New Richmond native Linda Sharretts is recognized as an “Unsung Hero” from the Wisconsin Law Journal for her work coordinating a free legal clinic
DEC. 6, 2011 | NEW RICHMOND, WI | Linda Sharretts, the office administrator at Bakke Norman Law Offices, has been honored with an Unsung Heroes Lifetime Achievement Award from the Wisconsin Law Journal.
The editors of Wisconsin Law Journal selected Sharretts from more than 50 nominees statewide. The award recognizes her dedication to the legal profession and her involvement in the community.
Sharretts was nominated for her extensive efforts to coordinate the St. Croix Valley Bar Association’s free legal clinic as well as for her lifetime of dedicated service to the attorneys at Bakke Norman and the legal profession.
The SCVBA’s legal clinic is held the second Monday of every month at the St. Croix County Government Center in Hudson where volunteer attorneys offer individuals free legal advice.
Since the legal clinic opened in 2005, Sharretts has recruited local attorneys from numerous law firms to volunteer at the clinic and has attended almost every monthly session over the past seven years. “It is personally very fulfilling to me to see the relief on the faces of the individuals seeking advice when they get an answer to a legal problem they are facing,” Sharretts says.
Sharretts says she credits Attorney Maureen Wegleitner for being the catalyst to getting the legal clinic set up and running. In addition, Sharretts says she has great respect for the many local attorneys that take time to provide legal help without charge every month. “It is necessary to have five or six attorneys present each month to cover a wide variety of legal practice areas at each session, such as employment law, family law, landlord/tenant, small claims, criminal/traffic, estate planning, elder law, probate, real estate, business law, and debtor/creditor,” she said.
Sharretts joined the firm in 1992 and has plans to retire in 2012, but says she will continue to work with the legal clinic after retirement. “Her decision to continue work with the bar association’s legal clinic is a testament to Linda’s dedication to help those in need,” said Gary Bakke, a senior attorney with the firm.
