Inside the Bar
December 2005

Foundation inducts 2005 Class of Fellows, guest speaker cites importance of jury system

Fourteen lawyers were inducted into the 2005 Class of Fellows of the Wisconsin Law Foundation on Nov. 10 in Appleton. More than 70 guests attended the annual black tie evening with featured speaker Robert Grey, immediate past president of the American Bar Association.

"Every profession has men and women whose contributions cause them to stand out as examples of the profession at its best," said Tom Shriner, Fellows of the WLF cochair. "Tonight we honor 14 lawyers who have indeed earned that status as a result of their outstanding contributions to the profession, service to the public, and earnest efforts to assist in the promotion and improvement of the justice."

Grey, who devoted his ABA term to creating better justice through better juries via the American Jury Initiative, spoke about the value and the importance of the American jury system, citing that in 2004 more than one million jurors served on more than 85,000 juries worldwide and of those juries 85 percent were in this country. "As lawyers in the largest country in the free world, we have a responsibility to set the example of and help spread democracy," he said.

The Class of 2005 is the sixth class inducted to the Fellows program and increases membership to 161. Fellows are elected by the Board of Trustees of the Fellows.

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