03/27/2026
LESTER PINES, RETIRED FOUNDING PARTER, NAMED A 2026 FELLOW OF THE WISCONSIN ACADEMY OF SCIENCES ARTS & LETTERS
The Wisconsin Academy of Sciences, Arts & Letters has named Lester Pines, a Pines Bach founding partner, as “one of sixteen Wisconsinites who have demonstrated a lifelong commitment to intellectual discourse and public service to receive the 2026 Fellows Award which recognizes educators, researchers, mentors, artists, and civic or business leaders from across Wisconsin who have made significant accomplishments in their fields and substantial contributions to the cultural life and welfare of the state and its people.”
The Academy notes that “since its founding in 1870, it has been dedicated to the belief that the health of our state depends on the free exchange of ideas”. It describes its Fellows program, which it established in 1982, as “the heartbeat of this mission, serving as the common ground where Wisconsin’s most influential thinkers, creators, and problem-solvers meet. These individuals are the modern stewards of the Wisconsin Idea.”
Fellows are selected by committee through a rigorous process every two years. In its announcement of this year’s Fellows, the Academy described Lester as “a titan of the Wisconsin legal community whose career has been defined by a fierce commitment to constitutional rights and the public good” and highlighted that ‘upon his retirement in 2025, The Capital Times described him as a ‘great guardian of the Constitution, the rule of law and justice’. ”
Notably, in addition to Lester, a practicing attorney for his entire 50-year career, there are only five other attorneys previously inducted as Fellows: Wisconsin Supreme Court Justices Shirley Abrahamson & Janine Geske; UW law professors R. Alta Charo & Willard Hurst; and long-time elected member of Congress, Rep. Henry Reuss. Lester Pines