Blanchard broadens legal skills on appellate court bench

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In his first year on the appellate court bench, Brian Blanchard had to travel back in time.

The former Dane County District Attorney had a decade worth of experience prosecuting criminal cases, but he now rules on a diverse mix of cases including family law, property issues and other civil matters.

To effectively do so, Blanchard, 52, said he looked back to his experience in private practice more than a decade ago and even recalled some course material from his time at Northwestern University Law School in the late 1980s.

He likened his work on the District IV Court of Appeals to solving complicated puzzles and has relished the ability to dig deep into a variety of practice areas.

Blanchard said he prides himself on being multidimensional both in and out of court. He recently started playing hockey to keep up with his two sons on the ice and also as a way to stay active.

He celebrated his first anniversary as a judge by taking part in this week’s Asked & Answered.

Wisconsin Law Journal: If you could develop one CLE course for credit, what would it be about?

Brian Blanchard: I’m working on a presentation now, a survey of Wisconsin Supreme Court criminal case opinions from this term.

WLJ: What was your least favorite course in law school and why?

Blanchard: Conflicts of Law. To me it seemed like a grim march through mostly arbitrary exceptions to major principles of jurisdiction and sovereignty, followed by exceptions to the exceptions, and so on.

WLJ: What do you consider your biggest achievement to date and why?

Blanchard: Earning the love of my wife and children, despite my many shortcomings

WLJ: What is the one luxury item you cannot live without?

Blanchard: I would have said my electronic toothbrush, but then again I recently returned from backpacking in the Rockies with a Boy Scout group and survived without it. Still, very nice to have it back.

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

Blanchard: This is certainly not a new idea with me, but young lawyers often learn the hard way that debates over the facts drive most cases, not debates over the law. As a general rule, even relatively complex criminal and civil cases turn on the facts, not on legal arguments.

WLJ: What is the first concert you went to?

Blanchard: The first big concert I attended was the Eagles at Ann Arbor’s Crisler Arena, after “Hotel California” and during “The Long Run” around ‘78.

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

Blanchard: Sidney Crosby on game day. What would it be like to shift gears around two wings and a defenseman and then pop the puck into the five hole of an NHL goalie? But an actual “trade” might not go over too big in the Crosby household, unless perhaps we could find Sidney a great oral argument to hear.

WLJ: What is your motto?

Blanchard: I’ve never thought of myself as having a motto. But I like this, from among Lincoln’s many inspirations: ‘We should be too big to take offense, and too noble to give it.’

WLJ: What is your favorite movie about lawyers or the law and why?

Blanchard: The original “Twelve Angry Men” film is first rate. The [Henry] Fonda character’s growing uncertainty, the false certainties of other jurors; all of it is fascinating.

WLJ: If you hadn’t become a lawyer, what career would you have chosen?

Blanchard: I mostly enjoyed working as a newspaper reporter for six years at The Miami Herald newspaper before law school. Happily for me, this was during the era following Watergate but before the Internet began broad-banding, blogging, facebooking, podcasting and tweeting journalism nearly to death.

Jack Zemlicka can be reached at [email protected].