Summer2005

H I G H L I G H T S

2 An e-tour4 Federal, state, tribal judges gather in

Green Bay5 Leadership

6 Collaborating councils bring decision-makers together11 Retirements13 Wisconsin connects16 People

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ryVol 13 No 3

In early May, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services,Administration for Children and Families (ACF) conducted a secondary review

of the state’s Title IV-E foster care program. Based on a review of 150 out-of-home care cases selected randomly from across the state, only one case was foundto be in error and Wisconsin was determined to be in substantial compliance.

Title IV-E is a subpart of Title IV of the federal Social Security Act. Thisprogram provides federal reimbursement to states for the costs of children placedin foster homes or other types of out-of-home care under a court order orvoluntary placement agreement. Title IV-E benefits are an individual entitlementfor qualified children who have been removed from their homes.

The purpose of the review was two-fold: first, to determine if Wisconsin was incompliance with the child and foster care provider eligibility requirements andsecond, to validate the basis of the state’s financial claims to ensure thatappropriate payments were made on behalf of eligible children and to eligiblefoster care providers.

Overall, the review process highlighted several improvements to theadministration of the Title IV-E program in recent years. However, ACF stronglyencouraged Wisconsin to modify its statutes and court orders to more clearlyindicate that the responsibility for placement and care of the child was vested withthe State or county child welfare agency that removed the child. The WisconsinDivision of Children and Family Services will be pursuing legislative change andthe applicable standard court forms will be amended to reflect any additionalrequirements.

The secondary review was conducted as the result of the findings of the initialprimary review, held in March 2002, in which Wisconsin was found not to be insubstantial compliance with Title IV-E requirements.

Wisconsin passes Title IV-E reviewby Michelle Jensen-Goodwin, Office of Court Operations

www.wicourts.gov

Next phase of DOTcitation interface ispilotedby Garrick Veidel, CCAP business process analyst

Using the Consolidated CourtAutomation Programs (CCAP)

case management system, clerks ofcircuit court will soon have the abilityto send electronic driver’s licensesuspensions and revocations to theDepartment of Motor Vehicles (DMV).

This is the latest addition to amulti-phase project between CCAPand DMV that began with importingof electronic citations from the StatePatrol in 2001. It is currently beingpiloted in Lincoln and Vilas counties.

Prior to launching the suspension-and-revocation project, CCAP createda program that allowed the courts totransmit citation dispositioninformation to the DMV on bothelectronically filed and manuallyentered citations.

see CCAP on page 14

A new term for Justice Bradley Justice Ann Walsh Bradley takes the oath of office in the Supreme Court Hearing Room before a crowd of about 150 people.

Bradley was unopposed in her bid for a second term on the Wisconsin Supreme Court. A Richland Center native and formerMarathon County Circuit Court judge, she became in 1995 the first woman ever elected to the state Supreme Court without firsthaving been appointed.

Prior to administering the oath, Chief Justice Shirley S. Abrahamson recounted a 1985 event at which she introducedBradley, who was then a new circuit court judge. Abrahamson got as far as "my good friend Ann" and could not remember the"Walsh Bradley" part. "Everyone up front was giving me the names in stage whispers," she recalled. "Ann has never let meforget that."

Other speakers commented upon Bradley's work ethic, sense of humor and penchant for bursting into song, dancing, andquoting poetry.

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It’s hard to believe that just a few years ago we did not have e-mail. How did we exist without it? Just fine, some might

say, and on certain days I am inclined to agree. But e-mail, forme, at least, has become an indispensable tool because itfacilitates quick communication with multiple people indifferent locations. It also provides a snapshot of the issues weare dealing with at any given time.

You may remember from childhood returning to schoolafter summer recess only to have a teacher ask for a reporton your vacation activities. More than likely you describeda family vacation that included stops at various places ofinterest. In that spirit, I invite you to join me on a latesummer armchair tour – of my e-mail inbox. We’ll make afew stops that I hope you will find illuminating.

Our first stop: June. The summer got off to aninteresting start as we dealt with some issues surroundingthe sex-offender registry. Atty. Marcia Vandercook of theOffice of Court Operations reported on her research into thequestion of how to guide judges who might receivepetitions from people who were convicted of sex offensesas juveniles and who now wish to be removed from the sex

offender registry. We concluded that judges likely do not havethe authority to erase juveniles’ names from the registry.

