| Max Raskin | |
| Office: | Acting |
| Term Start: | August 1, 1978 |
| Term End: | December 8, 1980 |
| Predecessor: | William E. Gramling (Disabled) |
| Successor: | Harry G. Snyder |
| Office1: | Acting |
| Term Start1: | May 1977 |
| Term End1: | July 31, 1978 |
| Predecessor1: | William E. Gramling (Disabled) |
| Successor1: | Circuit abolished |
| Office2: | Wisconsin Circuit Court Judge |
| Term Start2: | October 1963 |
| Term End2: | August 1973 |
| Appointer2: | John W. Reynolds, Jr. |
| Predecessor2: | Michael T. Sullivan |
| Successor2: | George Burns |
| Office3: | Milwaukee City Attorney |
| Term Start3: | 1932 |
| Term End3: | 1936 |
| Predecessor3: | John Niven |
| Successor3: | Walter Mattison |
| Birth Date: | 8 November 1902 |
| Birth Place: | Vitebsk, Russian Empire |
| Death Place: | Milwaukee, Wisconsin, US |
| Restingplace: | Spring Hill Cemetery Milwaukee, Wisconsin |
| Spouse: | Elaine Hilda Rosenblith |
| Children: | Bonnie Fern (Prager) |
| Education: | Marquette Law School |
Max Raskin (November 8, 1902August 22, 1984) was a Russian-born American lawyer and judge. Raskin was Milwaukee City Attorney from 1932 to 1936 and later a Wisconsin Circuit Court judge in Milwaukee County from 1963 to 1973.
Raskin was born to Jewish parents in Vitebsk, a majority-Jewish city in the Russian Empire (in what is now Belarus), and emigrated with his family at the age of nine.[1] He graduated from the Marquette University Law School in 1926 and practiced in Milwaukee as a labor law attorney.[2] Raskin ran unsuccessfully for Milwaukee County District Attorney in 1930.[3] In 1932, he was elected Milwaukee City Attorney as a Socialist, unseating nonpartisan incumbent John M. Niven.[4] After his election, Raskin appointed former judge and Socialist politician William F. Quick as his first assistant and employed Edwin Knappe, a former Socialist state Representative, as an assistant city attorney.[5] As city attorney, Raskin collaborated closely with Mayor Daniel W. Hoan, also a Socialist, and required assistant city attorneys to relinquish any employment in private practice.[6] He was harshly criticized by the conservative Milwaukee Sentinel for "his refusal to prosecute communistic rioters".[7]
Raskin was defeated in his 1936 reelection bid and reentered private practice. In 1937, he was elected as a national committeeman of the Socialist Party of America[8] but, in 1940,[9] he left the party and joined the Wisconsin Progressive Party. In 1944, he became a Democrat. Raskin ran for judicial office in 1949 and 1956 but was twice defeated; in 1963, his political ally Governor John W. Reynolds, Jr., appointed him to the Milwaukee County Circuit Court.[10] Raskin served on the court until 1973 and, following his mandatory retirement at the age of 70, continued to serve the state as a reserve judge. In that capacity, he stepped in as Acting Circuit Court Judge in Waukesha County for Judge William E. Gramling during a lengthy struggle with cancer. He died in 1984 at the age of 81.
Raskin's nephew,[11] Marcus Raskin, was a progressive activist and social critic.