Long stagnant, the compensation rate for private lawyers representing indigent criminal defendants will go before the Wisconsin Supreme Court for a possible increase in the court's next term.

Private attorneys who accept indigent defense appointments in Wisconsin say it's time the state raise the hourly rate for taking such cases.

The Wisconsin State Bar Board of Governors has agreed to back a proposal set forth by a group of Wisconsin criminal-defense lawyers that would increase the private bar rate to $100 per hour.

The Wisconsin State Bar has posted a statement on its website in support of the judiciary in response to President Donald Trump’s Feb. 4 tweet calling the federal judge who temporarily blocked his immigration executive orders a “so-called judge.” State Bar President Fran Deisinger asked the governors at Friday’s Board of Governors meeting to approve the statement, noting that other state ...

John Birdsall has seen it happen again and again in his 20-plus years of criminal-defense practice: A client is charged with a crime but never convicted.

A jury in northeastern Wisconsin deliberated for less than three hours before convicting an Illinois man this week of killing a pregnant woman in 2012.

A retrial began Monday for an Illinois man charged with killing a 21-year-old woman and her fetus at a resort in Wisconsin's Door County.

A proposal to rewrite Wisconsin’s criminal code is drawing ire from some because of a clause that would eliminate preliminary hearings in felony cases.

A sign on the University of Wisconsin Law School campus advertising karate lessons caught John Birdsall’s eye.

A Brookfield attorney who pled guilty to felony fraud charges on Wednesday could face a stricter sentence structure than normal because of missed court appearances that resulted in his arrest and incarceration.

Criminal defense lawyer John Birdsall says he has substituted hundreds of judges without explanation.

The Wisconsin State Public Defender’s Office’s difficulty finding capable lawyers hit home for John Birdsall in 2005 when he was the sixth attorney to defend a child pornography case.

There were plenty of reasons Milwaukee attorney John Birdsall could have declined accused murderer David Lewis’ case.