Michael T. Sullivan (July 18, 1924March 20, 2007) was an American lawyer and judge. He was a judge of the Wisconsin Court of Appeals for 12 years, after serving nearly 30 years as a trial court judge in Milwaukee County. Early life and education Sullivan was born in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. As a child, he suffered from paralysis due to the Polio virus, which left him dependent on crutches and wheelchairs for nearly his entire life. He would graduate from Marquette University and earned his J.D. from the Marquette University Law School. He returned to school later in life and received his LL.M. in taxation from UIC John Marshall Law School in 1972. Judicial career In 1953, at age 28, Sullivan ran for Wisconsin Circuit Court in the Milwaukee-based 2nd circuit. He challenged incumbent Judge Ronold A. Drechsler, who had been appointed in 1952 to fill the vacancy caused by the death of Judge Daniel W. Sullivan. At the time of the election, a poll of the Milwaukee Bar Association senior membership found that 96.7% did not think Michael Sullivan was qualified for the job. However, the membership may have been somewhat biased by the fact that Judge Drechsler was a past president of the organization. Nevertheless, Sullivan won a narrow victory in the April election, carrying 52% of the Milwaukee county electorate and defeating Judge Drechsler by about 10,000 votes. At the time, some local journalists attributed his win to the fact that he shared the name "Sullivan" with the recently deceased judge, although there was no known familial relation. Sullivan was then appointed to begin his term early when Judge Drechsler was appointed to a different judicial vacancy in September 1953. Judge Sullivan was re-elected in 1959, but left the circuit court in October 1963, when he was appointed County probate court Judge by Governor John W. Reynolds Jr. Although the circuit court would appear to be a more prestigious appointment within the state judiciary, the probate court offered more patronage opportunities and was therefore seen as a more lucrative position for Sullivan's personal advancement. He remained in that office for the next fifteen years. Court reorganization In the mid-1970s, the Wisconsin Supreme Court began experimenting with organizational reforms to the state court system and, in 1975, set up 14 judicial administrative districts—each with a chief judge tasked with managing judicial assignments for circuit and county judges in the