I heard from a retired judge who now lives in Florida andwanted to be appointed “judge for a day” so that he couldperform a wedding here. We made that happen. I also heardfrom several of our new judges, who extended invitations totheir investitures.

Pam Radloff, Deborah Brescoll, Amanda Todd, NancyRottier and I discussed budget strategy.

A judge in a single-judge county sought permission todiscuss with the Attorney General’s Office an agreementbetween the county board and a bargaining unit that slashed thepay of his register in probate.

A legislator inquired on behalf of a constituent who wanted aprominent “charge dismissed” notation added to her entry inWCCA (Wisconsin Circuit Court Access). The answer was no,but as I have reported in this space, a new committee isexploring whether we need to change our policy to addressissues such as this one.

Next on our tour: July. It began on a similar note of e-mailand privacy. COSCA (the Conference of State CourtAdministrators) wanted my reaction to a draft paper onelectronic access to court information.

The budget theme continued as the Senate passed its versionof the budget – which contained substantial cuts to the courts –and we worked out our communication strategy.

Karen Timberlake, director of the Office of StateEmployment Relations, responded to my request forinformation on JCOER (Joint Committee on EmploymentRelations) meetings.

A Waukesha judge requested legal representation in a federalbankruptcy matter in which he found himself named.

Erin Slattengren, senior policy analyst, sent me a draft grantapplication that she is submitting to fund judges’ participation inseminars on domestic violence this fall.

The Clerks of Circuit Court Association forwarded a list oftopics it would like to tackle at a series of regional trainingsessions that are being planned. Law Librarian Jane Colwinmade suggestions for topics of discussion at the next staffmanagers meeting, and agendas rolled in for the New JudgeOrientation, the Judicial Council, the PPAC PlanningSubcommittee, and the Data & Research Committee (part of theSentencing Commission).

The attorney general responded to a request for an opinionthat might clarify, among other things, whether child-placementorders must contain detailed information on care and placementresponsibility. This issue arose in the course of the Title IV-Efederal audit of the foster care system.

Communication increased about the weighted caseload study,for which every judge in the state will collect data in October.Chief judges and district court administrators wanted judicialassistants included in the data-collection training sessions. Iagreed that these sessions should be opened to assistants whowill be helping with the entry of caseload data.

Reports came in on the development of a manual to guidepilot DAR (digital audio recording) projects. This equipment isused to record court proceedings when a court reporter isunavailable. Currently there are no uniform statewide policiesand procedures for DAR. We hope that the work of the DARsubcommittee – which includes District Court AdministratorsPat Brummond, Scott Johnson, Jerry Lang, and Mike Neimon,and Court Reporter Kristine Jacobi – will result in guidance onsuch issues as training equipment operators and filling requestsfor electronic records.

Late in the month, a 50-page “robbery report” from theSentencing Commission came in. The report provides helpfulinformation on characteristics of offenders and on sentencingpractices for one of the most frequent violent crimes.

At this writing, I can only imagine how the summer will end.As you might sense from our stops, the dog days of summer –so named for their supposed stagnation and inactivity – will beanything but.

Director’s column: What I did during my summer ‘vacation’ – an e-mail tour

A. John Voelker

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Governor signs biennial budget actby Deborah Brescoll, budget/policy officer

Governor Jim Doyle signed the 2005-2007 biennial budgetbill into law in late July. Except where otherwise provided,

Act 25 became effective July 27. It covers state expendituresfrom July 1, 2005 through June 30, 2007.

The governor made 139 partial vetoes. The Legislature mayoverride any veto with a two-thirds vote of members present inboth houses. However, a budget override has not been adoptedsince the 1980s.

Legislative leaders have questioned the governor’s broad usein Act 25 of his partial veto authority. They believe certain

vetoes usurp the Legislature’s responsibility for appropriatingfunds, and are considering a lawsuit to challenge theconstitutionality of certain vetoes. A constitutional amendment isalso being drafted to limit the veto powers of future governors.

Court employees have received a detailed summary of thebudget act. Here is an overview of the court-related provisionsin Act 25:

Require that $1.3 million be lapsed to the state’s generalfund over the biennium from any of the courts’ general

see Budget on page 17

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Brennan, Proctor become chiefjudges

Judges Kitty K. Brennan, Milwaukee County, andBenjamin D. Proctor, Eau Claire County, began serving as

chief judges on August 1. TheSupreme Court appoints chiefjudges. They are eligible toserve a maximum of three two-year terms.

