The State Bar of Wisconsin is a professional association of attorneys that provides its 25,000 members with educational, career development, and other services. It also provides services to the public, including attorney referrals, public education, and reduced-fee legal assistance for low-income state residents.
Dan will serve as president-elect until July 1, 2025, when he will begin his one-year term as president. As president of the State Bar, Dan will assist in overseeing the policy-making, operations, and strategic planning of the association. One of Dan’s main goals as president will be to focus on attorney mentoring to aid the next generation of lawyers in improving their professional skills and civility both in and out of the courtroom.
In his 38 years as an attorney, Dan has practiced in both cities and small towns and has experience in a variety of legal fields, including criminal defense, worker’s compensation, and personal injury. His practice has spanned Wisconsin, and he has appeared in over a third of the state’s 72 counties. Since joining Boardman Clark in 2016, Dan has focused his practice on family law. He works on various matters like divorce, child custody, and property division. Dan has served his local legal communities in leadership roles as the Dane County Bar Association’s president from 2009-2010 and Green County Bar president in 2001, and is a Life Fellow with the Wisconsin Law Foundation.
Outside of his practice, Dan is active in his communities. Among other things, he’s the Bayview Foundation’s legal advisor, a member of Green County’s Forestry Education Center, treasurer of the Green’s Prairie Cemetery Association, and coached the New Glarus High School Mock Trial team for nearly 20 years. He and his wife Tracey Schwalbe have three adult children, and they live on their 15-acre farmette in rural New Glarus where they enjoy prairie restoration, sheepherding and woodlot management.
Boardman Clark Attorney Michelle Behnke, who previously served as the president of the State Bar of Wisconsin from 2004-2005, was also named president-elect of the American Bar Association earlier this year.
Boardman Clark is one of Madison’s largest and longest-standing law firms. The firm serves individuals, businesses, school districts, and local governments. Its areas of service include litigation, franchise and dealership law, business law, taxation, estate planning and probate, intellectual property, family law, municipal law, banking, labor and employment, land use, elder services, real estate, and school law.