Tom:

Please state your full name and where you grew up

Robert

Robert G. Lee. Grew up in Madison, Wisconsin, west side

Tom:

What schools did you attend?

Robert.

I attended Randall School, Nakoma School, West High School, UW Bachelor's Degree, UWLLB

Tom:

What year did you get your LLB?

Robert:

1960

Tom:

Then what did you do after law school?

Robert.

After law school I went as an associate with my father and a firm at One West Main Street which at the time was the Bank of Madison. The name of the finn was Lee & Becker, where an associate there at the time one Archie Simonson.

Tom:

Did you have any military service before you got your law degree?

Robert.

Yes I did. After I graduated from High School I attended the University for two years and at the inset of the Korean War I enlisted in the Air Force and went through flying school and became an Air Force pilot and I served active duty for six years before I came back and re-entered the University of Wisconsin.

Tom:

Where were you stationed when you were in the service?

Robert:

Iwas stationed at various places. Started out obviously in Texas where most Air Force people start out. Ended up in Florida with an Air Sea Rescue Unit and then was stationed in Germany and England for the remainder of my career.

Tom:

So you avoided Korea?

Robert:

Tom:

Robert.

Tom:

Robert:

Tom:

Robert.           

Tom:

Robert:

Tom:

Robert. 

I was scheduled to go to Korea and fortunately for me the War ended and I had an obligation to serve an additional four years because of my commission, so they shipped me off to England.

What years would those have been?

That would have been 1950 - 1956.

The Korean War as I recall started about 1950.

That's right and I think it ended about the end of 51 or '52, something like that.

What was Madison like when you grew up?

Well, Madison was far different than it is today, Tom, as you well know. Everybody I knew everybody; you walked down the street and shake hands and say hello to just about everybody on the square; get on an airplane that goes someplace and you knew everybody on the airplane; you go out for dinner to the Cuba Club, places like that where we all hung out at the Pines and you knew everybody. It was a much easier way of life without computers and cell phones.

Well how has the community, not just the practice of law, but the community changed?

Well in my estimation the community, of course I haven 't been here all that long, I lived in Florida off and on for about the last 25 years but Madison has grown. A lot more high tech individuals, people like Epic, a lot of scientists and medical practice has grown. Madison is a big city now compared to the 1950s and 1960s.

Have those changes been positive or negative?

Well I suppose you can look at it two different ways. In my estimation I didn't make the kind of salaries that lawyers are making today but in the 1950s and 1960s a few dollars went a lot further and I think we had a lot more fun and lot more comradery. Dane County Bar Association outings with my former partner Don Johnson  and I use to be in charge of it, Nakoma Golf Course were spectacular. Everybody just had a good time and maybe there were 50 or 60 attorneys there at the most.

Tell us about the MC at those events.

Well there were various MCs, is there someone in particular?

Tom:

How about Beggs?

Robert.

Lyle T. Beggs. What was he, Court Administrator or something like that? If you had to do a Wisconsin Inheritance Tax Return you had to go and see Lyle Beggs and all he would do is just stamp it and approve it and he was a character. He grew up in Nakoma, I knew his kids and Lyle was a man about town.

Tom:

He was a lot of fun at those banquets.

Robert:

He was. He would have no problem in harassing Supreme Court Justices.

Tom:

And William T. Evjue.

Robert:

And William T. Evjue, and District Attorneys. There was nobody he wasn 't willing to pick on.

Tom:

What kind of practice did you engage in when you started?

Robert,

My dad had a primarily a general practice and in those days most attorneys did have a general practice so I pretty much got into the real estate, estate planning, we represented a couple of insurance companies so I did do some litigation work. We represented the Chicago Northwestern Railroad and I did some jury trials with their general counsel from Milwaukee, Wichham, Borgelt, Skogstad &

Powell. Norm Skogstad had been a law clerk at my dad's office before he went to Milwaukee. He was a World War 11fighter pilot and he was credited with about 15 Nazi kills. He was quite a man.

Tom:

Robert:

Yes, I remember when he and Circuit Judge Ed Wilkie got into it one time. At any rate what else can you observe about the practice of law in the late 50s and early 60s?

Well, the one thing when people ask me about those years is, you know as I continued to practice and into the 70s and 80s and even the early 90s and all the discovery, depositions, on and on trial preparation, in those days you call up the attorney on the other side and you 'd say this,