NATIONAL CRIMINAL DEFENSE COLLEGE FACULTY

Keith Belzer is a nationally recognized lecturer and teacher on criminal defense issues, trial techniques and strategies. In addition to his position on the faculty at the National Criminal Defense College in Macon, Georgia, and the Wisconsin Trial Skills Academy, Mr. Belzer has lectured or taught criminal defense lawyers in most of the 50 states. He also has presented to the Israeli National Public Defender, the Puerto Rican CJA Panel and The People’s Republic of China, where Mr. Belzer was the keynote speaker at the first public defender regional training ever held in China. Mr. Belzer has been named a Wisconsin Super Lawyer by his peers every year since its inception in 2005. In 2006 Mr. Belzer received one of 12 statewide Leaders in the Law awards from the Wisconsin Law Journal. Mr. Belzer is also a frequent commentator on national, statewide and local legal issues and has appeared on such nationally syndicated shows as 48 Hours, Good Morning America, Crime Scene Investigation, The O’Reilly Factor and Geraldo at Large.

Mr. Belzer has had the honor and privilege of representing three Wisconsin Innocence Project clients who were ultimately exonerated. One of these clients, Evan Zimmerman, a man previously falsely convicted and sentenced to life in prison for a homicide that he did not commit, was the subject of a feature length documentary, Facing Life, the Retrial of Evan Zimmerman, which can be seen in syndication on the Arts and Entertainment Network and the History Channel. Keith has also worked as an actor, director and playwright. Keith has acted in Illinois, Wisconsin, Vermont and Connecticut. Plays he has written have been produced in California, Illinois, Connecticut, and Wisconsin. Prior to law school, Keith co-founded one theater company and managed two others and devoted close to a decade of his life exclusively to the world of theater.

Bridget Krause graduated from Marquette Law School in May 2000 and began working at the Milwaukee Public Defender’s Office, Trial Division, after graduation. Bridget briefly left the Public Defender’s Office for two years to work in private criminal defense. After two years, she rejoined the Milwaukee Public Defender’s Office as a Local Attorney Manager. In 2018 she was promoted to Deputy Regional Attorney Manager in the Milwaukee Trial Office. As a Deputy Regional Manager, Bridget worked with younger attorneys to increase the litigation in the Milwaukee Trial Office and brainstorm motion and trial issues. She also set up training in the Milwaukee Trials Office for new attorneys and experienced attorneys. Bridget was recently promoted to Deputy Trial Division Director in the WI Public Defender’s Office in August 2020.

Bridget has been an Adjunct Professor at Marquette University Law School since 2009. She has taught Trial Advocacy 1 and the Public Defender Workshop. Bridget is faculty on the Wisconsin State Public Defender’s Trial Skills Academy, New Jersey Public Defender’s Program, and the National Criminal Defense College. She also presents on topics dealing with criminal defense work at the WI Public Defender Conference, Florida Public Defender Conference, Oregon Public Defender Conference and numerous NACDL programs.

Dean A. Strang is a Distinguished Professor in Residence at Loyola University Chicago School of Law, and a criminal defense lawyer. He is known for his work in a trial documented in Netflix’s Making A Murderer and for his books of legal history, Keep the Wretches in Order: America’s Biggest Mass Trial, the Rise of the Justice Department, and the Fall of the IWW; and Worse Than the Devil: Anarchists, Clarence Darrow, and Justice in a Time of Terror. He also has written several law review articles. Mr. Strang’s past work includes five years as Wisconsin’s first Federal Defender. He has argued in the United States Supreme Court and five federal Courts of Appeal. Mr. Strang is a co-founder of the Center for Integrity in Forensic Sciences and a member of the American Law Institute since 2004. He lives in Madison, Wisconsin.

Judge Mario White was appointed to the Dane County Circuit Court bench in 2020 by Governor Tony Evers He handles both criminal and civil cases. Prior to being appointed to the bench, Mario was a Dane County Circuit Commissioner. In that role, he presided over an array of cases, including small claims, family law and criminal law. Before that, Mario was as an Assistant State Public Defender. As a trial lawyer, White was recognized for his abilities when the Wisconsin Law Journal named him a 2017 Leader in the Law. White has been on the faculty of the National Criminal Defense College in Bristol, Rhode Island and teaches at the Wisconsin Public Defender Trial Skills Academy. After graduating from the University of Wisconsin Law School in 2008, Judge White became an adjunct professor coaching mock trial. A 2005 graduate of Oklahoma State University, Judge White was named a 2018 OSU Outstanding Alum by the Oklahoma State University College of Arts and Sciences.