Chief Justice Shirley S. Abrahamson
 Chief Justice Shirley S. Abrahamson was appointed to the Supreme Court by Gov. Patrick Lucey in 1976. She was then the only woman to serve on the court.
She won election to the court in 1979 and re-election in 1989, 1999, and 2009. Since August 1, 1996, she has been chief justice and, in that capacity, serves as the administrative leader of the Wisconsin court system.
Before joining the Supreme Court, Chief Justice Abrahamson was in private practice in Madison for 14 years and was a professor at the UW Law School. She is a past president of the National Conference of Chief Justices and past chair of the board of directors of the National Center for State Courts. She also has served as chair of the National Institute of Justice's National Commission on the Future of DNA Evidence. She is a member of the Council of the American Law Institute, the New York University School of Law Institute of Judicial Administration. She also has served on the State Bar of Wisconsin's Commission on the Delivery of Legal Services, the American Bar Association's Coalition for Justice, and the National Academies' Science, Technology and Law panel.
Born and raised in New York City, Chief Justice Abrahamson received her bachelor's degrees from NYU in 1953, her law degree from Indiana University Law School in 1956, and a doctorate of law in American legal history in 1962 from the UW Law School. She is the recipient of 15 honorary doctor of laws degrees and the Distinguished Alumni Award of the UW-Madison. She is a fellow of the Wisconsin Academy of Arts and Sciences and the American Academy of Arts and Sciences and an elected member of the American Philosophical Society. In 2004, she received the American Judicature Society's Dwight D. Opperman Award for Judicial Excellence. In 2009 the National Center for State Courts awarded her the Harry L. Carrico Award for Judicial Innovation, for serving as a national leader in safeguarding judicial independence, improving inter-branch relations, and expanding outreach to the public.
Chief Justice Abrahamson is listed in Great American Judges [Top 100]: An Encyclopedia (John R. Vile ed. 2003), in The Lawdragon 500 Leading
Lawyers in America (2005), and in The Lawdragon 500 Leading Judges in America (2006).
Chief Justice Abrahamson and her husband, Seymour, have a son, Daniel. Her current term expires July 31, 2019.
Justice Ann Walsh Bradley
Justice Ann Walsh Bradley was elected to the Supreme Court in 1995 and re-elected in 2005.
A native of Richland Center, Wis., Justice Bradley received a bachelor's degree from Webster University in St. Louis. She was a high school teacher before entering the UW Law School, where she earned a law degree in 1976.
Justice Bradley was in private practice until becoming a circuit court judge in Marathon County in 1985. She is a winner of the American Judicature Society's Harley Award, a national honor that is reserved for judges whose outstanding efforts and long-term contributions have resulted in substantial improvements to the justice system.
Justice Bradley is an elected member of the American Law Institute, a former associate dean of the Wisconsin Judicial College, a former chair of the Wisconsin Judicial Conference, and a lecturer for the American Bar Association's Asia Law Initiative. She is a member of the State Bar of Wisconsin Bench Bar Committee, a member of the Board of Visitors of the UW Law School, a member of the Federal-State Judicial Council, a fellow of the American Bar Foundation and a Commissioner of the National Conference on Uniform Laws. She also serves as a member of the Wisconsin Judicial Council.
Justice Bradley and her husband, Mark, have four children: Bryn, John, Elizabeth, and Patrick. Her current term expires July 31, 2015.
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