Daniels sworn in as State Bar president

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Cheryl Furstace Daniels has been sworn in as the new president of the State Bar of Wisconsin.

Daniels and a few other past State Bar leaders and speakers gathered in person for the ceremony on Wednesday, and the State Bar broadcasted the events live for bar members and other viewers.

Wisconsin Supreme Court Chief Justice Annette Ziegler administered the oath to Daniels, and past State Bar presidents passed the gavel through video messages. Frank Gimbel, who served as president from 1986 to 1987, even passed a golf club from Florida.

Daniels — who’s assistant legal counsel at the Department of Agriculture, Trade and Consumer Protection — was elected to lead the organization in 2020. She served as president-elect for a year before assuming the role of president.

In her speech, Daniels talked about how the people in her life have kept her moving forward, which is what she hopes to do for the State Bar as its new president. She said she’ll keep working toward the State Bar’s diversity, equity and inclusion goals; lawyer-wellbeing initiatives; work to increase access to justice in rural areas; and more.

“Let us take the best of our lawyer skills to civilly debate and deliberate together and figure out the actions we, the members of the integrated State Bar of Wisconsin, will take to help move forward the administration of justice in Wisconsin as best as humanly possible in 2021 and beyond,” Daniels said.