Former State Bar President Dan Hildebrand passes away, devoted his life to the public and the profession

Daniel W. Hildebrand, a senior litigator with DeWitt Ross & Stevens in Madison, passed away on Dec. 31, 2007. Service and excellence were early hallmarks of his career. He was 67.

Hildebrand had more than 40 years of legal experience, with a major focus in appellate work as well as in all areas of business and professional litigation, and professional ethics matters. He joined the DeWitt Ross & Stevens Law Firm in 1968. Hildebrand was a former president of the State Bar, the Wisconsin Law Foundation, and the Dane County Bar Association.

“Dan Hildebrand was a splendid lawyer,” said long-time friend and colleague Jack DeWitt. “He was a fine legal scholar and blessed with good judgment and common sense. He was devoted to service to both the bar and the public, and when I say the bar I mean not only the State Bar but also the American Bar Association (ABA) and the Dane County Bar Association. In recognition of his long career of such service, Dan was recently awarded the prestigious Charles L. Goldberg Award by the Wisconsin Law Foundation. It has been an honor as well as a pleasure for me to have been associated with Dan in the practice of law.”

“The legal profession has lost one of its great ones,” noted long-time friend and colleague John Skilton.“Dan saw the best in what we do for a living, and practiced law as a calling. Indeed, he represents the best in us.He brought much good to our pursuits.This is more than just a business – it is a profession that has obligations that transcend our need to make a living. How do I know? I knew Dan Hildebrand. He is, truly, irreplaceable, and we will miss him dearly.”

Hildebrand served as a member and chair of the Wisconsin Judicial Commission, a member of the board of directors of Legal Action of Wisconsin Inc., and as chair of the Wisconsin Supreme Court Code of Professional Responsibility Review Committee. He was a Fellow of the Wisconsin Law Foundation and the American Bar Association and a member of the American Law Institute and the American Academy of Appellate Lawyers.

Jon Axelrod, long-time friend and colleague, noted, "Dan was a highly respected legal ethics expert to whom the profession and the courts often turned to for guidance. He will be sorely missed.”

Hildebrand chaired the Wisconsin Ethics 2000 Committee, appointed by the Wisconsin Supreme Court to review Chapter 20, the Rules of Professional Conduct for Attorneys. On Jan. 5, 2007, the Wisconsin Supreme Court adopted changes to the rules, which went into effect last July.

Hildebrand was appointed by the president of the ABA to its Amicus Curiae Briefs Committee where he participated in reviews of all amicus curiae briefs filed by the ABA in the U.S. Supreme Court. Hildebrand also was a member of the ABA Litigation Section’s Trial Practice Committee. He served six years as a member of the ABA’s Standing Committee on Ethics and Professional Responsibility, 14 years as a Wisconsin delegate to the ABA House of Delegates, and recently completed a three-year term with the ABA Board of Governors.

He was a frequent lecturer for State Bar CLE programs and contributing writer for Wisconsin Lawyer™ magazine. For more than 30 years Hildebrand provided updates of Supreme Court decisions to the Dane County Bar Association. He also taught courses in federal jurisdiction and professional responsibility at the U.W. Law School for many years.

Hildebrand regularly accepted appointments to represent indigent criminal defendants who desire to appeal their convictions to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 7th Circuit.

He received his J.D. from the University of Wisconsin in 1964 and was elected to Phi Beta Kappa and the Order of the Coif. He served as an editor of the Wisconsin Law Review. Hildebrand spent four years as an associate with Willkie, Farr and Gallagher, New York City, participating in the litigation brought by the State of Wisconsin against the Milwaukee Braves and the National League.

Another colleague and long-time friend, Franklyn Gimbel, said, “Dan's death demonstrates the vulnerability of us all – if he could not successfully plead his case for a longer term on this good earth by way of his extraordinary good deeds (mitzvahs) – his gracious leadership style his commitment to family and community – then we all best take the lesson of making each of our remaining days, weeks, months, or years relevant to our own circumstances and understand that our mortality will prove again that nobody gets out of life alive.”

Hildebrand leaves his wife Dawn, also a lawyer with DeWitt, Ross & Stevens, and their three young children Catherine, Jacob, and Rachel. He also leaves three adult children Elisabeth, Douglas, and Daniel.

Visitations will be on Thursday, Jan. 3, 4 - 7 p.m. at the Gunderson Funeral Home on University Avenue in Middleton and on Friday, Jan. 4, from 10 a.m. to 12 p.m. at St. Maria Goretti Catholic Church, 5405 Flad Avenue, Madison. A funeral service will immediately follow the Friday visitation.

In lieu of flowers, the family kindly requests donations in Dan's name to St. Raphael's Cathedral Building Fund, the Wisconsin Law Foundation, St. Maria Goretti Church and School, or to the Madison Chapter of the Nature Conservancy.