Give Marquette

Marquette University Alumni Association
Marquette.edu

Law School Recipients

Lifetime Achievement Award

William J. MulliganWILLIAM 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.”