Chippewa Falls native settles into role as judge

Last modified: Thursday, February 28, 2008 10:02 AM CST

Chippewa Falls native settles into role as judge

By ROD STETZER

First came the greeting in a phone call placed last month.

“Happy new year,” Jim Doyle told Stanley attorney Ann Knox-Bauer.

Then Wisconsin’s governor said he had decided to appoint the Chippewa Falls native as the new judge for Taylor County.

She was sworn in for the job on Jan. 22, but took a formal oath of office from Dorothy Bain, the chief judge of the 9th Judicial District, last Thursday afternoon in Medford.

“I had always planned on being a lawyer,” said Knox-Bauer, 41, a 1984 graduate of Chippewa Falls Senior High School.

“This is like my goal, my dream job, to be a judge.”

The new judge and her husband, John Bauer, live in Medford with their two children, Joseph and Amanda. They lived on Lake Wissota for 16 years before moving to Medford.

Knox-Bauer appreciates the years she spent in her native city.

“Chippewa Falls is the kind of a town you take for granted when you grow up there, because you don’t realize how neat it is,” she said.

“When you go away from Chippewa Falls I think you appreciate it more.”

She didn’t have to go far to receive her undergraduate degree in journalism at the University of Wisconsin-Eau Claire. She then earned her law degree in 1991 from the Hamline University school of law in St. Paul, Minn.

“It (Hamline) is in its own little world in the middle of St. Paul,” she said.

She began working as an attorney at the law firm of Salm & Knox-Bauer in Stanley in 1991.

Knox-Bauer began working as a Taylor County court commissioner in 1999, and as the county’s family court commissioner since 2006.

One of the highlights of her career as an attorney was arguing a case in 2001 before the Wisconsin Supreme Court.

She successfully argued on behalf of a family that wanted to sue the Stanley-Boyd School District over a playground accident.

“It was really an awesome experience,” she said of the chance to go before the state’s high court.

Last October, Taylor County Judge Gary Carlson announced he would step down Jan. 2 after serving 28 years. Knox-Bauer decided to apply to Doyle’s office to be appointed to serve out Carlson’s term, which expires July 31, 2009.

Five people applied for the position. After an interview with what’s called the Judicial Selection Committee, the field was narrowed to Knox-Bauer and one other candidate.

Next up was an interview with Gov. Doyle himself. Then, on Jan. 3, Doyle called to tell Knox-Bauer of his decision to appoint her.

She spent some time preparing for the transition to become a judge through a mentoring process.

“It’s just a constant learning process,” she said.

She went to various counties and observed and worked with other judges.

“It was very valuable,” she said.

Knox-Bauer loves the job and intends to run for election for a six-year term next year.

She said Taylor County courts have state-of-the-art technology, and Judge Carlson developed forms for people needing attorneys and access to the legal system.

Knox-Bauer is the only judge in Taylor County. If she wants to get the advice of another judge on a legal matter, she has to get on the phone.

And though she has occasionally felt swamped by the number of cases she handles, she’s learned that judges have to live with their rulings.

“After you make your decision, you can’t say, ‘I should have done this.’

“You can’t second guess yourself in this job. It would just be deadly, I think.”

Reach Rod Stetzer at rod.stetzer@lee.net.