Politicians and lawyers have long been bedfellows. That’s not news. Legal expertise is an obvious advantage in politics, and in addition to that, lawyers may be the only group of people more capable than politicians of exposing ambiguities in language. It should come as no surprise then, given the plethora of legal battles facing Gov. Scott Walker and some of his fellow Republicans, that they have found a favorite law firm in Michael Best & Friedrich. 

It’s not at all surprising Walker would choose Best & Friedrich to represent him. It’s a big law firm, based in Milwaukee, and in the legal world, bigger usually means better. It has more than 200 attorneys, among them several former high-ranking state officials, which makes the firm a perfect candidate for high-stakes legal battles in the political arena. However, the devil is in the details.

Aside from Gov. Walker, Best & Friedrich has also represented State Supreme Court Justice Michael Gableman and several Republican State Congressmen. Since last January, the firm has earned more than $750,000 from fighting the GOP’s battles alone.

This in itself does not reflect poorly on the firm. As a private firm, it has a right to work for whoever hires it, and I trust its motive is merely to make as much money as possible. Since 2005, Best & Friedrich has donated almost $100,000 more to Democrats than to Republicans. Both parties have vast amounts of money that allow them to essentially buy elections, and I am certain the Democrats will not be left without respectable representation.

Just weeks ago, the firm received a public rebuke from a federal court in Milwaukee due to its role in a legal battle involving GOP redistricting efforts. It is a sad reality that each party spends more time trying to consolidate power over the other instead of doing the unthinkable: Trying to win voters’ favor by actually doing their jobs and improving the lives of their constituents.

This is not the firm’s fault though; it is the parties that decide to do this every election cycle. The firm was hired to fight the battle in court, and it did.

Furthermore, it recently became public that the firm provided free legal services to Gableman worth around $100,000. This may be an example of the bias of Best & Friedrich toward the GOP, but again, both parties have so many resources that this is really not a huge disadvantage for either.

The person this does reflect poorly upon is Gableman. As a Supreme Court Justice, he knew better than to accept free legal counsel from Best & Friedrich. It is both illegal and unethical for a justice to accept gifts from a firm that argues cases he presides over. His job is to be impartial, and in accepting such gifts he clearly compromised his impartiality.

In this clash of the titans, pitting dominant parties with truckloads of money against one another, I do not have much sympathy for either side. The parties will continue to buy influence and whatever else they need to stay in power.

Michael Best & Friedrich has done nothing wrong by representing high-profile Wisconsin Republicans. State officials came to them because they are the best, and they simply did their jobs. However, Gableman was clearly wrong to have accepted gifts from a party arguing cases over which he presides. Such corruption threatens the foundation of the justice system of the state and raises questions about the integrity of our state leaders.