List of first minority male lawyers and judges in Wisconsin

This is a list of the first minority male lawyer(s) and judge(s) in Wisconsin. It includes the year in which the men were admitted to practice law (in parentheses). Also included are men who achieved other distinctions such becoming the first in their state to graduate from law school or become a political figure.

Firsts in Wisconsin's history

Lawyers

First Jewish American male: Nathan Pereles (1857)

First African American male: Everett E. Simpson (1888)

First African American male to argue a case before the Wisconsin Supreme Court: William T. Green (1892)

First Native American (Oneida) male: Dennison Wheelock (1911)

First Native American male admitted to state bar: Thomas "Ted" St. Germaine (1932)

First African American male public defender from Wisconsin to argue a case before the U.S. Supreme Court: Louis B. Butler (1977) in 1998

State judges

First African American male (justice of the peace): J.C. Perkins in 1903

First Jewish American male (circuit court): Charles L. Aarons in 1925

First African American male to run for judicial seat: Andrew R. Reneau in 1955

First Italian American male: John Fiorenza in 1966

First African American male: Harold Jackson Jr. in 1972

First Hispanic American male: Ness Flores in 1978

First male judge (who is deaf) to use a computerized transcription system in a Wisconsin court: Richard S. Brown in 1983

First African American male elected without being appointed by a governor: Carl Ashley in 1999

First Latino American male elected to the circuit court without being appointed by a governor: Ralph Ramirez around 1999

First African American male (Wisconsin Court of Appeals): Paul B. Higginbotham (1985) in 2003

First Asian American male (Japanese ancestry): Glenn H. Yamahiro (1991) in 2003

First African American male (Wisconsin Supreme Court): Louis B. Butler (1977) in 2004

First Latino American male (Wisconsin Court of Appeals): Pedro Colón in 2023

First Filipino American male: Raphael Ramos in 2023

Federal judges

First African American male (U.S. Bankruptcy Court in Wisconsin): Charles N. Clevert Jr. (1972) in 1977

First African American male (U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Wisconsin): Charles N. Clevert Jr. (1972) in 1995

Assistant United States Attorney

First African American male: Grady L. Pettigrew, Jr. in 1975

District Attorney

First African American male: Ismael Ozanne in 2010

Assistant District Attorney

First African American male: Andrew R. Reneau

State Bar of Wisconsin

First Jewish American male president: Benjamin Poss in 1937

Firsts in local history

Daniel Bernstine: First African American male to serve as the Dean of University of Wisconsin Law School (1990)

Paul B. Higginbotham: First African American judge in Dane County, Wisconsin (1994). He was also the first African American municipal court judge in Madison, Wisconsin (1992).