Newly elected Wisconsin Supreme Court Justice-elect Pat Roggensack’s three children could never have anticipated that their mother’s career might progress to the highest court in the state when she started as a University of Wisconsin law student in the 1970s.

In those days, the kids knew 8 p.m. to midnight was their mom’s “study time.”

“I never dreamed of running for Supreme Court at that time,” Roggensack said.

All three of Roggensack’s children were on hand at Oakcrest Tavern as the shouts from the front of the bar announced her opponent, Barron County Circuit Court judge Ed Brunner, had conceded.

“Judge Brunner has apparently conceded on public radio, and he personally called me a few minutes ago, which was very nice of him,” Roggensack said around 10 p.m. Tuesday night.

As she spoke, her daughter Ellen Brostrom sidled next to her to present her with an antique Buddhist vase — a gift handpicked by Roggensack’s children and grandchildren and inscribed, “May your jurisprudence be a vessel for justice.”

Brostrom said Roggensack’s family members had been her biggest supporters during the campaign. Brostrom is herself a Milwaukee attorney who may force Roggensack to recluse herself from Supreme Court deliberations in the future.

“I have a case that I am sure will see its way to the Supreme Court,” Brostrom said. The case involved litigation to hold lead paint companies liable for lead paint poisoning and would require Roggensack from removing herself from the case’s hearing.

Roggensack will become the first justice to have experience on the Wisconsin Court of Appeals, where she currently serves as a judge. One of Roggensack’s biggest campaign platforms was an idea to streamline the appeals process by coordinating the Court of Appeals with the Supreme Court for the benefit of those involved in family-law cases.

“I recently talked to a family-law practitioner who moved into my office building complex who said it is a particularly muddled area of law, but is also the area people are most passion about and have the least money to litigate with,” Brostrom said. “My mom’s plan would do two things: make the process less expensive and more expeditious.”

Roggensack said she planned to focus on cases involving children and families as a justice. While the Court of Appeals hears many family-law cases, Roggensack said many of the rulings it issued in its 25-year history come close to contradicting each other, resulting in muddy interpretations of the law.

“It’s an area the Supreme Court doesn’t take cases on very often,” Roggensack said. “I’d push for the Court to hear those cases where our law is not clear enough.”

Toward the end of his race Brunner called into question Roggensack’s political affiliations, questioning associations that seemed to suggest she was a conservative candidate.

“I have a lot of people who have supported me who are conservative, and a lot of people who are liberal,” Roggensack said. “I think the conservative candidate claim comes from my position that I will not legislate from the bench. I don’t think it is the Supreme Court’s place to do that.”

Roggensack pointed out the state’s teamster union had endorsed her. Roggensack said that the teamsters told her they endorsed her because union lawyers read every opinion she had written as an Appeals judge and found her fair.

Brunner spokeswoman Christina Lien said Brunner was disappointed but pleased with his campaign.

“We’re proud of the way we ran the campaign,” Lien said. “We’re happy that we were able to stick with the principles Judge Brunner started the campaign with.”