Brennan is responsible forthe First Judicial AdministrativeDistrict, which encompasses the47 branches of the circuit courtin Milwaukee County. Sheappointed Judges Mel Flanaganand Jeffrey A. Kremers asdeputy chief judges. The FirstDistrict is unique in the statebecause its chief judge is a full-time administrator. In the state’sother nine judicial districts, thechief judge continues to carry acaseload.

Proctor is chief in the TenthDistrict, which is comprised ofthe circuit courts in 13northwestern Wisconsincounties including Ashland,Barron, Bayfield, Burnett,

Chippewa, Douglas, Dunn, Eau Claire, Polk, Rusk, St.Croix, Sawyer, and Washburn. He appointed Judge Scott R.Needham, St. Croix County, as his deputy.

District OneChief Judge Kitty K. Brennan, who was one of District

One’s deputy chief judges, succeeds Chief Judge Michael P.Sullivan, who has served in thechief judge role since August2003.

Brennan was first elected tothe bench in 1994 and re-electedin 2000. She began her career asan assistant district attorney inMilwaukee County. She alsospent 10 years in private practicebefore joining the bench.Sullivan characterized her ashighly qualified and an excellent

choice. “Kitty is blessed with high intelligence, commonsense, strength of will, a sunny personality, and considerablepolitical skills,” he said.

On the bench for 27 years and planning to retire in June2006, Sullivan requested that his service as a chief judge belimited to two years for several reasons. He correctlyintuited that leading the Milwaukee courts in a time of fiscalcrisis would be highly stressful; he knew that the job wouldrequire many meetings (“I’m not much of a ‘meeting’ guy”);

he did not want to spend more than two years off the bench;and he wanted to safeguard against feeling entitled. “I wasafraid,” he said, “that I mightbecome a little too enamored ofthe job after a while, especiallythe title,” he said. “I needed tohave a ‘sunset’ so I could getback to the reality of doing whatI was elected to do – try cases.”

The initiatives that Sullivantook on as chief judge werecentered on maintaining basicservices in a serious budgetcrisis. He said his proudestaccomplishment was keepingthe Milwaukee County courtsopen 40 hours a week andstaffed at close to pre-crisislevels. Keeping justiceaccessible understandably tookpriority over improving thecondition of the MilwaukeeCounty Courthouse andMilwaukee Safety Building, agoal that he had hoped toachieve. Sullivan called thecondition of the safety building“loathsome” and the conditionof the courthouse “terrible,”adding, “I wish I could havedone more about it, but facedwith a two-million-dollar budgetshortfall when I walked in thedoor, I chose to spend my timeand energy on what I felt wasmy primary responsibility,keeping the courts open asopposed to keep them clean.”

In spite of the enormouschallenges, Sullivan said thatthe job was rewarding. He thanked Deputy Chief JudgesDavid A. Hansher and Kitty K. Brennan, and JudgesThomas R. Cooper and Michael D. Guolee, who, along withCourt Administrators Bruce Harvey and Beth Perrigo, “wereinvaluable providers of information and points of view thathelped me focus on the truly important things for thejudiciary as well as the community.” Also welcome was theopportunity to get to know the county executive and his staffand members of the Milwaukee County Board, especiallythose on the Finance and Judiciary Committees. Sullivansingled out three individuals with whom he worked closely– County Executive Scott Walker, Supervisor RichNyklewicz (chair of the County Board Finance Committee)and Supervisor Jerry Broderick (chair of the County Board

APPOINTMENTS

Chief Judge Kitty K. Brennan

see Appointments on page 9

Chief Judge Benjamin D. Proctor

Deputy Chief Judge Mel Flanagan

Deputy Chief Judge Jeffrey A. Kremers

Deputy Chief Judge Scott R. Needham

Judge Michael P. Sullivan

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Wisconsin hosts national meeting of federal, state, tribal judges

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Representatives of the nation’sfederal, state, and tribal courts

gathered in Green Bay in late July for anational conference of judges from thethree court systems. There were morethan 300 attendees – about 100 morethan originally anticipated – includingjudges, attorneys, peacemakers,mediators, and others who work in thejustice systems in Wisconsin, Alaska,California, Florida, Maine, and manypoints in between.

The conference, Walking onCommon Ground: Pathways to EqualJustice, focused on judicialindependence, the Indian Child WelfareAct, and the many issues surroundingthe choice of a court forum andrecognition by one court system ofjudgments and orders that have beenissued by another court system. Theseissues become key in cases involvingshared jurisdiction such as a lawsuit thatinvolves a member of a tribe.Sometimes in such cases, hearings areheld in both the state and tribal courtson the same issues – resulting inconfusion and inefficiency.

