Cagle elected next State Bar president

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Longtime University of Wisconsin Law School Professor Ralph Cagle will be the State Bar’s next president-elect, as election results released Friday showed he trounced competitor Kevin Palmersheim.

Cagle, a professor since 1990, received 3,495 votes. Palmersheim, of Haley Palmersheim SC in Madison, took 1,973 votes.

Cagle’s term as president-elect will begin July 1. He will serve as the bar’s president the following year, succeeding Bob Gagan.

Reached Friday evening, Cagle said he got together with his family to celebrate. He joked his wife hung up a banner that said “Congratulations on a good campaign,” and didn’t specify the outcome of the race as a “safety measure.”

“I am obviously very pleased at this opportunity to serve the bar in Wisconsin,” Cagle said, adding that it was a pleasure to work with Palmersheim.

Palmersheim, also reached Friday evening, only had good words to say about Cagle, whom he called “a gentleman.”

“I think he’ll do a fantastic job for the bar,” Palmersheim said.

Both candidates spoke at length with the Wisconsin Law Journal earlier this month about their hopes if elected. Cagle said he sees the president as “someone who can speak with some authority on behalf of the profession, both in talking among the profession and talking with the various audiences it deals with — the Legislature and general public.”

“They play a large role in developing the public understanding of what lawyers do,” Cagle said earlier this month, “and I hope I can explain how they do it well and in an honorable way.”

The bar’s election ballots were sent out April 11 and had to be returned by Friday. About 20,000 attorneys are eligible to vote in the election, and about 27 percent voted for president-elect.

Other winners for bar leadership include Sherry Coley, of Godfrey & Kahn SC, for secretary of the bar’s Board of Governors. Coley is currently the BOG’s chairwoman, and she will serve in her new capacity for two years.

William Gleisner was elected the bar’s representative for the Wisconsin Judicial Council. He will serve a three-year term.

The following people were elected to two-year terms as members of the BOG:

District 2 – Milwaukee County

• John Birdsall, Birdsall Law Offices SC
• Andrew Chevrez
• Jill Kastner, Legal Action of Wisconsin Inc.
• Randy Nash, O’Neil, Cannon, Hollman, DeJong & Laing SC
• Amy Wochos, Milwaukee County Courthouse

District 4 – Calumet, Door, Kewaunee, Manitowoc and Sheboygan counties

• Jeffrey Wisnicky, Kewaunee County Corporation Counsel

District 6 – Waukesha County

• Kimberly Haines, Waukesha County Corporation Counsel
• Sarah Ponath, Law Offices of Sarah A. Ponath LLC

District 8 – Dunn, Eau Claire, Pierce and St. Croix counties

• Deanne Koll, Bakke Norman SC, Menomonie

District 9 – Dane County

• Catherine Dorl, State Public Defender’s Office
• Anthony Gray, Institute for Global Ethics
• Christopher Rogers, Habush Habush & Rottier SC
• Laura Skilton Verhoff, Stafford Rosenbaum LLP

District 10 – Ashland, Barron, Bayfield, Burnett, Chippewa, Douglas, Iron, Lincoln, Polk, Price, Rusk, Sawyer, Taylor Washburn counties

• Thomas Schwaba, Schwaba & Sparks LLP

District 12 – Grant, Green, Iowa, Lafayette and Rock counties

• Kelly Mattingly, State Public Defender’s Office

District 14 – Brown County

• Byron Conway, Habush Habush & Rottier SC

District 16 – Florence, Forest, Langlade, Marathon, Oneida and Vilas counties

• John Danner, Harrold, Scrobell & Danner SC