Michael B. Brennan
Introduction
Michael B. Brennan is an American lawyer. He is currently a partner in the Milwaukee law firm Gass Weber Mullins LLC and is a nominee to be a United States Circuit Judge of the United States Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit.
Education and clerkships
Brennan received his Bachelor of Arts degree in government and philosophy, cum laude, from the University of Notre Dame, and his Juris Doctor from Northwestern University School of Law, where he served as the coordinating note and comment editor of the Northwestern University Law Review and won the Julius H. Miner Moot Court Competition.
Brennan served as a law clerk to Judge Daniel A. Manion of the United States Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit, and also for Chief Judge Robert W. Warren of the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Wisconsin.
Legal career
From 1991 to 1995, Brennan was a litigation associate in the Milwaukee office of Foley & Lardner LLP. He later became an assistant district attorney in Milwaukee County, where he first-chaired numerous trials.
In 1999, Brennan was appointed by Wisconsin Governor Tommy Thompson to serve as a judge on the Milwaukee County Circuit Court. He served for nine years in this position, presiding over almost 300 hundred trials and thousands of motions in criminal and civil cases. During that time, he served as the presiding judge of the civil division of that court.
Brennan returned to private practice in 2009 and became a partner at the law firm of Gass Weber Mullins, where he is a trial lawyer in the area of commercial litigation and handles appeals in federal and state courts. He is a mediator and an AAA certified arbitrator and has published more than 50 articles on federal practice and procedure and criminal sentencing.
Court of Appeals nomination
On August 3, 2017, President Trump nominated Brennan to serve as a United States Circuit Judge of the United States Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit, to the seat vacated by Judge Terence T. Evans, who assumed senior status on January 17, 2010. His nomination is currently pending before the Senate Judiciary Committee.
Affiliations and awards
Brennan is the founder of the Milwaukee chapter of the Federalist Society. He has served as a member of the Wisconsin Legislative Council's Special Committee on Crimes against Children. Brennan also chaired the Wisconsin Governor's Judicial Selection Advisory Committee. He received a special commendation from the United States Department of Justice for his service as a member of the National Advisory Committee on Violence Against Women.