In 1999, Wisconsin’s federal, state,and tribal courts began working together to find ways toaddress jurisdictional disputes. Since then, judges from thethree systems have developed state and regionalconferences, training sessions on specific topics, and writtenprotocols to guide the process of determining which courthas jurisdiction when there is a dispute. Wisconsin’s statusas a leader in this effort made it a natural choice to host thishistoric national conference.

One of the highlights of the conference was a smudgingceremony in which protocols for settling jurisdictionaldisputes in the 12 central Wisconsin counties that comprisethe Ninth Judicial Administrative District were enacted.

Conference organizers included the Wisconsin JudicialEducation Office of the Wisconsin Supreme Court; theNational Conference of Chief Justices (chaired by ChiefJustice Shirley S. Abrahamson); the U.S. Department ofJustice Bureau of Justice Assistance’s Office of JusticePrograms; the Fox Valley Technical College CriminalJustice Center for Innovation; the Federal Judicial Center;the American Bar Association Judicial Division’s TribalCourt Council; the Wisconsin Tribal Judges Association; theNational American Indian Court Judges Association; andmore.

Justice Ann WalshBradley fans smoke overherself in the smudgingceremony that precededthe signing of historicprotocols in Green Bayin July. Smudging is aNative Americanpurification rite thatinvolves burning sacredplants and fanning thesmoke they create overobjects or people.

Signing protocols that will guide state and tribal judges in settling jurisdictionaldisputes in the 12 central Wisconsin counties that comprise the Ninth JudicialAdministrative District are Chief Judge Dorothy L. Bain, Marathon County CircuitCourt, and Chief Judge Eugene White-Fish, Forest County PotawatomiCommunity (Crandon). In addition to Bain and White-Fish, the following judgessigned the protocols: Chief Judge Fred A. Ackley Jr., Sokaogon ChippewaCommunity (Mole Lake); Chief Judge Alice K. Soulier, Lac du Flambeau Band ofLake Superior Chippewa Indians; Chief Judge Ervin Soulier, Bad River Band of theLake Superior Chippewa Indians (Odanah); and Chief Judge David Raasch,Stockbridge-Munsee Band of the Mohicans (Bowler).

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Dane County judge helps to champion jury service

Last February, the American Bar Association (ABA)passed a set of new and somewhat controversial

standards relating to jury trials. On the whole, the standardsenvision a more active role for jurors, as ABA PresidentRobert J. Grey Jr. told Law.com: “Juries have evolved,” hewas quoted as saying. “Through new technology, theyreceive, digest and use information in new ways. They aremore sophisticated and that should be reflected in howjurors are allowed to handle information and arrive at averdict.”

The standards have ignited debates in conference halls,law journals, and cyberspace over a number of thorny issuesincluding the ideal number of members on a jury (12,according to the standards), whether verdicts should beunanimous (the standards say yes), if jurors ought to bepermitted to take notes, ask questions, and discuss the caseas it unfolds (yes, yes, and yes, according to the standards),whether anonymous juries are OK (yes, in certaincompelling circumstances), and more.

Steaming along on a parallel track are debates aboutwhether the civil jury trial is vanishing. The National Centerfor State Courts has compiled some data that seem to pointto this conclusion. And simmering beneath all these hottopics is an issue that is arguably of more importance thanall the others combined: how to make juries representativeof the population.

The fact that diversity has not taken center stage inrecent debates about the jury system concerns Judge MoriaKrueger, who, with 28 years on the bench, is the longest-serving jurist in Dane County. “The worst thing we can do isto stop talking about jury diversity,” she said. “It’s aproblem that benefits immensely from continual publicattention. The more light we can shine on the under-representation of minorities on our juries, the better.”

Krueger began her work on jury issues13 years ago when she was appointed to acommittee that conducted an eight-monthstudy and concluded that immediate stepsshould be taken to ensure representativejuries. The following year, the JuryImplementation Committee was formed toimplement the study committee’srecommendations.

The implementation committee, whichKrueger has chaired from the beginning,recognized that addressing the main problem– the high rate of summonses that were sentto minorities and bounced back asundeliverable (about 50 percent, ascompared to 17 percent for non-minoritywhites) – would require two things: first, achange in the way the Department ofTransportation maintains its records, fromwhich the clerks of court draw jurors’names, and second, a public relations

campaign. Work on both of these issues picked up steam in2001 after Clerk of Circuit Court Judith Coleman received aState Justice Institute grant to develop a strategic plan.

