Linda Clifford (attorney)
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Linda Clifford (b. ca. 1949) is an American attorney. Clifford was a candidate for a seat on the Wisconsin Surpreme Court in a high-profile 2007 election.
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[edit] Early life
Clifford was born in Waukegan, Illinois to Slovenian-American blue collar parents, and grew up in North Chicago. Her father was a tool and die maker at U.S. Steel, Cyclone Fence Division, and was a union steward. She also served on the local school board for 13 years.
Clifford attended Beloit College in Beloit, Wisconsin on a scholarship. She graduated from Beloit in 1970 Phi Beta Kappa cum laude with a major in International Relations.
[edit] Career
Clifford worked in Washington, D.C. law firm for a year after graduation, then returned to Wisconsin to enter the University of Wisconsin Law School, where she was a member of the Board of Editors of the Wisconsin Law Review. She worked simultaneously as a clerk Wisconsin Department of Justice.
Clifford became an Assistant Attorney General at the Department of Justice, serving under Attorneys General Robert Warren, Victor A. Miller and Bronson La Follette. In that role, Clifford was responsible for enforcing Wisconsin’s environmental protection laws, as well as for writing legal opinions.
Clifford went on hiatus in the late 1970s from legal work to have children with husband Keith Clifford, but returned to law and became a partner in 1986 at the Madison law firm of LaFollette Sinykin (now LaFollette Godfrey & Kahn).
[edit] Activities and accomplishments
Among Clifford's activities:
- She served for nine years on the Office of Lawyer Regulation District #9 Investigative Committee
- Clifford was a part of the State Bar’s Media-Law Relations Committee for eight years and edited the Wisconsin’ Lawyer’s Guide to the Media.
- She received the President’s Award of Excellence in 1997 for her work on the State Bar’s Commission on the Judiciary as a Co-Equal Branch of Government. [1]
- Clifford was elected President of the Dane County Bar Association in 1993.
[edit] Philanthropy and community work
- Clifford served for many years on the board of directors of the Friends of WHA-TV. She became the board president in 1981, a role she held for two years.
- She has been a member of the Beloit College Board of Trustees since 1999.
- She was appointed to the Wisconsin Historical Society Board of Curators in 2005.
[edit] Wisconsin Supreme Court candidacy
Clifford announced her candidacy for an opening seat on the Wisconsin Supreme Court (one being vacated by Judge Jon Wilcox) in the fall of 2006. She officially announced her candidacy in January 2007. [2] Clifford and fellow candidate Annette Ziegler won the two berths in the primary voting in February.
The campaign was a contentious one; Clifford contended Ziegler ruled in cases where she was unable to be objective. [3] Ziegler contended Clifford had never been a judge and would be ill-prepared to do so; she also raised concerns about two of Clifford's campaign workers misrepresenting themselves to law enforcement officials. [4] On April 3, 2007, Ziegler defeated Clifford in the election, 58% to 42% for Clifford. [5]
