Meet the 2011 State Bar election candidates

Candidate for Treasurer

Nicholas C. Zales [email]

Zales Law Office, Milwaukee

Comments

Your Bar Treasurer should be a budget hawk and a zealous guardian of the bar’s finances. I believe it is important to have a balanced budget, to cut spending before raising dues, to keep you informed about how the bar spends your money, and to keep CLE prices low. As Treasurer, this is my mission. I will work tirelessly to ensure your money is well spent and keep you fully informed.

These matters have been my mission starting as a bar governor and in serving as Finance Committee Chair. I received the 2010 President’s Award for excellence in service in that position. As Finance Chair, I worked to balance the bar’s budget, provide an unprecedented level of fiscal information to members, and grow the bar to serve all members, culminating in the FY2011 balanced budget with no dues increase.

Under my leadership, the Finance Committee:

• Brought the FY2010 budget into balance and crafted the balanced, no dues increase FY2011 budget;

• Resolved a long-standing fiscal dispute between the NRLD and the bar;

• Crafted a new form of contracts for hiring outside counsel;

• Produced a comprehensive plan of fiscal transparency;

• Doubled the size of the Dues Stabilization Fund;

• Funded a special program for the YLD;

• Had Finance Committee minutes placed on WisBar;

• Closely reviewed requests for spending, funding fiscally prudent projects while denying funding to requests that were not ready to be implemented.

As Bar Treasurer, I will work to ensure you receive good value for your dues.

Education

Marquette University Law School, J.D. (1989)

U.W. - Oshkosh, B.S., Political Science (1985)

Practice/admissions

Owner, Zales Law Office, specializing in civil litigation, intellectual property, family and appellate law (1994 - present)

Judicial Law Clerk, Milwaukee County Circuit Court (1989 - 94)

Admissions: Wisconsin, May, 1989; United States District Court (E.D. Wis.) 1989; U.S. Seventh Circuit Court of Appeals (1998)

Awards

2010 State Bar President’s Award for Excellence in Service as Chair of the Finance Committee.

Professional activities

Wisconsin Trust Account Foundation (WisTAF) Board of Directors (2010 - 13)

WisTAF Finance Committee (2010 - 11)

Wisconsin Judicial Council, president-elect James M. Brennan’s designee (2010- 11)

State Bar of Wisconsin professional activities

State Bar of Wisconsin Board of Governors, Dist. II (Milwaukee County) (1995 - 97, 2002 - 04, 2004 - 05, 2007 - 11)

State Bar Board of Governors Committees:

Committee on Committees (2010 - 11)

Board Chair Nominating Committee (2009)

Board of Governors Liaison to Sections and Committees:

Individual Rights & Responsibilities Section (2008 - 09)

Agricultural/Agribusiness Law Sections (2008 - 09);

Communications Committee (2004 - 05);

Appellate Practice Section (2002 - 04).

State Bar committees

Chair, Finance Committee (2009 - 10)

Strategic Planning Committee (2009 - 10)

Professionalism Committee (2005 - 06)

Election Policies Committee (1996 - 97)

Judicial Independence Committee (1993 - 94)

State Bar sections

Appellate Practice Section (2002 - 11)

IR&R Section (1993 - 98)

State Bar divisions

Government Lawyers Division (1989 - 94)

Young Lawyers Division (1989 - 94)

Publications

Wisconsin Lawyer Book Reviews

Google for Lawyers: Essential Search Tips and Productivity Tools (Feb. 2011)

Lawyers in Your Living Room! Law on Television (June 2010)

Recreational Immunity in Wisconsin (March 2009)

The Lawyer's Guide to Fact Finding on the Internet, 3d ed. (July 2008)

Discovery Problems and their Solutions (June 2006)

The Lawyer’s Guide to Fact Finding on the Internet (May 2004)

Attorney and Law Firm Guide to the Business of Law (Dec. 2003)

The Attorneys Guide to the Seventh Circuit Court of Appeals (Sept. 1997)

Reasonable Doubts: The O.J. Simpson Case and the Criminal Justice System (Dec. 1996)

Wisconsin Lawyer letters

The Death of Democracy (March 2010)

Contested Judicial Elections Ensure Independence (May 2005)

Convention was magnificent (June 2003)

Featured in Wisconsin Lawyer article

What Keeps You Awake at Night? What should I consider in deciding to remain in a mid-sized firm or start my own practice? (June 2009)

De Novo - The Newsletter of the State Bar Appellate Practice Section

Articles:

To Sanction or Not To Sanction: A Discussion of the Application of Wisconsin

Statutes Section 809.83(2) (February 2011 - with Atty. Roberta Heckes)

Unpublished Opinions - The Appellate Lawyer's Bad Penny (July 2006)

In Chambers: Sixteen feature interview articles on Wisconsin appellate court judges and Supreme Court Justices: Abrahamson, Bradley, Butler, Crooks, Prosser, Roggensack, Wilcox, and Ziegler; Court of Appeals judges Anderson, Bridge, Brown, Fine, Higginbotham, Hoover, Kessler and Neubauer (2003 - 09).