Wisconsin
Lawyer
Vol. 81, No. 2, February
2008
Former State Bar President Dan Hildebrand devoted his life
to the public and the profession
Former State Bar president Daniel W. Hildebrand passed away on Dec.
31, 2007.
He was 67. Hildebrand was a senior litigator with DeWitt Ross &
Stevens in
Madison. Service and excellence were early hallmarks of his career.
"Dan Hildebrand was a splendid lawyer," said long-time friend
and colleague
Jack DeWitt. "He was a fine legal scholar, blessed with good
judgment and
common sense. He was devoted to service to both the bar and the public,
not only
the State Bar but also the American Bar Association (ABA) and the Dane
County
Bar Association (DCBA). In recognition of his long career of such
service Dan
was recently awarded the prestigious Wisconsin Law Foundation (WLF)
Charles
L. Goldberg Award."
"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 he practiced law as a calling. Indeed, he represents the best
in
us. He brought much good to our pursuits. He is, truly,
irreplaceable, and we will
miss him dearly."
Active leader. Hildebrand was a former president of the
WLF and the DCBA.
He was a Fellow of the WLF and the ABA and a member of the American Law
Institute and the American Academy of Appellate Lawyers. He served as a
board member
of Legal Action of Wisconsin Inc. and as a member and chair of the
Wisconsin Judicial Commission.
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 was appointed by the Wisconsin Supreme Court to chair
the Wisconsin Ethics 2000 Committee to review Chapter 20, the Rules of
Professional Conduct for Attorneys.
The president of the ABA appointed Hildebrand 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 DCBA.
He also
taught courses in federal jurisdiction and professional
responsibility at the U.W.
Law School.
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.
Early years. 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.
Hildebrand
served as an editor of the Wisconsin Law
Review. He 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. He joined DeWitt Ross & Stevens in 1968.
Another colleague and long-time friend, Frank 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 - 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. He also leaves three adult
children.
Memorial contributions can be made to the Wisconsin Law
Foundation.
Wisconsin Lawyer
