Madison, WI – The State Bar of Wisconsin’s Bench and Bar Committee has named retired Milwaukee County Circuit Court Judge Mel Flanagan as the 2016 Lifetime Jurist Achievement Award recipient. Flanagan will receive her award on Thursday, June 16 at 5:30 p.m. at the State Bar’s Annual Meeting & Conference in Green Bay.

The Lifetime Jurist Achievement Award recognizes a jurist who has demonstrated outstanding, long-term judicial service as a sitting judge.

“It was wonderful. I was very touched,” Flanagan said. “You’re saying I had a good career, and that’s an amazing thing to say to anybody. I take the award very seriously and it means a lot to me.”

Flanagan spent 10 years as an assistant district attorney in Dane and Milwaukee counties, specializing in domestic and sexual violence cases, before becoming a judge in Milwaukee County Circuit Court.

"Judge Flanagan’s demeanor, patience and respect for every single person made her courtroom practically stress-free,” said an attorney who nominated her. She is a “remarkably accomplished teacher, mentor and jurist.”

Flanagan spends much of her free time traveling around the world and throughout the state helping to educate the public about the vicious cycle of domestic violence.

“It’s learned behavior. Which means people can learn not to do this, too. But they have to understand where it came from and how they got to be the way they are,” she said.

Flangan retired as a circuit court judge last year. She took her passion to Bosnia on a six-month Fulbright scholarship where she is working with Bosnian judges, law students and others to share what she has learned as a prosecutor and on the bench to help educate Bosnians on the dangerous cycle of domestic and sexual violence.

“She is a true public servant whose dedication has had a tremendous impact on the lives of so many people in need within our community,” said a colleague.