The strategic plan has been completed now, and the JuryImplementation Committee is launching a publicinformation campaign to encourage people of color torecognize the importance of their participation on juries andto update their addresses. The campaign will include aPowerPoint presentation available for community groups,direct communication with religious and other organizations,appearances at various public functions, and work with themedia.

Krueger told the Wisconsin State Journal in a front-pagestory this spring that she hoped to build a program thatcould be a model for other counties. That would suit PublicDefender Dee Dee Watson, who serves with Krueger on thecommittee, just fine.

“The fact that there aren’t minorities on Dane Countyjuries, or very few, is something I’ve discussed withcountless clients,” Watson told the State Journal. “That’s notto say that if they look like my clients they’re going to findfor my client. But it would enhance the appearance offairness.”

The members of the Dane County Jury ImplementationCommittee are: Judge Moria Krueger (chair), Clerk of CircuitCourt Judith Coleman, Professor James Cooley (UW LawSchool), Judge Steven D. Ebert, David Hart, Ken Haynes(assistant to the Dane County executive), Atty. PaulHumphrey (Dane County District Attorney’s Office), PeterMunoz (Centro Hispano), District Court Administrator GailRichardson, Jury Clerk Debra Rochon, Judge Maryann Sumi,Patricia Watkins (League of Women Voters), and Atty. DeeDee Watson (State Public Defender’s Office).

LEADERSHIP

Spreading the word about jury service at Madison’s Juneteenth festival, acelebration of African-American heritage, are (left to right): Dane County Clerk ofCircuit Court Judith Coleman, Dane County Circuit Court Judge Moria Krueger, andUW Law School Clinical Associate Professor James D. Cooley.

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When a county takes on a difficult issue such as jailovercrowding, leaders quickly realize finding a

solution requires looking beyond the prison walls. Like mostproblems in the justice system, jail overcrowding cannot beaddressed without adequate communication among severalagencies and actors – and that can be a serious challenge,which is why more Wisconsin counties are turning to criminaljustice collaborating councils (CJCCs).

Though they have different names and uniquepersonalities, all CJCCs are variations on a theme. Theyprovide a forum for leaders within the justice system, fromthe courts to social services, to share their expertise and worktoward common goals. Better and more frequentcommunication improves decision-making and efficiency.Staff (and sometimes members of the public) carry out thecouncils’ directives.

Lessons from WaukeshaThe Waukesha County Criminal Justice Collaborating

Council is a leader in the CJCC movement. Its experiencesmay be instructive to other courts looking to structure asimilar collaboration. Waukesha County began its CJCC inOctober 2002 when the county board established it byordinance. Its initial goal was fairly narrow: to improve thehandling of misdemeanor pretrial conferences.

The membership reflects the keen importance of bringingdecision-makers, rather than their representatives, to the table.The chair is Chief Judge Kathryn W. Foster; members includeClerk of Circuit Courts Carolyn Evenson, District AttorneyPaul Bucher, First Assistant Public Defender Sam Benedict,County Executive Dan Finley, County Board Chair JamesDwyer, Sheriff Dan Trawicki, Police Chiefs’ AssociationChair Robert Rosch, Health and Human Services DirectorPeter Schuler, Corrections Field Supervisor Karl Held, andWaukesha Mayor Carol Lombardi.

The CJCC also has a full-time coordinator, MichelleCyrulik. The coordinator is a contractor rather than a countyemployee; money for the position was included in the budget

when the council was formed. Cyrulik, who holds a master’sdegree in public administration, and said the council waslooking for someone with an advanced degree in publicadministration or criminal justice, plus research, programevaluation, and administrative skills. She schedules meetings,coordinates and evaluates projects, and represents the councilat state and national conferences. Cyrulik said the council’smost powerful tool is communication. “By creating thecouncil, what we’ve managed to do is pull together all theagencies and policymakers,” she said. “Just simply gettingthem to the table and talking about things they wouldn’tordinarily talk about is an accomplishment.”

Robert Gibson, a Waukesha-based consultant who workswith CJCCs agreed. “Normally, you can’t bring all theseparties together unless there is a very important issue,” hesaid. “If everyone is getting together anyway, when they use acollaborating council as a regular way of doing business,they’re able to short-circuit a number of problems before theyturn into bigger ones.”

