Wisconsin Court of Appeals

Court of Appeals
Established	August 1978
Country	Wisconsin
Location	Milwaukee (District I) Waukesha (District II) Wausau (District III) Madison (District IV)
Composition method	Non-partisan election from within judicial district
Authorized by	Wis. Stats. Chapter 752
Decisions are appealed to	Supreme Court of Wisconsin
Judge term length	Six years
Number of positions	16
Website	Official site
Chief Judge
Currently	Lisa Neubauer
Since	2 August 2015
Lead position ends	1 August 2018
Deputy Chief Judge
Currently	Lisa K. Stark
Since	2 August 2015

The Wisconsin Court of Appeals is an intermediate appellate court which reviews contested decisions of the Wisconsin circuit courts. The Court of Appeals was created in August 1978^[1] to alleviate the Wisconsin Supreme Court's rising number of appellate cases. Published Court of Appeals opinions are considered binding precedent until overruled by the Supreme Court; unpublished opinions are not. The Court hears most appeals in three-judge panels, but appeals of circuit court decisions in misdemeanor, small claims, and municipal ordinance cases are decided by a single judge.

Composition

The Court of Appeals comprises 16 judges elected to six-year terms in four geographic districts. Districts I and II have four judges each, three judges are chambered in District III, and five in District IV. The court is administered by a chief judge, appointed by the Wisconsin Supreme Court, who is assisted by a deputy chief judge and a presiding judge in each district. Vacancies on the court are filled by gubernatorial appointment; depending on the year of appointment, an appointee will either fill out his or her predecessor's term or must stand for election the following year.

Districts

• District I is headquartered in Milwaukee and contains only Milwaukee County.
• District II is headquartered in Waukesha and contains Calumet, Fond du Lac, Green Lake, Kenosha, Manitowoc, Ozaukee, Racine, Sheboygan, Walworth, Washington, Waukesha, and Winnebago counties.
• District III is headquartered in Wausau and contains Ashland, Barron, Bayfield, Brown, Buffalo, Burnett, Chippewa, Door, Douglas, Dunn, Eau Claire, Florence, Forest, Iron, Kewaunee, Langlade, Lincoln, Marathon, Marinette, Menominee, Oconto, Oneida, Outagamie, Pepin, Pierce, Polk, Price, Rusk, Sawyer, Shawano, St. Croix, Taylor, Trempealeau, Vilas, and Washburn counties.
• District IV is headquartered in Madison and contains Adams, Clark, Columbia, Crawford, Dane, Dodge, Grant, Green, Iowa, Jackson, Jefferson, Juneau, La Crosse, Lafayette, Marquette, Monroe, Portage, Richland, Rock, Sauk, Vernon, Waupaca, Waushara, and Wood counties.

Judges

District I

Name	District	Term of Service	Service as Chief, Deputy Chief, or Presiding Judge
Robert C. Cannon	I	1978–1981	Presiding Judge (1978–1979)
John A. Decker	I	1978–1984	Chief Judge (1978–1983)
William R. Moser	I	1978–1992	Presiding Judge (1985–1992) Presiding Judge (1979–1983)
Rudolph T. Randa	I	1981–1982
Michael T. Sullivan	I	1984–1996
Charles B. Schudson	I	1992–2004
Ted E. Wedemeyer, Jr.	I	1982–1988, 1992–2008	Presiding Judge (1993–2007) Presiding Judge (1983–1985)
Ralph Adam Fine	I	1988–2014
Patricia Curley	I	1996–present	Presiding Judge (2007–present)
Joan Kessler	I	2004–present
Kitty Brennan	I	2008–present
Rebecca Bradley	I	2015–2015
William Brash	I	2015–present

District II

Name	District	Term of Service	Service as Chief, Deputy Chief, or Presiding Judge
Harold M. Bode	II	1978–1981
Clair H. Voss	II	1978–1983	Presiding Judge (1978–1983)
Richard S. Brown	II	1978–2015	Chief Judge (2007–2015) Presiding Judge (1996–2001) Presiding Judge (1983–1990)
Burton A. Scott	II	1980–1991	Chief Judge (1983–1989)
Neal Nettesheim	II	1983–2007	Deputy Chief Judge (1998–2007) Presiding Judge (2001–2003) Presiding Judge (1990–1993)
Daniel P. Anderson	II	1990–2011	Presiding Judge (2007–2009) Presiding Judge (2003–2005) Presiding Judge (1993–1996)
Harry G. Snyder	II	1991–2010	Presiding Judge
Lisa S. Neubauer	II	2007–present	Chief Judge (2015–present) Presiding Judge (2009–2015)
Paul F. Reilly	II	2010–present	Presiding Judge (2015–present)
Mark Gundrum	II	2011–present
Brian Hagedorn	II	2015–present

District III

Name	District	Term of Service	Service as Chief, Deputy Chief, or Presiding Judge
W. Patrick Donlin	III	1978–1981
John P. Foley	III	1978–1984	Presiding Judge (1981–1984)
Robert W. Dean	III	1978–1986	Presiding Judge (1978–1981)
Thomas Cane	III	1981–2007	Chief Judge (1998–2007) Deputy Chief Judge (1989–1998) Presiding Judge (1984–1998)
Daniel L. LaRocque	III	1985–1997
Gordon Myse	III	1986–1999	Presiding Judge (1998–1999)
Michael W. Hoover	III	1997–2015	Deputy Chief Judge (2012–2015) Presiding Judge (1999–2015)
Gregory A. Peterson	III	1999–2007	Deputy Chief Judge (2007–2012)
Edward R. Brunner	III	2007–2011
Mark Mangerson	III	2011–2014
Lisa K. Stark	III	2013–present	Deputy Chief Judge (2015–present) Presiding Judge (2015–present)
Thomas Hruz	III	2014–present
Mark Seidl	III	2015–present

District IV

Name	District	Term of Service	Service as Chief, Deputy Chief, or Presiding Judge
Martha Bablitch	IV	1978–1985
Paul C. Gartzke	IV	1978–1996	Presiding Judge (1978–1996)
Charles P. Dykman	IV	1978–2010	Presiding Judge (2009–2010) Presiding Judge (1996–2001)
William Eich	IV	1985–2000	Chief Judge (1989–1998)
Robert D. Sundby	IV	1986–1996
Margaret J. Vergeront	IV	1994–2012
Patience D. Roggensack	IV	1996–2003
David G. Deininger	IV	1996–2007	Presiding Judge (2003–2005)
Paul Lundsten	IV	2000–present	Presiding Judge (?–2007)
Paul B. Higginbotham	IV	2003–present	Presiding Judge, (2007–?)
Burnie Bridge	IV	2007–2010
Gary Sherman	IV	2010–present
Brian Blanchard	IV	2010–present	Presiding Judge (?–2015)
Joanne Kloppenburg	IV	2012–present	Presiding Judge (2015–present)

See also

• Courts of Wisconsin

References

1. Olive, Ralph D. (7 September 1979). "Judges Studying Violent Crime Bail". The Milwaukee Journal. Retrieved 2 August 2015.

External links

• About the Court of Appeals
• Wisconsin Court of Appeals Operating Procedures
• Court of Appeals Judges