Third Branch eNews

After a career that took her from the classroom to private practice and state government, Jacquelynn B. Rothstein will retire in late November following nearly 17 years overseeing Wisconsin’s attorney admissions and continuing legal education requirements as executive director and general counsel of the Board of Bar Examiners.

Rothstein joined the BBE in January 2010. An agency of the Wisconsin Supreme Court, the board evaluates applicants’ qualifications for admission to practice law and monitors attorneys’ compliance with continuing legal education requirements.

Before entering the legal profession, Rothstein taught English and social studies at a high school in Germantown. She later earned her law degree from Marquette University and entered private practice in Milwaukee, focusing on family, juvenile, and criminal law. She received her undergraduate degree from the University of Wisconsin–Madison.

Rothstein joined the Wisconsin Department of Regulation and Licensing, now the Department of Safety and Professional Services, in 1992. She served as legal counsel and an administrative law judge before moving to the BBE. She also served as an administrative law judge with the Department of Administration’s Division of Hearings and Appeals.

Her career has included teaching as a lecturer at the University of Wisconsin Law School and presenting at the National Judicial College. She has chaired the American Bar Association’s Government and Public Sector Lawyers Division, served as president of the State Bar of Wisconsin’s Government Lawyers Division, and served on Madison College’s Legal Studies and Paralegal Board. Outside her professional work, Rothstein is an avid gardener, a lover of travel, and a budding sewist.

Chief Justice Jill Karofsky conveyed her appreciation for Rothstein’s dedication to maintaining high professional standards among Wisconsin attorneys and affirmed the Court’s commitment to ensuring that the BBE’s work continues without interruption.

Chief Justice Karofsky has named Francis X. Sullivan, deputy director of the Office of Lawyer Regulation, interim executive director of the BBE. Sullivan will assume the role upon Rothstein’s departure.