The Waukesha CJCC has an annual budget of $450,000,money that County Board Chair James Dwyer (who also is amember of the Supreme Court’s Planning and PolicyAdvisory Committee) characterized as a good investment.

“We try to put time and effort into programming and tryingto figure out new ways of doing business other than puttingeveryone in jail,” he said. “We honestly felt as a board, alongwith the county executive, that we needed to do something tostem the tide of building a new facility every five to ten years.We’ve come to realize that we have a high number of peoplein our facilities that, with proper programming and dedicationon their part, can stop the cycle of recidivism.”

Dwyer underscored the importance of dedication amongthose who serve on the CJCC, citing Chief Judge Kathryn W.Foster as a gifted leader. “She’s one of the brightest that I’verun across,” he said. “She is a pleasure to work with, and heroverall commitment to the task at hand is second to none.We’re not a success story yet, but we’re working toward it.”

Collaborating councils bring decision-makers togetherby Holly C. Noe, court information intern

The following are key steps to ensure the successful deploymentof a criminal justice collaborating council.

1) Involve all the primary decision-makers in the justice system –the presiding judge, the sheriff, the lead prosecutor. Stand-ins cannotbe sent on a regular basis. The people at the table must have theauthority to make decisions.

2) Provide the council with staff support, whether in the form of anew county hire, a contractor, or an existing employee. This personwill take minutes, schedule meetings, and handle all the otherdetails.

3) Conduct a local system assessment and then hold a strategicplanning session to create the council. Decide the basics, such asmembership. While there are individuals who must be involved,

councils do have some discretion; for example, they might choosebetween the police chief and the head of the chiefs’ association,among mayors of various major cities, and among a group ofinterested citizens.

4) Develop an information process. The information should begathered, and the work of the council done, by committeescomprised of staff members of the various agencies represented andpublic members.

5) Hold strategic planning sessions at least once a year to evaluateearlier plans and make new ones. Planning sessions orient newmembers and reporting to counterparts in other agencies provides acheck on any freelancing tendencies individual members mighthave.

Five key steps to forming a CJCCfrom Robert Gibson

see CJCC on page 7

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A range of issues The Waukesha County CJCC also is tackling an issue that

has become intractable in neighboring Milwaukee County: theplacement of released sex offenders. Cyrulik said the CJCCrecently created a work group to study the issue. “This isn’tsomething that’s been a problem in Waukesha County, but it’sinevitable. We’re studying the issue to decide whether tocreate a committee or something more permanent,” she said.

Waukesha’s CJCC is addressing a constellation of otherissues and, in the process, positioning Waukesha County as alaboratory for justice initiatives. The CJCC is preparing toopen the state’s first alcohol treatment court (and currentlywaiting to hear news on an application for a federal startupgrant); directing pretrial screening, conference, andsupervision programs and community transition and serviceprograms; organizing an operating-after-revocation program;and creating a community correction center, a central locationfor managing defendants at multiple stages of the process.

“Our ultimate goal is to create programs that work,”Dwyer said. “Whether it’s a day reporting center or electronicmonitoring or in-house visitation, we want to try to put someinmates back into the community to contribute as functioningmembers.”

The Waukesha County CJCC is also working to launch thecomputerized “data warehouse” it has been developing tointegrate information from the courts, the district attorney’soffice, law enforcement, and other sources – a project Gibsoncalled vital to a CJCC’s success. “If we have information andknow what’s going on, we can be able to target areas andapply resources carefully,” he said.

A model for the worldGibson said CJCCs are gaining popularity in Wisconsin,

where leaders – in addition to Waukesha – include La Crosse,Monroe, and Portage counties, and newer councils areoperating in Bayfield, Marathon, and Racine. CJCCs also arecatching on across the nation and indeed around the world.Gibson featured the Waukesha experience in a presentation inHaiti and recently left the U.S. for Afghanistan where he willhelp implement justice improvements such as CJCCs.

A cautionary noteOperating a CJCC can be a difficult proposition, and may

well be impossible if decision-makers are unwilling or unableto attend meetings consistently. “This is not an easy thing todo,” Gibson said. “People just want to do their jobs day today – that’s easier than to organize and manage acrossbureaucracy. The challenge is getting all those people to getthat going and make it a regular way of doing business.”

