Supreme Court appoints two to Board of Bar Examiners

Madison, Wisconsin - December 29, 2000

The Wisconsin Supreme Court has appointed Curtis E. Brieske, a Farmers Cooperative warehouse manager from Monroe County, and Dennis A. Danner, a recent retiree who served 35 years with the Department of Corrections, to the Board of Bar Examiners (BBE). The Court acted on nominations from the Appointment Selection Committee, which it created last spring to promote quality and diversity in candidates for service on boards and committees.

Brieske and Danner, whose appointments are effective Jan. 1, 2001, are filling two new seats that the Supreme Court created on the BBE in April. The Court designated these seats for non-lawyers, bringing the number of non-lawyer seats on the BBE to three. The remaining eight seats are designated for lawyers, judges, and law school faculty.

Brieske started at the Hillsboro Farmers' Cooperative as a laborer 30 years ago and has worked his way up to branch manager. He has also served as municipal judge and village clerk for the Village of Wilton, and has been a member of the Village Board and Elroy-Kendall-Wilton School Board.

Danner most recently served as southeastern regional chief for the Department of Corrections' Division of Community Corrections in Kenosha, Racine, and Walworth counties. He also has been a probation and parole agent, a social services supervisor, and the superintendent of a minimum security correctional center in Milwaukee.

The BBE is an agency of the Court that is responsible for managing admission to the practice of law in the state, for monitoring Wisconsin-licensed attorneys' compliance with continuing legal education requirements, and for approving credit for continuing legal education courses. A major part of the BBE's work is conducting character and fitness investigations for all candidates for bar admission by diploma privilege. Diploma privilege means that graduates of Wisconsin law schools do not have to take the bar exam to be admitted to practice in Wisconsin as long as their law school certifies their legal competence and the BBE certifies their character and fitness for the practice of law. The legally trained members of the BBE create, administer, and grade the Wisconsin bar examination and evaluate the experience and competence of experienced lawyers.

Members of the BBE serve three-year terms, and may serve a maximum of six years.

For more information contact:
Amanda Todd
Court Information Officer
(608) 264-6256

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