American Inns of Court Presents Professionalism Award to Justice Janine P. Geske

Business Wire, March 16, 2007

ALEXANDRIA, Va. -- Janine P. Geske, former Wisconsin Supreme Court Justice and Distinguished Professor of Law at Marquette University Law School has been selected to receive the American Inns of Court's 2007 Professionalism Award for the Seventh Circuit. The award will be presented to Justice Geske by the Honorable William J. Bauer, U.S. Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit at the Seventh Circuit Judicial Conference held in Milwaukee on May 7, 2007, at 7 p.m.

The Seventh Circuit Professionalism Award is presented to honor a senior practicing judge or lawyer whose life and practice display sterling character and unquestioned integrity, coupled with ongoing dedication to the highest standards of the legal profession. Candidates are nominated through circuit-wide open nominations and selected by a panel of representatives from both the circuit and the American Inns of Court Foundation.

Justice Geske received her B.A. (cum laude) and M.A. in Teaching from Beloit College. After two years as a sixth grade teacher, she received her J.D. from Marquette. She began her legal career as a staff attorney for the Legal Aid Society of Milwaukee. After four years she became an assistant law professor at Marquette, where she established the Legal Clinic for the Elderly. In 1981, Justice Geske was appointed to the Milwaukee County Circuit Court, where she established a reputation for being one the state's best trial judges. For her prodigious service as a trial judge, Justice Geske earned an appointment to the Wisconsin Supreme Court in 1993. Once again she established a sterling reputation for legal scholarship, high integrity, good judgment, and steady temperament. Following a life-changing retreat in the Dominican Republic, she surprised her colleagues by resigning from the Supreme Court in 1998 to serve her state in a different way. She returned to Marquette as a Distinguished Professor of Law to teach and work in mediation and restorative justice--providing a living example of how to incorporate faith into daily professional life.

Judge Diane Sykes of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit, in nominating her "judicial colleague, mentor, and friend," Justice Geske, stated that "Janine epitomizes what this award seeks to recognize: excellence, civility, professionalism, and ethics in the practice of law. Beyond these qualities--which Janine has demonstrated in spades in every aspect of her varied and distinguished career--Janine has a personal warmth, generosity, and steadiness of spirit that has endeared her to the people of Milwaukee and Wisconsin."

The American Inns of Court Circuit Professionalism Awards are presented in participating circuits nationwide. The awards are underwritten in part by Thomson-West Group.