Wisconsin Court of Appeals

Court of Appeals of Wisconsin
Established	August 1978
Jurisdiction	Wisconsin
Location	Milwaukee (District I) Waukesha (District II) Wausau (District III) Madison (District IV)
Composition method	Non-partisan election from within judicial district
Authorised by	Wis. Const. Art VII § 5 Wis. Stats. Chapter 752
Appeals to	Supreme Court of Wisconsin
Appeals from	Circuit Court of Wisconsin
Judge term length	Six years
Number of positions	16
Website	www.wicourts.gov/courts/appeals/
Chief Judge
Currently	Lisa Neubauer
Since	August 2, 2015
Lead position ends	August 1, 2020
Deputy Chief Judge
Currently	Lisa K. Stark
Since	August 2, 2015
Division map

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 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 Published Court of Appeals opinions are considered binding precedent until overruled by the Supreme Court; unpublished opinions are not.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; following the appointment of a judge, a new election for that seat is scheduled in the next Spring election in which no other Appeals Court seat in that Appeals Court District is up for election, unless that election occurs less than five months from the date of the appointment.

Districts

• District I is chambered in Milwaukee and contains only Milwaukee County.
• District II is chambered in Waukesha and contains Calumet, Fond du Lac, Green Lake, Kenosha, Manitowoc, Ozaukee, Racine, Sheboygan, Walworth, Washington, Waukesha, and Winnebago counties.
• District III is chambered 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 chambered 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.

Current judges

	Name	Years on court	Assumed office	Current term end	Law School
District I
Presiding Judge	William W. Brash III	9	October 28, 2015	July 31, 2023	Marquette University
Judge 2	Timothy G. Dugan	7	December 10, 2016	July 31, 2024	Marquette University
Judge 3	M. Joseph Donald	5	September 4, 2019	July 31, 2020	Marquette University
Judge 4	Maxine Aldridge White	4	January 16, 2020	July 31, 2021	Marquette University
District II
Chief Judge	Lisa S. Neubauer	16–17	December 2007	July 31, 2020	University of Chicago
Presiding Judge	Paul F. Reilly	14	August 1, 2010	July 31, 2022	University of Wisconsin
Judge 3	Mark D. Gundrum	13	November 4, 2011	July 31, 2025	University of Wisconsin
Judge 4	Jeffrey O. Davis	5	September 4, 2019	July 31, 2021	Ohio State University
District III
Deputy Chief Judge (PJ)	Lisa K. Stark	11	April 23, 2013	July 31, 2025	University of Wisconsin
Judge 2	Thomas F. Hruz	10	July 21, 2014	July 31, 2022	Marquette University
Judge 3	Mark A. Seidl	9	August 1, 2015	July 31, 2021	University of Wisconsin
District IV
Judge 1	Brian W. Blanchard	14	August 1, 2010	July 31, 2022	Northwestern University
Judge 2	JoAnne F. Kloppenburg	12	August 1, 2012	July 31, 2024	University of Wisconsin
Presiding Judge	Michael R. Fitzpatrick	7	August 1, 2017	July 31, 2023	Drake University
Judge 4	Rachel A. Graham	5	July 4, 2019	July 31, 2020	University of Wisconsin
Judge 5	Jennifer E. Nashold	5	August 1, 2019	July 31, 2025	University of Wisconsin

Judges

District I

Judge	District	Start year	End year	Notes
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	Elevated to the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Wisconsin
Michael T. Sullivan	I	1984	1996
Charles B. Schudson	I	1992	2004
Ted E. Wedemeyer, Jr.	I	1982	1988	Presiding Judge (1983–1985)
		1992	2008	Presiding Judge (1993–2007)
Ralph Adam Fine	I	1988	2014
Patricia Curley	I	1996	2016	Presiding Judge (2007–2016)
Joan Kessler	I	2004	2020
Kitty Brennan	I	2008	2019
Rebecca Bradley	I	2015	2015
William Brash	I	2015		Presiding Judge (2019–Present)
Timothy Dugan	I	2016
Joe Donald	I	2019
Maxine Aldridge White	I	2020

District II

Judge	District	Start year	End year	Notes
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		Chief Judge (2015–present) Presiding Judge (2009–2015)
Paul F. Reilly	II	2010		Presiding Judge (2015–present)
Mark Gundrum	II	2011
Brian Hagedorn	II	2015	2019	Elevated to Wisconsin Supreme Court
Jeffrey O. Davis	II	2019

District III

Judge	District	Start year	End year	Notes
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		Deputy Chief Judge (2015–present) Presiding Judge (2015–present)
Thomas Hruz	III	2014
Mark Seidl	III	2015

District IV

Judge	District	Start year	End year	Notes
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	Presiding Judge (2010–2011)
Patience D. Roggensack	IV	1996	2003	Elevated to Wisconsin Supreme Court
David G. Deininger	IV	1996	2007	Presiding Judge (2003–2005)
Paul Lundsten	IV	2000	2019	Presiding Judge (2017–2019) Presiding Judge (2011–2013) Presiding Judge (2005–2007)
Paul B. Higginbotham	IV	2003	2017	Presiding Judge (2007–2009)
Burnie Bridge	IV	2007	2010
Gary Sherman	IV	2010	2019
Brian Blanchard	IV	2010		Presiding Judge (2013–2015)
JoAnne Kloppenburg	IV	2012		Presiding Judge (2015–2017)
Michael R. Fitzpatrick	IV	2017		Presiding Judge (2019–present)
Rachel A. Graham	IV	2019
Jennifer E. Nashold	IV	2019

See also

• Courts of Wisconsin

External links

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