Brady Williamson, a towering figure in Wisconsin’s legal community, has died from complications of cancer. He was 79.
A Democratic political strategist involved in national affairs and a stalwart defender of free speech, Williamson found success in the courtroom. He defended corporate and constitutional cases in the U.S. Supreme Court and the federal and state appellate courts.
Williamson, who died Sunday, was a shareholder of the Madison-based law firm Godfrey & Kahn, which frequently represents the Cap Times and other news organizations.
“Brady was a giant in the fight for transparency in government and the defense of free speech, importantly including the speech of those with whom he disagreed,” said Bill Lueders, who leads the Wisconsin Freedom of Information Council. “Wisconsin is a better state because of his life’s work.”
In 1979, Williamson worked one of his first cases as part of the legal team defending the Madison-based magazine called The Progressive. The U.S. government attempted to block the magazine from publishing an article detailing what the government considered to be nuclear secrets.
Dave Zweifel, editor emeritus of the Cap Times, said Wisconsin’s strong open records and meetings laws are due in part to Williamson’s work. The lawyer was involved in the revision of the state’s government transparency laws in the 1980s.
“He was one of the most brilliant guys I ever knew,” Zweifel said.
In 1991, Williamson served as one of the lead attorneys in a lawsuit against the University of Wisconsin system’s Board of Regents, which had banned students from using racist or discriminatory language. The court found the hate speech code unconstitutional.
“The point of the case was not that people should use that language, but rather that the government should not be in a position of telling a student what he or she could not say,” Williamson told Lueders in a 2000 Isthmus cover story profiling the lawyer’s work and free speech advocacy. “Who decides what's good speech and what's bad speech? If you say the government, let's hope it's a government with which you agree.”
In the story, Lueders described Williamson’s arguments as “relentless” and “his logic like a steel trap.” Lueders later recalled that Williamson balked at his face being featured on the paper’s cover.
Williamson was also well-connected in the political sphere, helping organize multiple presidential debates and political events around the world. In 2000, he led the effort vying for Madison to host the presidential debate. The city was declared an alternate host site.
In 1997, the Wisconsin State Journal described Williamson as a key ally to then-President Bill Clinton. Williamson could be seen on stage alongside Hillary Clinton after she sparred with Donald Trump in the 2016 presidential debate.
Williamson additionally led a thriving bankruptcy practice. Most recently, he served as a fee examiner for Puerto Rico’s debt restructuring proceedings under the Puerto Rico Oversight, Management, and Economic Stability Act.
In the late 1990s, Williamson served as the chairman of the National Bankruptcy Review Commission. Elizabeth Warren, now U.S. senator of Massachusetts, was a senior adviser for the commission at the time.
In a statement, Warren described Williamson as a dear friend whom she shared many experiences with, “from fighting to preserve bankruptcy protection for struggling families to shopping for my first apartment in Washington.” The two aspired to rescue families “hanging onto the middle class by their fingernails,” the senator said.
“He was a superb lawyer, a go-to advance guy and a quietly remarkable person,” Warren said. “For three decades — my entire time in advocacy and government — Brady was there with his always-calm counsel.”
“Brady understood that even if we changed only one person’s life, the fight would be worth it,” Warren added. “I will miss his gentle reminders."
In addition to his work on bankruptcy, Williamson taught periodically at UW-Madison’s Law School and pursued constitutional and election law projects internationally, including in Iraq, Sudan and Ukraine. He was also a trustee for the William T. Evjue Charitable Trust.
“He was the kind of person that people turned to for advice, whether it was politics or public affairs in general,” Zweifel said. “He was just a superb human being and a friend of many very influential people.”
Note: This article was updated to correct the date of Brady Williamson's death.
