Jill Falstad

What is your connection to Wisconsin, did you grow up here, and if you did, how long have you lived here? 

I have lived in Wisconsin all my life.  I grew up in the Milwaukee area.  I was born in West Allis, WI and lived there until I was in the 6^th grade.  We moved out to New Berlin, which is a suburb a little further out, closer to Waukesha.  I went to college at the University of Wisconsin in Madison. After college, I moved to central Wisconsin, eventually ending up in Wausau.  So I have been in Wisconsin all my life.

 What are some of the key memories that you have from growing up in Wisconsin?

 When we lived in West Allis, the houses were all very close to each other.  We just had a ton of kids in our neighborhood. I remember playing a lot of games, like kick-the-can, hide-and-seek and games like that.  When I moved out to New Berlin, my parents had thirty acres of land so we did a lot more things outside.  There weren’t as many kids in the neighborhood.  The kids in the neighborhood had horses so I got to learn about horses. We did a lot more things involving nature and more outside activities, like hiking, swimming, biking and gardening.  I had a lot of fun just playing and exploring out in the woods. I also did a ton of reading; listened to a lot of music; and did many craft activities. One other memory was that we had about thirty cats at one time because we had three mother cats that had a lot of kittens. I have always liked cats ever since then.

 What path has your career taken over the years?

 After graduating from high school, I went to college at UW-Madison.  I studied political science and learned about politics and government. At that time in my life, I thought I would also like to be a reporter so I took journalism classes.  I thought I would be a news reporter focusing on politics and government. I graduated with degrees in journalism and political science. After receiving my degree, I decided I wanted to go to law school.  Law School took me three years to complete.  When I was in law school, I took a summer internship working in the prison system. I worked with people convicted of crimes and serving sentences in the prison system.  I learned that rather than work with the people convicted of crimes, the prisoners, I wanted to work to help people who were victims of crime.  So, eventually, I worked in a District Attorney’s (DA’s) office in Madison and that helped me find my greatest interest – being a prosecutor.  Years later, I ended up in the District Attorney’s office in Marathon County.

 What are some key opportunities that you were provided with that got you where you are today?

 One of the key opportunities was the summer internship working in the prison system.  I determined rather than working with prisoners I would prefer to work with the police and victims of crime. I then received an internship at the Dane County DA’s Office and that allowed me to prosecute cases and work with victims. Working in the DA’s office was a key opportunity and that is what helped me find my love of prosecution.  When I completed law school, I went to every county in the state to see if anyone had a job opening to be an assistant DA.  Eventually, I found a job in Wood County, so I took the job.  Then, after working in the Wood County DA’s Office, I found a job at the Portage County DA’s Office.  I worked there for a while and got more experience.  When a position opened up in Marathon County, I moved to Wausau and worked as an Assistant DA and eventually ran for the elected DA position.

 What are some of the things you like most about your job?  Are there any dislikes?

 Currently I am serving as a judge in Marathon County Circuit Court.  I was elected to be judge in April 2009 and took office in August. Prior to being a judge, I worked as a prosecutor for 22 years.  The last fifteen years I was the elected District Attorney.  I conducted jury trials on many serious, high profile cases including cases of murder, arson, sexual assault and robbery. I enjoyed working on those trials although the work was very challenging and intense.  However, gaining a conviction in a tough case was very rewarding.  I did feel a lot of satisfaction in helping victims and in keeping the community safe.    I have been a judge for several months, and so far what I like about being a judge is the variety of cases that I preside over. I not only hear criminal cases, but I hear a wide variety of cases with family issues, personal injury cases; and many other legal matters.  I find the work of a judge to be very, very interesting and I have learned many new things by working on such a wide variety of cases. I have enjoyed the new challenges and have found it rewarding to make decisions that are important to the parties involved.

 Do you have any dislikes (about your job)? 

While it is interesting to learn so many new things as a Judge, it can also be stressful.  I strive to make fair and just decisions and need to understand the information to arrive at the decision. As I spend more time in this position I know I will get more and more comfortable with it.  Right now, there is a lot to learn, and it must be done in a system with very heavy caseloads.  In addition, there are times that the parties involved in the case can be quite hostile to one another and I do not like the degree of animosity often shown, especially in family cases. In such cases I strive to bring fairness and respect to the process.

 How has being a woman influenced or affected your career?

