| Burnie Bridge | |
| Appointer: | Jim Doyle |
| Term Start: | January 31, 2007 |
| Term End: | January 2010 |
| Predecessor: | David G. Deininger |
| Successor: | Gary Sherman |
| Office1: | Chair of the Wisconsin Public Service Commission |
| Appointer1: | Jim Doyle |
| Term Start1: | January 6, 2003 |
| Term End1: | April 2005 |
| Predecessor1: | Ave Bie |
| Successor1: | Dan Ebert |
| Birth Date: | 16 September 1948 |
| Birth Place: | Grand Rapids, Minnesota, U.S. |
| Residence: | Middleton, Wisconsin |
| Education: | Miami University (B.A.) University of Wisconsin Law School (J.D.) |
| Profession: | Lawyer, jurist |
Burneatta L. "Burnie" Bridge (born September 16, 1948) is a retired American lawyer and jurist from Wisconsin. She was a judge of the Wisconsin Court of Appeals in the Madison-based 4th appellate district. She was appointed by Governor Jim Doyle in 2007, and had previously served as his chief deputy when he was Attorney General of Wisconsin. She retired from the court in January 2010. Earlier in Doyle's gubernatorial administration, she served as chair of the Wisconsin Public Service Commission and was administrator of the Division of Children and Family Services in the Wisconsin Department of Health and Family Services.[1]
Burnie Bridge was born in Grand Rapids, Minnesota, in 1948. She attended Miami University in Ohio and graduated with a bachelor's degree in English literature in 1970. After obtaining her degree, she moved to Mississippi to work for the ACLU, but eventually moved to Madison, Wisconsin, where she entered the University of Wisconsin Law School. She earned her J.D. in 1982.[1]
Bridge began practicing law as a private attorney in 1983, but by 1985 had moved into public service as an assistant attorney general in the Wisconsin Department of Justice, a position she held through 1993. For the decade following, she served as Deputy Attorney General. In 2003, Wisconsin Attorney General Jim Doyle was elected Governor of Wisconsin, and he subsequently appointed Bridge to several roles in his administration. From 2003 to 2005 she served as chair of the Wisconsin Public Service Commission, then in 2005 and 2006 she served as administrator for the Division of Children and Family Services for the Wisconsin Department of Health and Family Services.
In 2007, incumbent Wisconsin Court of Appeals judge David G. Deininger announced he would retire before the end of his term.[2] Governor Doyle solicited applicants for the job. Bridge was one of six finalists interviewed;[3] she officially received the appointment on January 22, 2007. Deininger left office on January 31.[4] Bridge was elected to a full six-year term without opposition in 2008,[5] but announced just 18 months later that she would retire. She left office in January 2010.[6] Incumbent state representative Gary Sherman was appointed to succeed her.[7]
Bridge is a member of a number of professional boards. She has been a guest instructor at the University of Wisconsin Law School and a Mentor in the University of Wisconsin Law School Legal Education Opportunities Program.[1]