Josh Kaul


Joshua Lautenschlager Kaul is an American lawyer, politician and member of the Democratic Party who has served as the 45th Attorney General of Wisconsin since January 2019.

Early life and education

Kaul is the son of Peg Lautenschlager and Raj Kaul. His stepfather, Bill Rippl, worked as a police officer. He was raised in Oshkosh and Fond du Lac. Kaul graduated from Yale University as a double major in history and economics. He earned his Juris Doctor from Stanford Law School. While a student at Stanford, he served as President of the Stanford Law Review.

Career

Kaul clerked for Michael Boudin in the United States Court of Appeals for the First Circuit. From 2007 through 2010, he worked for the law firm Jenner & Block, and worked as a federal prosecutor in the U.S. Attorney's office Baltimore through 2014. As a federal prosecutor in Baltimore, Kaul led the prosecution of a case in which three defendants were convicted of conspiracy to commit murder in aid of racketeering and he participated in the prosecution of a witness-murder case. Kaul also served as the lead prosecutor through the original indictment of members of rival gangs that were involved in murders, shootings and other crimes.
In 2014, Kaul moved back to Wisconsin and joined the law firm Perkins Coie's Madison office. Kaul's practice focused on voting-rights and other election-related litigation. He tried cases challenging restrictive voting measures under the Voting Rights Act of 1965 in federal courts in Wisconsin, North Carolina, Ohio, and Virginia.
Attorney General of Wisconsin
In the 2018 elections, Kaul ran for Attorney General of Wisconsin defeating incumbent Republican Brad Schimel. Kaul won by a small margin of just over 17,000 votes, but Schimel decided not to seek a recount and conceded defeat on November 19. Kaul became the state's first Democratic Attorney General since his mother's term in office.

Personal life

Kaul met his wife, Lindsey, at Yale. They have two sons.

Electoral history