Candidate for President-elect
Jane E. Bucher
Russell Law Offices, S.C., Brodhead
Email:
jbucher@russelllawwi.com
Platform Statement
If elected State Bar president, I will emphasize civility and wellness, promote access to justice for unrepresented and marginalized individuals, continue the State Bar’s important work on criminal justice reform, maintain a commitment to innovation, and focus on increasing diversity among our attorneys as well as continuing to emphasize the need for all attorneys to understand the impact that institutional racism and historical biases have had and continue to have on our justice system.
Supporting my fellow attorneys: We need to support attorneys at every phase in their careers and provide assistance to attorneys that improves their professional and personal lives. Programs, such as mentoring, benefit our new attorneys as well as our more experienced attorneys.
We must model civility and collegiality for our young attorneys so that they can work to solve clients’ problems by being adversaries without unnecessary acrimony. I hope to increase awareness of WisLAP and Lawyer-to-Lawyer Directory. The State Bar must continue to respond to the ever-changing needs of the profession.
Access to justice: As a rural attorney, I understand the significant need for competent legal representation in some of our least populous counties. I will support initiatives that aim to increase access to civil legal aid as well as initiatives, such as the bus tour that introduced attorneys to practice options in underserved areas. Furthermore, we must continue to support State Bar programs that work to fill the gaps in access, such as the Pro Bono Program, the Modest Means Referral Network and the Wisconsin Free Legal Answers program.
Criminal justice reform: I support the State Bar’s continued efforts on expungement reform, bail reform, and raising the age of adult jurisdiction to 18. I think the State Bar should continue to research and support reforms that are supported by data and evidenced-bases practices and that are aimed toward making the criminal justice system more equitable.
Innovation: The pandemic taught us all about the need for the legal system to be flexible in order to meet the needs of clients during changing times. The use of technology to support the effective delivery of legal services is essential, and the State Bar must remain dynamic and thoughtful as we face unexpected and unprecedented challenges.
Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion: The State Bar will be most effective when its membership accurately reflects the diversity of our state. Programs such as the Diversity Clerkship program should be expanded and replicated. The State Bar has made strides in increasing diversity and inclusion but must continue efforts to educate attorneys about institutional racism, implicit bias, and the ways in which our justice system has been impacted over the course of many generations by institutional biases.
Our work to rid the justice system of bias based on race, ethnicity, national origin, language, gender, gender expression, sexual orientation, religion, disability, and age will never be complete. We must continue to be vigilant. We must speak up in the face of any form of discrimination. We must bear in mind the many historical atrocities committed against people of color that were considered “legal” at the time and view our current justice system under this lens.
Lastly, as attorneys we are stewards of justice. Such a calling is ever changing and we should strive to continuously improve the State Bar for the benefit of future generations of lawyers.
Biography
Jane Bucher has extensive legal experience and is active in both the legal profession and the broader community. She has tried criminal, civil, and juvenile cases, both to courts and juries.
Jane served as an assistant State Public Defender from 2011 to 2021, and has handled more than 2,400 cases. As a public defender, she represented children, juveniles, and adults who could not otherwise afford an attorney in both criminal and civil cases, including CHIPS cases, termination of parental rights, mental health commitments, protective placement cases.
Jane’s diverse legal training included internships at the Restorative Justice/Family Law Project in Madison, in the Oneida County District Attorney’s Office, and at the Wisconsin Supreme Court.
Jane helped lead the creation and funding of the Green County Drug Court in 2017. She has also been active in working to improving children’s courts by serving on the Child Abuse and Neglect Prevention Board Chapter 48 Subcommittee and the Youth Justice Statewide Assessment Implementation Policy and Document Development Subcommittee.
Jane is a graduate (2019) of the Juvenile Training Immersion Program Summer Academy at Georgetown Law in Washington, D.C.
Jane was appointed by the Wisconsin Supreme Court to the Office of Lawyer Regulation District 12 Committee (2015-present) and was elected to serve on the State Bar of Wisconsin Board of Governors, representing District 12.
She lives in Monroe with her husband, Ruedi, a cheesemaker born in Switzerland, and sons, Quinn and Xavier.
Community Involvement
Green County MultiCultural Outreach Program (MCOP), founding member (2017-21)
Green County Family Promise, board member
Green County Big Brothers Big Sisters, former volunteer (2018-21)
Peace Corps, former volunteer in Senegal (2006-08)
Green County Bar Association, past president (2015)
