Administrative changes at the University of Wisconsin-Madison Law School were introduced as it was announced that the Public Defender program’s director John Gross would be let go due to budget cuts, Wisconsin State Public Defenders and UW Law school said in a statement. 

This is part of the university’s budget constraint strategy to ‘control expenditures, improve efficiency, and advocate for UW-Madison on the state and federal levels along with alumni associates to grow philanthropic support’ for the university. This was part of UW’s statement regarding the 2025-26 budget cuts.

SPD attorneys will begin teaching the program as adjunct professors, rather than the former director, the statement said. They will start teaching seminars and introducing program students to public defender work and priorities immediately, according to the SPD’s statement.

An adjunct professor is a part-time professor hired for a short time to teach specific classes, usually bringing their real-world experience to their classes.

The two adjunct professors who will be teaching classes at the law school are Will Rakestraw and Brianna Zawanda, both public defenders part of WI PD, according to SPD’s statement.

Rakestraw has over 10 years of experience with SPD’s Milwaukee trial office, and Zawada has been with SPD’s Green Bay office since 2019 after graduation from UW Law school, according to SPD.

“The Public Defender Project is the reason I’m here doing this job. It gave me the change to get into the courtroom and fight for a client sitting next to me,” Zawada said on SPD’s statement. 

Students in the law school expressed their surprise at the firing, but confidence that things would stay mostly normal. 

Sam Bauckham, a law school student, expressed confidence that public defenders will run classes in the program.

“I don’t think that any of them are blind to the fact that there are problems with the programs and shortcomings,” Bauckham said. “The courses will still be the same, you’re still getting the same credits, it’ll just have a bit of different flavor because of the difference in who’s doing the teaching.” 

Gross had been the primary instructor for the Public Defender program, his UW staff website said.

Law students viewed the decision as an emergency response by the administration, according to Baukham.

“It seems like the rug got pulled out from under them,” Bauckham said. “If we really want to point fingers, you can focus on the lack of funding. I don’t think that it (the firing) was on purpose or malicious. It was just kind of reactionary.” 

According to WPR, the Law School encountered a 5% budget cut for the 2025-26 school year.

This comes at a time when there is a widespread shortage of public defenders in Wisconsin, according to SPD and Bauckham. The state public defenders are in a shortage of over 30 attorneys across the state. Many defendants are waiting for attorneys or responses to resume trials that have been delayed due to a lack of attorneys, PBS reported. 

“There are people sitting in jail for over a year for no reason other than the fact that they’re waiting for a lawyer,” Bauckham said.

Law students have formed a petition in protest of the firing, but they don’t expect any change to result from it, Bauckham said. He and other students were not surprised that changes were going to be made when the news broke that the law school, along with UW as a whole, was going to face budget cuts for the 2025-26 school year.

The firing of Gross was a decision that seemed to be more reactionary. Rather than planned, was a more reactionary measure that was made due to budget cuts, according to Bauckham.

“It all just happened really quickly, and things got left behind and weren’t organized due to the reactionary posture of the law school and university,” Bauckham said. “It felt like this decision was made ad hoc.”

The statement also said the program will remain in its current form through the end of the 2025-26 school year. 

SPD and the Law school plan to “roll out changes that will offer students greater opportunities to gain hands-on experience representing clients.” 

According to the statement, the adjunct professors will better facilitate learning about Public Defender work and offer expanded opportunities for interested students in public defender internships and other work. 

Bauckham believes that the new adjunct professors, while not ideal compared to real professors, will help prepare and encourage students for public defender work.

“I’m excited to see what the public defender’s office can do with more functional control over the program and the direction it heads. We’re going to get a lot of good students coming out of the program.” Baukham said.