Participants also have to overcome any territorialtendencies and fears that the council will dictate how they dotheir jobs. Gibson said such concerns usually turn out to beunfounded; council decisions are reached by consensus,giving each individual or agency power to effect greaterchange through the council at a reduced risk of politicalbacklash. But that doesn’t mean interactions on CJCCs arealways cordial. Gibson said one Wisconsin county’s CJCChas a great deal of conflict, but thrives on it. “Just becausethey’re contentious doesn’t mean they cannot be effective,” hesaid. “When you recognize the justice system as a system andoperate it as a system, you’re able to get the most out of it.”

CJCC continued from page 6

Pretrial Screening Service: This CJCC programscreens all pretrial inmates to collect and verify informationon the defendants and their cases. The data speeds upinitial appearances, and is compiled and used by the CJCCto assess the need for creating other diversion programs.

Pretrial Conference Program: This program holdspretrial conferences in all misdemeanor cases to reduce thetime to disposition and hold more meaningful courtappearances. Defendants and their attorneys meet with alawyer from the District Attorney’s Office to discussresolution of their cases. The conferences wereimplemented by making internal policy changes, so theyoperate at no added cost.

Pretrial Supervision Program: The staff conductsscreening interviews with defendants referred at initial bailor probable cause hearings and develops the requiredsupervision plans, which may include drug or alcoholtreatment or testing, or regular contacts. If the defendantsare released pending trial, the program monitors theiractivities in the community. Defendants who require drug,alcohol, or mental health treatment are referred to theappropriate agencies.

Community Transition Program: This program servesdefendants by connecting them to treatment for alcohol ordrug addictions, mental heath issues, or other disabilitiesthat carry high rates of recidivism. To reduce defendants’chances of re-entering jail, it also provides aftercareservices such as housing, help complying with probationrules, and assistance in getting to court.

Contracted Community Support Program: TheCJCC partnered with the Wisconsin Department ofCorrections to share operating costs and offer this program,which coordinates and compiles community serviceopportunities available to inmates who have been grantedHuber work-release privileges.

Operating After Revocation Program: The OARprogram began in spring 2004 and is designed to reduce thenumber of court activities, the number of defendants whofail to appear in court, and the number of jail days servedin cases involving operating after revocation offenses. Incollaboration with the Wisconsin Department ofTransportation, the staff provides defendants with copies ofthe defendants’ driving records and information on anyoutstanding court charges or fines, and assists them indetermining whether or when it is legal or feasible toobtain a valid driver’s license.

A sampling of the Waukesha County Criminal Justice Collaborating Council’s initiatives:

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NEW FACES

District Six welcomes new DCASusan Byrnes, a court administrator from Duluth, Minn.,

was set to begin work August 22 as the district courtadministrator (DCA) for the Sixth Judicial AdministrativeDistrict, which encompasses 11 central Wisconsin counties.

Headquartered in Stevens Point, District Six includesAdams, Clark, Columbia, Dodge, Green Lake, Juneau,Marquette, Portage, Sauk, Waushara, and Wood counties.

A native of Brookfield,Byrnes has worked inMinnesota for four years. Priorto this, she worked inMilwaukee County, first in theDistrict Attorney’s Office,where she supervised a 16-person paralegal staff andcoordinated trial preparation,and then in the Office of theChief Judge, where, as courtcoordinator, she managed

projects, worked on committees, wrote grants, and evaluatedprograms.

Byrnes holds a master’s degree from MarquetteUniversity and is a fellow of the Institute for CourtManagement. The opportunity in Wisconsin interested hernot only because of her ties to the state but also because shewas impressed by her visit to the Portage CountyCourthouse for an interview.

“I was very impressed with the court site and with ChiefJudge James Evenson,” she said.

She said she looks forward to living “where it is OK tobe a Packer fan.” She and her family have bought a home inPlover.

Byrnes replaces interim DCA Steve Semmann, a 12-yearemployee of the court system who had agreed to serve in thepost on a temporary basis for one year. Semmann’sappointment expired in June and he has now taken on thenewly created role of liaison to the Sentencing Commission.

Before Semmann took the DCA post, the district wascovered by other DCAs, notably Scott Johnson and KathleenMurphy, who spent two years handling administrativematters in parts of District Six in addition to their owndistricts.

Longtime attorney leads DistrictTen pro se project

For 30 years, Atty. Robert Hagness has happily practicedlaw in the small Buffalo County community of Mondovi.Over time, his aptitude for long workweeks and awillingness to serve others has allowed him to establishhimself as a contributor to the profession.

