, she sought out a new challenge and was appointed to the District I Court of Appeals.

After more than 30 years in the legal profession, Brennan, who is married to attorney Joseph G. Murphy and is the mother of Quarles & Brady attorney Patrick J. Murphy, has no intention of slowing down professionally, or recreationally.

She took a few moments to respond to this week’s Asked & Answered.

WLJ: What do you value most about being an appellate judge?

Hon. Kitty K. Brennan: After over 30 years as a lawyer and circuit court judge, it’s really interesting to look at the cases from a different angle. I like having the time and resources to do a proper legal analysis.

WLJ: What is the most important thing attorneys should know before walking into a courtroom?

Brennan: Before entering the courtroom an attorney should keep in mind the big picture. But, I tell young lawyers all the time, if you are lucky, you will be practicing law in this community a long, long time. Your credibility and reputation will follow you. Your effectiveness as an attorney depends on the relationships you build in every case.

WLJ: What is your favorite website and why?

Brennan: I get mocked a lot by my kids for my near obsession with weather.com. But, in my defense, I have good reason for checking the weather. I need to know what to pack in my gym bag for running each day.

WLJ: If you could change one thing about Wisconsin’s legal system, what would it be?

Brennan: I’d create public financing for all judicial campaigns.

WLJ: What is one thing attorneys should know that they won’t learn in law school?

Brennan: Lawyers need to know the business of a law practice. At least in my day, the law schools did not teach anything about it. Unless a lawyer knows how to bill and collect fees, how to economically manage staff and basically how to meet overhead, she or he cannot be effective to clients.

WLJ: What is the first concert you went to?

Brennan: I was at the Beatles concert at the Auditorium Arena in 1962 on their first American tour. I couldn’t believe all these girls screaming and jumping around in their seats.

WLJ: If you could trade places with someone for a day, who would it be and why?

Brennan: Rather than world leaders or movie stars or astronauts, I would like to trade places with an ordinary woman my age in a totally different culture. I’d like to see what the world looks like from the perspective of a woman in Kigali, Sydney, Lima or Rome.

WLJ: What is on your desk that you would most like to get rid of?

Brennan: I have a big, multi-box case that I will feel wonderful about as soon as it is all written and released.

WLJ: What is your biggest judicial pet peeve?

Brennan: I don’t really have a pet peeve, and honestly most lawyers do a great job. But I have observed at the circuit court level and in the record and briefs on appeal, that a few lawyers are unabashedly arrogant. Arrogance is counter-productive.

WLJ: Where and when are you most happy?

Brennan: This is the easiest question on your list. I’m happiest on the deck of my cottage overlooking the lake with Joe and our family.

Jack Zemlicka can be reached at [email protected].