Honrath finds success in her homecoming

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Margaret Honrath used to roll her eyes at stories from the courthouse.

Now, she’s got stories of her own.

The daughter of Milwaukee County Assistant Family Court Commissioner William Honrath and Assistant U.S. Attorney Elizabeth Blackwood, Honrath is making a name for herself in federal court.

In January, Honrath transferred from the Department of Justice in Washington, D.C., to the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of Wisconsin.

She quickly had to learn the complicated history of gangs and drugs at Milwaukee’s Westlawn housing project in U.S. v. McClain and Cruse. The case had a large cast of characters, who often used nicknames, and used their own language of sorts to describe their illegal activities.

In April, she and co-counsel Bridget Domaszek presented the government’s case, just cooperator testimony, over five days. Both defendants were convicted.

Honrath said her career path was inspired largely by family dinner table conversations.

“We always said [my dad] saw good people at their worst, and [my mom] saw bad people at their best,” she said. “My sister and I would roll our eyes at all the law talk. We were pretty determined not to become lawyers.

“Now,” she said with a laugh, “we’re all lawyers.”

What is the hardest part of your job?

The newness of it. Even though I’ve been a prosecutor for four and a half years, I haven’t been back in Milwaukee long. I don’t know all the defense attorneys and their backgrounds yet.

Which living person do you most admire?

My dad, or my husband, Michael Lanzdorf. He’s an assistant corporation counsel in Racine. Yes, another government lawyer (laughs).

What is the first concert you went to?

Foo Fighters. I was in eighth grade. I can’t believe my mom let me go.

Where would you like to be in five years?

I’d like to still be at this job, handling the same kind of cases I am. My plan is to be a career prosecutor.

If you hadn’t become a lawyer, what would you have done?

I probably would’ve become a teacher. I was a substitute teacher in between college and law school and I loved it.

What can you spend hours doing that’s not law-related?

Going to rummage sales