Joan F. Kessler (born 1944) is an American lawyer and a retired judge of the Wisconsin Court of Appeals, serving from 2004 to 2020.
[2] She worked as a law clerk for United States District Judge John W. Reynolds, Jr., in Milwaukee from 1968 to 1969 before entering private practice.
[4] She resigned in March 1981, following Carter's 1980 defeat to Ronald Reagan, and entered private practice with the Milwaukee firm Foley and Lardner.
[5] Kessler specialized as a divorce attorney at Foley and Lardner and was eventually selected as a partner in the firm.
In December 2014, she authored a decision affirming the conviction of Kelly Rindfleisch, deputy chief of staff to Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker when he served as Milwaukee County Executive.