Joan F. Kessler (born 1944) is an American lawyer and a retired judge of the

Wisconsin Court of Appeals The Wisconsin Court of Appeals is an intermediate appellate court that reviews contested decisions of the Wisconsin circuit courts. The Court of Appeals was created in August 1978 to alleviate the Wisconsin Supreme Court's rising number of appe ...

, serving from 2004 to 2020. Kessler previously served as

United States Attorney United States attorneys are officials of the U.S. Department of Justice who serve as the chief federal law enforcement officers in each of the 94 U.S. federal judicial districts. Each U.S. attorney serves as the United States' chief federal c ...

for the Eastern District of Wisconsin under

President President most commonly refers to: *President (corporate title) *President (education), a leader of a college or university *President (government title) President may also refer to: Automobiles * Nissan President, a 1966–2010 Japanese ful ...

Jimmy Carter James Earl Carter Jr. (born October 1, 1924) is an American politician who served as the 39th president of the United States from 1977 to 1981. A member of the Democratic Party (United States), Democratic Party, he previously served as th ...

Life and career

A native of

Louisiana Louisiana , group=pronunciation (French: ''La Louisiane'') is a state in the Deep South and South Central regions of the United States. It is the 20th-smallest by area and the 25th most populous of the 50 U.S. states. Louisiana is borde ...

, Kessler graduated from the

University of Kansas The University of Kansas (KU) is a public research university with its main campus in Lawrence, Kansas, United States, and several satellite campuses, research and educational centers, medical centers, and classes across the state of Kansas. Tw ...

in 1966 and from

Marquette University Law School Marquette University Law School is the professional graduate law school of Marquette University in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. It is one of two law schools in Wisconsin and the only private law school in the state. Founded in 1892 as the Milwaukee Law ...

in 1968. She worked as a law clerk for

United States District Judge The United States district courts are the trial courts of the United States federal judiciary, U.S. federal judiciary. There is one district court for each United States federal judicial district, federal judicial district, which each cover o ...

John W. Reynolds, Jr. John Whitcome Reynolds Jr. (April 4, 1921January 6, 2002) was the List of Governors of Wisconsin, 36th Governor of Wisconsin (1963–1965) and served 21 years as a United States federal judge, United States district judge in the United States ...

, in

Milwaukee Milwaukee ( ), officially the City of Milwaukee, is both the most populous and most densely populated city in the U.S. state of Wisconsin and the county seat of Milwaukee County. With a population of 577,222 at the 2020 census, Milwaukee is ...

from 1968-69 before entering private practice. Kessler was a supporter of

's candidacy for the Democratic presidential nomination in 1976; in 1978, Carter appointed her

for the Eastern District of Wisconsin. As United States Attorney, Kessler received praise for her performance in court and her open-door policy toward criminal defense attorneys, but clashed with Milwaukee City Attorney James Brennan over her investigation into the

Milwaukee Police Department The Milwaukee Police Department is the police department organized under the city of Milwaukee, Wisconsin. The department has a contingent of about 1,800 sworn officers when at full strength and is divided into seven districts. Jeffrey B. Norm ...

's hiring and promotion practices. She resigned in March 1981, following Carter's 1980 defeat to

Ronald Reagan Ronald Wilson Reagan ( ; February 6, 1911June 5, 2004) was an American politician, actor, and union leader who served as the 40th president of the United States from 1981 to 1989. He also served as the 33rd governor of California from 1967 ...

, and entered private practice with the Milwaukee firm

Foley and Lardner Foley & Lardner LLP (often referred to simply as "Foley") is an international law firm founded in 1842. In terms of revenue, it ranked 48th on The American Lawyer's 2022 AmLaw 100 rankings of U.S. law firms, with over $1 billion in gross revenue ...

. Kessler specialized as a divorce attorney at Foley and Lardner and was eventually selected as a partner in the firm. In 2004, Kessler challenged incumbent

Judge

Charles B. Schudson Charles Benjamin Schudson (born 1950) is a Wisconsin Reserve Judge Emeritus, law professor, judicial educator, keynote speaker, and author. Biography Schudson was born in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, in 1950. He is a graduate of Dartmouth College and t ...

for his seat on the court's Milwaukee-based District I. The campaign was hotly contested; Kessler's campaign alleged that Schudson had committed several violations of judicial ethics, charges he vehemently denied; Schudson later levied ethics allegations against Kessler. Kessler unseated Schudson in the April general election, but was not cleared of ethical wrongdoing until 2010. Kessler has participated in several notable cases during her tenure as an appellate judge. In December 2014, she authored a decision affirming the conviction of Kelly Rindfleisch, deputy chief of staff to Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker when he served as

Milwaukee County Executive The Milwaukee County Executive serves as the chief executive officer of Milwaukee County, Wisconsin. Vested with veto power and appointing authority over department heads, the county executive oversees the administrative functions of county gover ...

. In July 2015, Kessler wrote a concurring opinion in a decision reinstating Milwaukee's employee residency rules, which had been voided by a Milwaukee County circuit judge.

Electoral history

Wisconsin Court of Appeals (2004, 2010, 2016)

, colspan="6" style="text-align:center;background-color: #e9e9e9;", General Election, April 6, 2004 , colspan="6" style="text-align:center;background-color: #e9e9e9;", General Election, April 6, 2010 , colspan="6" style="text-align:center;background-color: #e9e9e9;", General Election, April 5, 2016

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Kessler, Joan F. Marquette University Law School alumni University of Wisconsin–Madison faculty Marquette University faculty United States Attorneys for the Eastern District of Wisconsin University of Kansas alumni Wisconsin Court of Appeals judges Living people Date of birth missing (living people) Place of birth missing (living people) 21st-century American judges 1944 births 21st-century American women judges American women academics