Wisconsin Law Foundation Awards Honor Public Service

MADISON, May 3, 2005 -- Wisconsin Law Foundation President John Stevens announces attorneys Irene Wren of Madison, Richard Gallagher of Milwaukee and Michael Remington of Washington DC as recipients of the Foundation's Public Service Awards. The annual awards recognize those who have helped make the legal system more accessible to the people of Wisconsin by providing pro bono legal services, public service and law-related education. The awards will be presented at the State Bar of Wisconsin's annual convention on Wednesday, May 4 from 6-8 p.m. at the Hilton Milwaukee City Center, 509 West Wisconsin Avenue in Milwaukee.

The Wisconsin Law Foundation is a non-profit organization dedicated to supporting charitable and educational programs that promote public understanding of the law and improvement of the administration of justice.

The Gordon Sinykin Award of Excellence recognizes a lawyer or organization for work on an individual law-related educated or public service project. This year's recipient is Irene Wren of Madison. Wren graduated from the University of Wisconsin Law School in 1983 and in 1984 she began working for the UW assisting international faculty, staff and students with immigration issues through community outreach. Her outreach efforts included other UW campuses and non-profit organizations, such as Catholic Charities and Lutheran Social Services. She also began to work with Dane County Advocates for Battered Women, now DAIS and has been a member of the American Immigration Lawyers Association since 1984.

In 1993, she began her own practice, now Wren & Gateways Law Group, LLC, focusing on immigration law. She continues to provide legal services to clients of DAIS and assisting survivors of domestic abuse by providing information on legal options available where immigration issues are a concern. She guides individuals through the maze of government agency regulations and bureaucracy on immigration matters. She also provides consultation and mentoring to workers at Jewish Social Services in the area of immigration law, providing free immigration law advice to their refugee clients and to the counselors. In 2004, she was the recipient of the Dane County Individual Pro Bono Award.

The Donald O'Melia Local Service Award recognizes a lawyer who has made a significant public service contribution in his or her local community. Richard S. Gallagher of Milwaukee is the recipient of this year's award.

Gallagher graduated from Harvard University Law School (J.D., 1967) and from Northwestern University (B.S. in business administration, with distinction, 1964). As a partner in the Milwaukee office of Foley & Lardner, he is chair of the firm's Tax and Individual Planning Department and is a member of the Taxation Practice Group. His practice focuses on business and tax matters for family-owned companies; corporate planning and reorganizations; trust and estate administration; the qualification of tax-exempt organizations; tax, estate and gift planning for philanthropists, foundations and charitable trusts.

He is the former chairman of the Exempt Organizations Committee of the American Bar Association (ABA) Section on Taxation, past chairman of the Committee on Administration of Estates and Trusts of the Real Property, Probate and Trust Law Section of the ABA, former chairman of the Milwaukee County Performing Arts Center, past president of the Donors Forum of Wisconsin, a director of Jones Dairy Farm and Marion Body Works, managing trustee of the Elizabeth Elser Doolittle Charitable Trusts and the Froedtert Memorial Lutheran Hospital Trust, and a fellow of the American Law Institute, the American College of Tax Counsel, the American College of Trust and Estate Counsel, and the Milwaukee Bar Association Foundation, over which he presided as president from 1977 until 1983. He is listed in The Best Lawyers in America® under Tax Law and Trusts and Estates. He currently serves as a director of the Blood Center of Southeast Wisconsin and the Milwaukee Youth Arts Center.

The Belle Case La Follette Outstanding Professional Award recognizes a lawyer who has made an outstanding contribution to the advancement of the profession. This year's recipient is Michel J. Remington of Washington, D.C.

A graduate of the University of Wisconsin, he received his B.S. in 1967 (with a major in political science) and his law degree with honors in 1973. He is a partner in the law firm of Drinker Biddle & Reath, LLP where he focuses on intellectual property law, court reform, government relations and lobbying. Prior to entering private practice, for 13 years he was Chief Counsel of the Judiciary Subcommittee of the U.S. House of Representatives on Intellectual Property and Judicial Administration and Counsel to the House Committee on the Judiciary. In the judicial branch, he served as a law clerk to U.S. District Judge John W. Reynolds and as Deputy Legislative Affairs Officer to the Judicial Conference of the United States. In the executive branch, he was a prosecutor in the Criminal Division, U.S. Department of Justice, where he specialized in criminal appeals.

He is admitted to practice in Wisconsin and the District of Columbia, and is a member of the Intellectual Property Section of the American Bar Association and the Copyright Society of the United States. He is an adjunct law professor at the George Mason School of Law and the Columbus School of Law, Catholic University of America. He has served as a consultant to the United Nations, The World Intellectual Property Organization, The Asia Foundation, and the Library of Congress.

He is Chairman of Forgotten Children, a non-profit organization that helps remove children from bonded labor, a long-time member of the Board of Trustees of the Wisconsin Law Foundation and a member of the National Board of Trustees for the Lawyers Committee for Civil Rights under Law. He has devoted time to numerous projects associated with the State Bar of Wisconsin, serving on the Board of Governors and the Board of the Non-Resident Lawyers Division, the Wisconsin Law School's Kastenmeier Fund Advisory Committee, the Wisconsin Supreme Court History Committee, and the Wisconsin Alumni Research Foundation.

The State Bar of Wisconsin is the mandatory professional association, created by the Wisconsin Supreme Court, for attorneys who hold a Wisconsin law license. With more than 21,000 members, the State Bar aids the courts in improving the administration of justice, provides continuing legal education for its members to help them maintain their expertise, and assists Wisconsin lawyers in carrying out community service initiatives to educate the public about the legal system and the value of lawyers.

For more information about the Wisconsin Law Foundation Awards, contact Laura Emerson, State Bar of Wisconsin Staff Liaison at (608) 250-6015 or via email at lemerson@wisbar.org.

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