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  • Press Release
    April 25, 2003

    News Release April 2003: Three Madison area attorneys elected to State Bar Board of Governors

    For Immediate Release
      CONTACT: Jason Westphal
    State Bar of Wisconsin
    (800) 444-9404, ext. 6077
    jwestphal@wisbar.org
    *

    Three Madison area attorneys elected to State Bar Board of Governors

    MADISON, April 25, 2003 - Three Dane County attorneys have been elected to the State Bar of Wisconsin Board of Governors, the body responsible for managing and directing the affairs and activities of the statewide association. The three members elected last week to two-year terms will join three other local lawyers on the Board.

    As created by Supreme Court Rule, the State Bar is governed by a 48-member Board of Governors consisting of six officers, 34 members elected by State Bar members from the association's 16 districts, five elected by divisions of the State Bar, and three non-lawyers appointed by the Supreme Court. As policy makers, the Board of Governors and officers influence the future of the legal profession and the delivery of legal services in Wisconsin.

    Those elected from Dane County include:

    KENT I. CARNELL, of Lawton & Cates, S.C., who was admitted to the Bar in 1970. A current member of the Board of Governors, he received his J.D. from the University of Wisconsin Law School. Additionally, Carnell is active in the Bar's Litigation and Construction Law Sections and the association's Professionalism Committee. He is a Board Certified Civil Trial Advocate by the National Board of Trial Advocacy. Carnell's community service activities include the Salvation Army Advisory Board and the Second Harvest Food Bank of Southern Wisconsin

    JOHN L. CATES is a partner at Gingras, Cates & Luebke, S.C. He was admitted to the Bar in 1980 after graduating from the University of Wisconsin Law School, where he now often lectures. Cates is admitted to practice before the Wisconsin Supreme Court, the U.S. Court of Appeals - Seventh Circuit and both the Eastern and Western U.S. District Courts of Wisconsin. He is a past member of the Wisconsin Academy of Trial Lawyers board of directors, and currently belongs to the Dane County Bar Association and the Association of Trial Lawyers of America.

    DEBORAH M. SMITH received her J.D. from the University of Wisconsin Law School in 1980. That same year she began work as a staff attorney with the Wisconsin State Public Defender, and recently became director of the Assigned Counsel Division. Smith is a past president of the James E. Doyle chapter of the American Inns of Court and was a key member of the planning/advisory committee establishing Wisconsin's first drug treatment court in Dane County. She is a mentor with the UW-Law School Legal Education Opportunities program and is also a UW-Law School instructor. Smith serves on the Board of Administrative Oversight for the Office of Lawyer Regulation, and is the president of the Wisconsin Trust Account Foundation Board. Smith was recently appointed by Dane County Executive Kathleen Falk to the Justice Center Planning Oversight Committee.

    The State Bar of Wisconsin is the mandatory professional association, created by the Wisconsin Supreme Court, for attorneys who hold a law license in Wisconsin. With more than 20,000 members, the State Bar aids the courts in improving the administration of justice, provides continuing legal education for its members, and assists Wisconsin lawyers in carrying out initiatives to educate the public about the legal system.



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