 First, while a lot of DA’s are very good at working with people, I felt particularly comfortable helping women and children who had been victimized.   Sometimes, kids have to testify and that can be very stressful for them.  I was able to help and support children and their families through the difficult court process.  A lot of times women and girls who are the victims of crime have to talk about things that are personal and embarrassing.  I think that I was able to be very helpful to victims, especially children and women, to help them through the court process to make them feel a little stronger and more comfortable and less stressed about going to court.  As to running the DA’s office, my leadership style was one of team building and encouraging each person to do their best based on their strengths. As a judge, I am a good listener and bring those same people skills to the bench.

 What have been some of your biggest struggles about your career?

 While serving as District Attorney, one of the biggest struggles was dealing with the overwhelming caseloads involving everything from murder, arson, assault, theft, home invasions, gang crimes, and weapons charges.  The flow of cases into the office never slowed down, but increased, while the resources to work on cases did not increase. There was a constant struggle to acquire the necessary resources, which made the job very challenging.  The struggle was to balance everything, from managing the office with a staff of 25, to making sure victims were getting support, to handling all of those cases, etc.   While the office had strong working relationships with community groups and law enforcement, the county administration was very hostile to the DA’s office which added to the other challenges.  As judge, the caseloads continue to be heavy and one of the more significant struggles is managing limited resources to accomplish the most good.

 Do you think there are more equal employment opportunities for women today?  Have salaries become more equal?

 In the field that I work in, that is, working in government, if women have positive qualifications, they have the same opportunities to do the same job as the men.  Men and women can be assistant DA’s and DA’s and men and women can be judges.  We all get the same level of pay. 

 Have you observed any discrimination against women?  Have you seen an improvement on the way women are treated in the workplace?

 I first ran for the elected District Attorney’s position in 1994.  This was after serving eight years as an Assistant DA, which was not an elected position.  During that first election, when I was out campaigning, I had people come up to me and tell me that women could not be the DA … that the DA position was a man’s job.  There were people who felt that I was not good enough to be the District Attorney only because I was a woman.  I explained to them that I had done this work for years.  I would tell them I had the education and the qualifications to be DA and that I felt I could do the job.  I was elected in 1994 and was re-elected eight times after that.  I was able to show people that I was very qualified to do the District Attorney’s job as a woman. There were definitely people who showed discrimination because this county never had a woman as District Attorney previous to 1994.

 How did you balance your job with your family life, volunteer work, hobbies, and other interests?  Did the balance change over time?

 While serving as DA, I did not have “balance” in my life. The job of District Attorney was very overwhelming and the piles of work never stopped; crime never stopped; and there were too many pressing and serious matters that could not be ignored. There was never enough time to do all the work and the most serious cases were prioritized and hopefully, the more minor things, worked out for the parties involved.  I felt a great deal of responsibility to the people of Marathon County.  Being in an elected position required that I place a great deal of importance on my job duties and I was able to accomplish a great deal.  However, that required a tremendous amount of time to be put into the job.  I had a very unequal work/life balance and I was lucky that I had a family that supported me.  I didn’t have the time with my family, my friends, or for myself that I wish I would have.  My hope is that as I gain more experience as a judge that I will be able to have more balance in my life with more equal time between work and family.

 Is there anything you wished you had done differently in your career?  Are there any job opportunities or careers that you would have liked to explore?

 It was pretty early in my life that I decided I wanted to help victims of crime and to prosecute those who broke our laws.  I really enjoyed working on criminal cases. Many of these cases were very challenging, but when a serious and dangerous offender is convicted, it is very satisfying both in doing justice for a victim and in keeping the community safe.  I felt like I did a lot of good work to keep the community safe and that I did a lot of good work helping victims through court. As DA, I also put a number of important programs in place for offenders so they could make better choices and be rehabilitated.   I got to do the kind of work that I really thought made a difference and was good for the community. Now, I am glad I pursued this new opportunity to serve as judge.  As I have worked as a judge, I have found the work to be very interesting and rewarding, and this is another important way to serve the community.  I’m happy with the choices I’ve made.

 What are the biggest differences in the ways that women are treated today compared to when you were growing up?

