Among the men who worked as colleagues or employees of LaRocque during this time were: Anthony S. "Tony" Earl, who would become 41st Governor of Wisconsin; Francis E. Bachhuber III, nephew of then-federal judge James Edward Doyle and cousin of future-Governor Jim Doyle; and Dave Obey, who would go on to represent northwestern Wisconsin in the United States House of Representatives for nearly 40 years.
He won re-election in 1984 without opposition, and, later that year, he was appointed Chief Judge of the 9th Judicial Administrative District by the Wisconsin Supreme Court.
He retired at the end of his second full term in 1997, but continued to serve as a reserve judge in circuit and appeals cases for several years.
As a reserve judge, LaRocque ruled in one of several cases arising out of the infamous 2011 Budget Repair Law.
One of the law's controversial provisions was the requirement for annual recertification elections for unions representing state employees, under a process managed by the Wisconsin Employment Relations Commission (WERC).
The divorce was heavily litigated over several years and ultimately resulted in a case before the Wisconsin Supreme Court in 1987 to settle the issues of property and alimony.
In 2005, the younger LaRocque was seeking a position as a lawyer in the Wisconsin Department of Workforce Development, and, at his request, the former Governor contacted the hiring manager to provide a character reference.
[9] A review by the Wisconsin Employment Relations Commission found, in 2008, that this had politically tainted the civil service hiring process.
After receiving the call from Earl, the hiring manager, Hal Bergan, broke several department rules in the hiring process, including failing to perform reference checks with a previous employer, failing to include members of minority communities in the interview panel, and asking questions which appeared slanted in favor of LaRocque.