The American Board of Trial Advocates is a distinguished group of attorneys and judges working together to preserve the jury trial in civil lawsuits throughout the country. The mission of the national organization is as follows:
The general purposes of this Association shall be to foster improvement in the ethical and technical standards of practice in the field of advocacy to the end that individual litigants may receive more effective representation and the general public be benefited by more efficient administration of justice consistent with time-tested and traditional principles of litigation.
Each year, the Wisconsin Chapter of this organization recognizes a trial judge for upholding this mission. This year, Murphy & Prachthauser attorneys, Don Prachthauser and Kevin Kukor, nominated Judge James Kieffer, a Waukesha County Circuit Court judge, for this award.
Out of approximately 250 circuit court judges across the state, Judge Kieffer was selected for this award. During the annual meeting of the Wisconsin Chapter of the American Board of Trial Advocates, Don Prachthauser had the honor of presenting this award to Judge Kieffer as the Trial Judge of the Year for 2013.