Since leaving the bench at the end of 2018, Judge Sankovitz has served as a full-time mediator and arbitrator. He has presided over more than 350 mediations and dozens of arbitration, special master and umpire proceedings. The settlements he has brokered total more than $60 million in the aggregate.

Judge Sankovitz presided for 22 years as a circuit court judge in Milwaukee County. He served more than ten years in assignments devoted exclusively to civil and family disputes. He presided in almost 300 jury trials. He is among the most experienced and highly regarded former members of the faculty of the state Judicial College. Judge Sankovitz won distinction for his efficient, fair management of courtroom proceedings and for thoughtful written decisions. Twice Judge Sankovitz was recommended by the Wisconsin Federal Nominating Commission and Wisconsin’s Senators for nomination to the United States Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit and once for nomination to the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Wisconsin.

Before taking the bench he was a shareholder in the law firm of Whyte Hirschboeck Dudek (now the Milwaukee office of Husch Blackwell). Before that he worked as an associate at Jenner & Block in Chicago, Illinois. His practice concentrated in business and commercial litigation. He counseled and represented clients from across the country, both plaintiffs and defendants, in a wide variety of antitrust, distribution, health care, products liability, environmental and municipal disputes. His experience as an advocate ran the gamut from arbitration to appeal, including in the United States Supreme Court.

• Marquette University, B.A., 1980
• Harvard Law School, J.D., 1983
• Pepperdine University Straus Institute
  for Dispute Resolution; Advanced
  Mediation Training
• Association of Attorney–Mediators; Advanced Mediation Training

• State Bar of Wisconsin
• Milwaukee Bar Association

$395 per hour, divided among the parties