Charles Benjamin Schudson

Charles Benjamin Schudson is a Wisconsin Reserve Judge Emeritus, law professor, teacher, author, and president of KeynoteSeminars, LLC (keynoteseminars.net).

Judge Schudson graduated from Dartmouth College (Senior Fellowship; Phi Beta Kappa), and from the University of Wisconsin Law School (Law Review). He served as a state and federal prosecutor (1975-82), a Wisconsin Circuit Court Judge (1982-92), a Wisconsin Court of Appeals Judge (1992-2004), Senior Counsel at von Briesen & Roper, s.c. (2004-06), and General Counsel of La Causa, Inc. (2006-09).

Judge Schudson’s honors include the US Justice Department’s Award for Superior Performance, the Wisconsin Child Abuse Prevention Certificate of Special Achievement, Wisconsin Judge of the Year, the National Human Rights Leadership Award, the Foundation for Improvement of Justice Award, and the National Exchange Club Book of Golden Deeds Award.

Judge Schudson has authored many published appellate opinions and other works including: On Trial /America’s Courts and Their Treatment of Sexually Abused Children (Beacon Press, 1989; 2d ed., 1991); and Independence Corrupted / How America’s Judges Make Their Decisions (University of Wisconsin Press, 2018; Amazon Kindle, 2022), winner of a Figure Foundation Grant (outstanding book by a university press), and nominee for the ABA Silver Gavel Award, the Chautauqua Prize, and the National Book Award.

Judge Schudson has keynoted conferences throughout the world. He has testified before congressional committees on battered women, the impact of unemployment on children and families, and child sexual abuse. He has been featured on NPR’s All Things Considered, PBS’s The McNeil-Lehrer Report, and Oprah.

Judge Schudson has served on the faculties of the National Council of Juvenile and Family Court Judges, the National Judicial College, the Chautauqua Institution, and Lawrence University where he was the Law and Literature Scholar in Residence. A member of the National Association of State Judicial Educators, he specializes in law and literature seminars for judges. For the Wisconsin Law School, he taught Trial Advocacy for many years; for Wisconsin and the Marquette Law School, he created and presented "Preparing Lawyers for Life."

In 2009, Judge Schudson received a Fulbright Fellowship under which he taught law school in Germany and Peru. Presenting in both English and Spanish, he also has lectured at law schools in Bolivia, Chile, and Mexico. In 2006, he served as an international observer for the Venezuelan presidential election.

In recent years, Judge Schudson has taught for Lawrence’s Björklunden Seminars, and for Osher Lifelong Learning Institutes throughout America. He also is a certified mediator and a litigation/appellate consultant. He and his wife, Karen, a psychotherapist, designed “Healing the Healers,” a program they have offered nationwide to help professionals cope with secondary trauma resulting from work with the victims of child sexual abuse. Charlie and Karen have two children and five amazing (of course) grandchildren.