Candidate for Judicial Council Representative

Margo Kirchner

Wisconsin Justice Initiative Inc., Shorewood
Email: margo@wjiinc.org

Platform Statement

I am honored to be nominated for another term on the Judicial Council. I thank the State Bar’s nominating committee for this opportunity. My six years on the Council have flown – I would like to continue my work on your behalf.

On the Judicial Council I serve as vice chair and as a member of the Evidence and Civil Procedure Committee. In addition to my participation in rule revisions, I wrote informative articles about the Council’s work and advocated for funding by the Legislature.

I bring the perspectives of a municipal judge, nonprofit in-house attorney, justice system advocate, and former federal judicial branch attorney to the study of Wisconsin court practice and procedure. My knowledge of municipal court and federal court practice and procedure, my experience in ​civil and criminal litigation, and my involvement with pro se litigants are significant assets for service on the Judicial Council.

I look for practical solutions, and I prefer plain language rather than complicated legalese. I will advocate for clear and understandable rules and procedures for the benefit of attorneys and pro se litigants. I welcome suggestions from State Bar members on areas of practice and procedure that the Judicial Council should study.

Because the Judicial Council remains without funding or staff, its members must conduct research, draft proposed rule and petition language, and advocate for the Council. I am committed to that important work and to the Council’s future.

I look forward to serving as your representative for the next three years.

Biography

Margo Kirchner is executive director of the Wisconsin Justice Initiative, a nonprofit organization that advocates to improve the state’s justice system and educates the public about important justice-related issues. In April 2020, Ms. Kirchner was elected as municipal judge for the Village of Shorewood; she serves in the part-time judicial position in addition to her work for WJI. Prior to joining WJI in 2017, Ms. Kirchner spent 23 years in public service in federal court.

The Wisconsin Law Journal named Ms. Kirchner as a Women in Law Award winner in 2010, and she was inducted as a Fellow of the Wisconsin Law Foundation in 2017. In 2019, the Association for Women Lawyers presented Ms. Kirchner with its Founders Award, given to an AWL member who has significantly contributed to the advancement of women in the legal profession and whose career demonstrates dedication to the highest levels of professional ethics and excellence.

A graduate of the University of Notre Dame and the University of Michigan Law School, Ms. Kirchner moved to Milwaukee in 1991 for a federal district court clerkship with Hon. Terence T. Evans. Ms. Kirchner then practiced for three years at the Gammage & Burnham law firm in Phoenix, Arizona.

Ms. Kirchner returned to Wisconsin in 1996 to clerk for Judge Evans at the Seventh Circuit Court of Appeals. She thereafter served as term or career law clerk for a series of federal district judges in the Eastern District of Wisconsin: Hon. Robert W. Warren, Hon. Lynn Adelman, Hon. William C. Griesbach, and Hon. Charles N. Clevert, Jr. Ms. Kirchner served on the Eastern District’s Local Rules Committee in 2009 and 2010 and co-wrote A Guide to Civil Judgments for use by district court clerk’s office and chambers staff.

Trained and certified as a mediator by the Northwestern University School of Continuing Studies, Ms. Kirchner mediated cases as a volunteer for the Metro Milwaukee Foreclosure Mediation Program for 10 years. She presently provides research and writing assistance to mediators and arbitrators at JAMS, Inc.

She earned an M.S. in nonprofit management from the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee in 2023.

Ms. Kirchner chairs the Association for Women Lawyers Foundation board and is a past president and current member of AWL. She also is a member of the Thomas E. Fairchild Chapter of the Inns of Court.

She is a past president of and current violist with the Concord Chamber Orchestra and served on the board of the nonprofit Milestones Programs for Children. She likes to travel, hike in national parks with her husband and adult children, and play the oboe and viola.