By Judge Andrew Jones
Judge Andrew Jones
My desire to enter into public service as a judge can be traced to my parents, both of whom were dedicated public servants. My father taught at UWM for 35 years, and my mother was a librarian for the federal courts in Milwaukee for 20 plus years. Both my sister and brother are long-time public high school teachers.
Our parents raised us in Shorewood, and my siblings and I attended the Shorewood public schools.
After going away to college and spending a year working for then-Congressman Jim Moody in Washington, D.C., I returned home to attend law school in Madison. In law school, I clerked for the NAACP Legal Defense and Education Fund in New York City, and I interned at the Wisconsin Department of Justice and for Wisconsin Supreme Court Justice Shirley Abrahamson.
Following my graduation from law school in 1994, I returned to New York to work as an assistant city attorney at the New York City Law Department. In this role, I represented New York City and its employees in a wide range of litigation in the federal and state courts in New York.
In 1998, my wife, Amy, and I returned to Milwaukee to start a family. I took a position as a trial and appellate attorney at Whyte Hirschboeck Dudek, and I remained at the firm (which took the name Husch Blackwell in 2016) until I took a seat on the Milwaukee County Circuit Court in 2018. Over my 20 years at the firm, I worked with both private and public sector clients in defending complex litigation involving constitutional, employment, health care, and land use issues, to name just a few. I tried claims and handled appeals at every of the state and federal court systems, including the Wisconsin and United States Supreme Courts. Over my time at the firm, I also served in numerous leadership positions in the firm’s diversity, recruiting, mentoring, and attorney development programs, and was elected to the board of directors of Whyte Hirschboeck in 2012 and to the board of directors of Husch Blackwell in 2016.
I am committed to the well-being of the entire Milwaukee community. I currently sit on the board of directors of the Milwaukee Bar Association Foundation, which helps fund and oversee the Milwaukee Justice Center, which utilizes volunteers to address the unmet legal needs of Milwaukee County’s low-income, unrepresented litigants. I also sit on the board of directors of Feeding America Eastern Wisconsin, a leading hunger relief organization in Wisconsin. I volunteer as a mentor through the federal bar association in Milwaukee, and I have long served at a downtown soup kitchen.
It is a privilege to serve on the Milwaukee County Circuit Court. It is the culmination of my 24 years as a trial and appellate lawyer, and it is an opportunity to serve the justice system and the people of Milwaukee County by working every day to ensure that the law is applied fairly and equally to everyone who comes before me, without exception.
I firmly believe that Branch 40, where I preside, belongs not to me, but to the people of Milwaukee County. I would be honored to continue to serve in Branch 40, and I humbly ask for your support on April 2.
To learn more about my campaign, visit https://www.judgeandrewjones.com or contact us at judgeandrewjones@gmail.com.