Barring write-in, Bauer will be branch 4 judge

Wednesday, March 26, 2008 12:29 PM CDT

JUNEAU - Barring a write-in campaign, Dodge County District Attorney Steven Bauer, 49, of Beaver Dam, will be the new Dodge County Circuit Court branch four judge.

Bauer is unopposed for his bid to fill the new judgeship approved by the state Legislature and signed by the governor late last year.

Bauer will be the only candidate listed on the Tuesday ballot for the judicial post. If elected, he will begin his duties as judge on Aug. 1.

Bauer has served as district attorney over the last five years, having been elected three times. His office prosecutes thousands of cases each year. Before being elected district attorney, Bauer was an assistant corporation counsel for Dodge County for three years, working on drug, alcohol and mental commitments, zoning issues, child in need of protection cases, termination of parental rights, and general government cases. He also spent seven years in private practice in Horicon and Fond du Lac. He says he has handled most every type of case including divorce, child support, and large claim civil cases. He has practiced in circuit courts in 22 different counties around the state, the federal district and bankruptcy courts, the Wisconsin Court of Appeals, and the Wisconsin Supreme Court. As a law clerk, Bauer was involved in the longest civil trial in Dodge County history.

Before becoming a lawyer, Bauer was also employed for five years by the University of Wisconsin-Extension as an agent assisting farmers and agri-businesses with management issues.

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Bauer received his law degree with academic honors (cum laude) from the University of Wisconsin-Madison Law School. In addition, Bauer has a master's degree in applied economics from Oregon State University and a bachelor's degree in agricultural economics from UW-Madison, both with academic distinction. He is a 1976 graduate of Mayville High School.

Bauer was born in Waupun and grew up and worked on his family's dairy farm in the town of LeRoy with six brothers and sisters.

He and his wife, Sara, reside in Beaver Dam and daughter Rachael is a senior at the University of Wisconsin-Madison.

Bauer is a member of St. Katharine Drexel Catholic Church, the Dodge County Executive Law Enforcement Association, the Dodge County and Wisconsin Bar Association, the Wisconsin and National District Attorney's Association, the Dodge County Restorative Justice Board, Dodge County Elder Abuse Prevention Team and the Beaver Dam Noon Kiwanis.