Susan E. Lappen

Milwaukee City Attorney’s Office

Susan E. Lappen holds a BA and MA from the University of Wisconsin – Milwaukee in Speech Communication, and is a 1988 graduate of the University of Wisconsin Law School, where she was Editor in Chief of the Wisconsin International Law Journal and a Teaching Assistant for the UW Legal Writing program. Upon graduation, Sue enjoyed a one-year clerkship with the Hon. William Moser of the Wisconsin Court of Appeals. Sue has been employed as an Assistant City Attorney for the City of Milwaukee since 1989. Sue’s focus is defense litigation. She has defended the City and City employees in more than 500 lawsuits, and taken more than 100 cases to jury trial. She has briefed and argued  dozens of  cases before the Wisconsin Court of Appeals, the Wisconsin Supreme Court, and the 7th Circuit Court of Appeals. Sue has briefed cases pending before the United States Supreme Court. For the majority of her tenure with the City Attorney’s Office, Sue’s primary responsibilities included defending the City, seven Chiefs of Police, and hundreds of police personnel in civil rights cases pending in federal court.