Augusto Beato, CEO of Portland SEO, praised Wisconsin for its ingenuity in coming up with a law that protecting family lawyers from threats.
The bill creating the new Wisconsin law, Called Sara Law after slain Wausau lawyer Sara Quirt Sann, was recently signed by Gov. Scott Walker.
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"Family lawyers usually get embroiled in internal riffs among family members and are often targeted for threats against their lives and health," said Beato.
Sara's Law is the first of its kind law in the US. A national expert says Sara's Law could provide a case study for the entire county. Quirt-Sann was one of four people killed March 22, 2017, during a domestic-fueled shooting spree.
Under Wisconsin law threats to family lawyers were not treated the same as judges, prosecutors, and law enforcement officers.
With Walker's signature, Sara’s Law makes a threat against family lawyers, including children’s lawyers, called guardian ad litems and corporation counsel, mean a possible felony charge. If that results in a conviction, it could mean losing weapons, up to a $10,000 fine and up to six years in prison.
The law has been a mission for Quirt Sann’s widower, Scott Sann, since the March 22 shootings.
“There's some closure in when it first happened I initially was kind of shocked (family) attorneys didn't have this level of protection. And made it kind of a little mini-mission to do the right thing,” Sann said. “Having a law named after her is a nice memory to capture her spirit a little bit."
In her decade working as a children's lawyer, there are also times Quirt Sann, like so many other family lawyers, faced threats.
“I think this law is good. And I think this is the right law to make a difference,” bill sponsor state Sen. Jerry Petrowski, R-Marathon, said. “It goes way beyond this. Because I think other states are going to adopt the same type of language.”
“I think what Sarah would be most proud of today is the change came without yelling. Without fighting. Without slander,” Sann said. “I'm just going to keep showing up. And do the right thing.”
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