Hon. Charles N. Clevert, Jr. (Ret.) joins JAMS after nearly 40 years of distinguished service on the federal bench in the Eastern District of Wisconsin.  While on the bench, Judge Clevert presided over a wide variety of complex litigation matters, including civil rights and discrimination cases, contract disputes, ERISA litigation, wrongful termination, sexual harassment and retaliation, torts, product liability, securities fraud and Chapter 11 business reorganizations.

Appointed at age 30, Judge Clevert became the youngest federal bankruptcy judge in the nation and Wisconsin’s first African American federal judge.  He went on to serve for over 20 years on the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Wisconsin, including three years as Chief Judge of that court.

ADR Experience and Qualifications

Clevert has extensive experience in the resolution of complex disputes in the following areas:

• Bankruptcy
• Business/Commercial
• Civil Rights
• Employment
• Personal Injury / Torts
• Securities

Representative Matters

• Bankruptcy
• Matter of Milwaukee Cheese Co., Inc., 128 B.R. 538 (1991)
• Business/Commercial
• Schwartz Pharma, Inc. v. Breckenridge Pharmaceutical, Inc., 388 F.Supp.2d 967 (2005)
• Civil Rights
• Fields v. Smith, 653 F.3d 550 (2011)
• Employment
• Samaritan Health Center v. Simplicity Health Care Plan, 516 F.Supp. 1195 (1997)
• Personal Injury/Torts
• Briggs & Stratton Corp. v. National Catholic Reporter Pub. Co., 978 F.Supp. 1195 (1997)
• Securities
• In re Harley-Davidson, Inc. Securities Litigation, 660 F.Supp.2d 969 (2009)

Honors, Memberships, and Professional Activities

• Admissions
  • Wisconsin Supreme Court
  • U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Wisconsin
  • U.S. Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit
• Past and Present Professional Memberships
  • Wisconsin Bar Association
  • Milwaukee Bar Association
  • Wisconsin Association of Minority Attorneys
  • Seventh Circuit Bar Association
  • National Bar Association, Judicial Council
  • American Bar Association
    • Past Member, House of Delegates, 2008–2017
    • Member, Commission on the American Jury
  • Past Member, Executive Committee, National Conference of Federal Trial Judges, 1992–2017
  • Member, Board of Directors, Justice at Stake
• Past and Present Board Memberships
  • Thomas E. Fairchild American Inn of Court, Co-Founder; President 1993–1994
  • Past President, National Conference of Bankruptcy Judges
  • National Conference of Federal Trial Judges
  • American Bankruptcy Institute
  • American Judicature Society
  • Local Education Agency, Inc.
  • Financial and Debt Counseling Service
  • Milwaukee Council on Alcoholism and Drug Dependency, f/k/a Milwaukee Council on Alcoholism
  • Anvil Housing Corporation
  • Milwaukee Forum
  • Paralegal Advisory Board, Milwaukee Area Technical College
• Committees and Other Professional Activities
  • Committee on the Budget, Judicial Conference of the United States
  • Commission on the Delivery of Legal Services, Wisconsin State Bar
  • Federal Judicial Center Lecturer
  • Endowment for Education, National Conference of Bankruptcy Judges; Chair, 1992–1993
  • Bankruptcy Judges Advisory Committee, Administrative Office of U.S. Courts
  • Lecturer, General Practice, Debtor/Creditor Law, University of Wisconsin Law School
• Speaker/Panelist (Representative List)
  • National Bar Association
  • Commercial Law League
  • American Bar Association, Business Bankruptcy
  • Western District of Wisconsin Bankruptcy Bar
  • American Bankruptcy Institute
  • National Conference of Bankruptcy Judges
  • Lecturer, University of Wisconsin Law School
  • West Texas Bar Association
  • Eastern District of Wisconsin Bar Association
• Present and Past Community Activities and Memberships
  • Men of Tomorrow, Inc., Youth Mentor
  • Milwaukee Urban League
  • Inner City Arts Council
  • Glendale River Hills School District Organization Committee
  • Milwaukee Kickers, Team Manager/Coach
  • Nicolet High School Boosters Club
  • Nicolet High School Black Parents Group
  • Hands Across the Campus Human Relations Group
  • Salvation Army Volunteers in Probation
  • Milwaukee Club Frontiers International
  • Blood Center of Wisconsin
• Selected Honors and Awards
  • Fellow, American Bar Foundation
  • Fellow, Wisconsin Law Foundation
  • Honoree, Milwaukee Times Black Excellence Award
  • Distinguished Alumnus, Davis & Elkins College
  • Fellow, American College of Bankruptcy
  • Myron L. Gordon Lifetime Achievement Award and Nathan A. Fishbach Founders Award, Eastern District of Wisconsin Bar Association

Background and Education

• United States District Judge, Eastern District of Wisconsin, 1996–2017
• Chief Judge, 2009–2012
• United States Bankruptcy Judge, Eastern District of Wisconsin, 1977–1996
•  Chief Judge, 1986–1996
• Assistant United States Attorney, Eastern District of Wisconsin, 1975–1977
• Special Assistant United States Attorney, Northern District of Illinois, 1977
• Assistant District Attorney, Milwaukee County, Wisconsin, 1972–1975
• Law Clerk, Law Enforcement Assistance Administration, Washington, DC, 1972
• Georgetown University Law Center, J.D., 1972
• Davis & Elkins College, Elkins, West Virginia; B.A., History and Political Science, 1969