 When I was growing up, there were a lot of things girls didn’t do, or they were told things they couldn’t do.  Now, I think, girls are told they can do anything, they can try anything.  If they want to they can be astronauts, or scientists, or politicians, or lawyers, or doctors, or moms.  Whatever they want to do, they can do it.  When I was growing up, girls were discouraged from doing a lot of things.  We were told that women didn’t do certain things.  So I did hear that when I was growing up, but now the message we try to tell girls and boys is that there are a lot of choices available and you can pursue any field you want to, or any field you are interested in.  I think there is a big difference in message and in the actual opportunities available. 

How have family structures and the role of women in the family changed since you were growing up?

 I know when I was growing up a lot of the moms did not work outside the home.  Now, more moms do have jobs outside of the home.  I think there are more choices for women.  They can choose to be a stay-at-home mom, but they can also choose to have a job outside the home if they want or need to, and there are also growing opportunities as to how and when to blend these choices. 

Is there anything in your life that you wish you could do over again?

  I was pretty rebellious as a teenager, so I wish I wouldn’t have been such a difficult teenager for my parents.  I think I gave my parents a lot of gray hair, so sometimes I feel bad because I caused my mom and dad so much grief.  Other than that, I have been pretty happy with the way things have gone.

 What are some important life lessons that you would like younger generations of women to be aware of?

 What I would tell the younger generation of women is to not be afraid to take an opportunity, to be willing to try new things.  For example, I was concerned to go in the prison setting and talk to offenders, but I thought that it would be interesting and that I would learn something valuable.  So, even though I was nervous about that opportunity, I am glad I took that opportunity.  The lesson is to not be afraid to try new things and if an opportunity comes up, just go for it and give it your best shot . It was the same thing when someone told me I should run for election for DA.  I didn’t know how to run a campaign or what was involved in the election process.  I was concerned about it.  But people encouraged me and I asked a lot of questions.  I decided to take that new opportunity and so I jumped in, not knowing what I was getting into.  I learned a lot during that first campaign.  I talked to thousands and thousands of people.  That’s a hard thing to do, to just go and talk to strangers, but it made me more confident.  What I learned is that people really were very interested in the work of the DA.  They were very interested in having safe communities and they were interested in stopping gang violence, drug crime and so on.   So, by the end of it, I was exhausted from talking to so many people, but I was really glad I got out there to meet so many good people. I grew as a person and learned a lot about the community. The lesson is to take a chance and pursue what you believe in and that includes public service.  Always be open to learn new things and learn from your mistakes (we all make them) and be willing to go outside your comfort zone.    

Who has inspired you?

 I have been inspired by a lot of people.  I have been inspired by people I have worked with.  For example, when I first ran for DA, I had watched how the prior DA worked.  He was an inspiration to me to work hard, always be true to yourself, and always do your best and no matter how bad things get, just always do the right thing.  He was an inspiration to me.  I have had some very great women friends who have been an inspiration for me.  I have also found people like Hillary Clinton very inspirational.  I really admired her for running for President and, having done my local election in Marathon County, I knew how hard campaigning was.  Observing her at the national level was amazing.  Even in defeat, she went on to accept new opportunities and I respect that.   I really came to admire her and Barack Obama for how hard they worked on their elections and that they were trying to set a standard to show that women and minorities could also run for higher office and have a chance to serve in that capacity.  I found both of them very inspirational with the work they did.

 What are some of your hobbies?

 I love to garden and spend a great deal of my free time in my flower garden. Our family also has a pontoon boat and  so I enjoy boating and swimming on the River.    I love bike riding; hiking; listening to music, and reading. I also love traveling and exploring new places.  I have a ten-year-old son.  My son is into hockey, so I totally love hockey now.  I love watching hockey – I find it a very fun sport to watch.

 Is there anything else you would like to tell us about your family members?

 I have been married for 20 years. My husband is a DNR Warden supervisor, so he works with fishing and hunting laws.  My son is ten years old and he likes hockey and soccer, so now I like hockey and soccer, they are very fun to watch.

 How exciting was becoming a judge?

It was very exciting.  The campaign was very hard.  When I started, there were five people who were running to be the judge in the election, so that means we had a primary.  We had to get down to two candidates.  So when there are five candidates, you have to do a lot of work, like contacting people and talking to people.  So it was a lot of time and effort.  Then, when it got down to two people, my election was hotly contested, so there were a lot of debates and issues.  It was a lot of hard work.  Finally, when I won the election, I was very excited.  I was excited to have this new opportunity, to get to do a new job.  I already like the job a lot, so I am glad I got that chance.

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