Lifetime Achievement Award

WILLIAM J. MULLIGAN, LAW '60
Milwaukee

One of the most important lessons William took away from Marquette University Law School was that preparation is a one-word formula for success.

And he approaches each case as another chance to learn — the more complex, the better, from the nuances of how the paper manufacturing process impacts the environment to a labyrinth of pharmaceutical and health care issues.

“For me, this legal work combines helping clients and doing good with personal enjoyment,” William says.

Since 1991, he has been a shareholder of Davis & Kuelthau, S.C., where he represents individuals, businesses and local government entities in litigation matters including environmental, securities, antitrust and insurance coverage disputes.

William’s ties to Marquette and the Law School remain strong; he was an assistant professor in the late 1970s and served as a director of the Law Alumni Association from 1991–94, including a stint as its president in 1992–93.

He is a member of the steering committee of the Milwaukee Justice Center, a collaboration among the Milwaukee Bar Association, Milwaukee County and Marquette Law School.

William and his late wife, Mary, Nurs '59, raised four children and sent them all to Marquette: Kathleen, Arts '87; Margaret, Comm '93; Thomas, Arts '90; and Sara Mulligan-Mauermann, Comm '91, Law '01.

He considers his wife the most influential person in his life.

“She was a Chicago Public School nurse who daily cared for school children and others, making home visits in high-rise public housing projects during violence and shootings and thereafter as a psychiatric nurse in mental health facilities on the night shift,” he says.

Hometown: Milwaukee
Favorite books: The Complete Book of Running and Jim Fixx’s Second Book of Running, both by James Fixx, and Running and Being: The Total Experience by George Sheehan.
Dream dinner guest: The Hon. William Rehnquest
Marquette faculty member who had an impact: Professor James Ghiardi
Favorite Marquette class: “Constitutional Law. It is the substantive and procedural basis of our rights and liberties and plays a major role in so many areas of the law.”