Capitol celebration honors WI Chief Justice Shirley S. Abrahamson.

• Author: Zemlicka, Jack

Byline: Jack Zemlicka

50-30-10

If Chief Justice Shirley S. Abrahamson had been inclined to play the Pick Three lottery on Sept. 6, those may have been the digits she would have chosen.

Monetary rewards aside, those numbers have proven extremely lucky for the current chief justice of the Wisconsin Supreme Court. She has logged 50 years since joining the bar, 30 years on the State Supreme Court and the last 10 as chief justice.

Abrahamson celebrated her good fortune with a few hundred colleagues in her home away from home, the state Capitol, where a celebration was held in the rotunda to honor her historic career.

"This is probably one of the premier legal events of the year, if not the last several," said Wisconsin Bar President-elect Thomas J. Basting Sr. "Lots of movers and shakers of the legal profession are here honoring a great justice of the Supreme Court. She's been a superb justice and a wonderful administrator; I think that's why you see so many people here today."

The largely jocular event was emceed by State Bar President Steven A. Levine and featured comments from both state law school deans, State Bar Executive Director George Brown and former Gov. Patrick J. Lucey, who appointed Abrahamson in 1976 as the first woman to sit on the state Supreme Court.

Abrahamson survived critics and solidified her reputation on the court. She has been re-elected every decade since and became Wisconsin's first female chief justice in 1996.

"I thought when I appointed her she would be strong and independent and she would last," Lucey said, noting she has done all of those.

He also dispelled rumors that he had not supported her during one of her earlier elections and he went on to offer his endorsement of Abrahamson for re-election in 2009.

The sentiment was absorbed by Abra-hamson who during her address quipped, "This is a great celebration coming midway through my career."

Lighthearted remarks on Abrahamson's longevity were plentiful as Levine opened with an anecdote on the chief justice having known Moses. Justice David T. Prosser Jr., in a separate interview, spoke of knowing Abrahamson since she was his professor at the University of Wisconsin Law School.

Humor aside, the majority of sentiments were sincere in their respect for Abrahamson and her accomplishments.

Justice Ann Walsh Bradley borrowed a compliment from former Justice Janine P. Geske in saying Abrahamson is the "hardest working, smartest...