He has served on the State Bar Board of Governors (andon its Executive and Finance committees), as a member of alawyer regulation district committee, and much more. He isalso a fellow of the Wisconsin Law Foundation. In short, hehas had a long and satisfying career – but for one nagging

problem of late.“I have been struggling for several years with a social

worker within me – who has been trying to get out,” he said.“So I thought: ‘Let the genie out of the bottle for a couple ofyears and see what happens.’”

Around the time Hagness was considering how best toset his inner social worker free, Wisconsin Judicare won agrant from the Otto Bremer Foundation to develop a pilotproject for improving access to the courts in the TenthJudicial District, in particular for low-income and self-represented individuals. Judicare needed a coordinator forthis ambitious project. Neither Hagness nor Judicare couldresist the opportunity to work together.

“I’m working some long hours,” he said, “but I’menjoying every minute of the job. I’m meeting so manydedicated people in courthouses throughout the TenthDistrict, and learning from them. Our court system needsour help to serve everyone; I am very grateful for thisopportunity.”

The job, which he began in June, does not require a legalbackground. Hagness said many have asked why a lawyerwould want to work on a project that will, if all goes well,help people navigate the courts without lawyers.

The answer, he said, is that making justice accessible “isnot a zero-sum concept. Helping people, particularly thepoor who have no choice and must represent themselves incourt, helps us all – lawyers,judges, clerks, the public. Weall benefit when our courtsystem provides everyone equalaccess to justice. No one ‘loses’when people gain respect andtrust in our judicial system.”

Hagness has spent his firsttwo months on the job travelingthe 13,000 square miles that thestate’s largest judicial districtencompasses, meeting with thepeople who work in the courts. He has spoken with judges,clerks, registers in probate, court commissioners, judicialassistants and others; eventually he plans to run a few“listening posts” in various communities to see whatmembers of the public have to say. He plans on newspaperarticles to promote awareness of the project. He also willwork with community organizations, libraries, attorneys andtribal court leaders.

“When I visit staff in a courthouse, I ask questions thateveryone can answer: ‘What’s wrong?’ and: ‘What are yourproblems?’” Once we’ve established what isn’t working aswell as it could be, we can look at ways to make it better,”he said. “A lot of this is initially instinctual. It’s like walkingthrough a house blindfolded – you take it a step at a time.”

Hagness has discovered that services to self-representedlitigants vary from county to county within the Tenth

see New Faces on page 9

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Atty. Robert Hagness

Susan Byrnes

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District. He is collecting the best practices to share withpersonnel throughout the district. One of the project’s goalsis to collaborate in development of standardized rules andprocedures to promote greater uniformity. This will expeditedevelopment of materials for distribution to the public.

Other goals are to articulate a model for providing help,publicizing the availability of resources, and developingtraining for judges and court staff, all with the goal ofcreating a successful project that can be replicated elsewhere

in Wisconsin and perhaps around the country.It’s a tall order, and one that is challenging Hagness to

use not only his “inner social worker” but also his “innersalesman.” “I sold vacuum cleaners in college – includingduring Packer games,” he said. “Having some sales skillsare helpful, particularly the ability to relate to many types ofpeople, to listen to them, and of course, to offer somethingof value to them.”

New Faces continued from page 8

Judiciary Committee) as “intelligent and dedicated electedofficials” who were able to work through problems in adiplomatic fashion.

As of August 1, Sullivan returned to the bench where hewill hear divorce and paternity matters until his retirementnext summer.

District TenChief Judge Benjamin D. Proctor succeeds Chief Judge

Edward R. Brunner, who has served in Barron CountyCircuit Court for 17 years and as a chief judge since 1999.

Proctor was first elected to thebench in 1988 and re-elected in1994 and 2000. He worked inprivate practice for 17 yearsprior to becoming a judge. Forthe past six years, he wasBrunner’s deputy chief judge.

Like Sullivan, Brunnerserved as a chief judge duringone of the most demanding andchallenging times in recentcourt history. The state’s budgetcrisis forced tight restraints on

the use of reserve judges and cut in-state and out-of-statetravel, hampering communication and taking a toll onmorale.

“It got to be a lot more work,” Brunner said. “Thedemands increased and it was challenging. But whatimpressed me is the cooperation – people coming togetherto make sure everything works. It was an exciting thing tobe a part of that, but it does take a toll.”

Brunner presided over a number of initiatives in theTenth District, including the enactment of protocols forworking out jurisdictional issues with the tribal courts,programs to assist self-represented litigants, district-widetraining sessions (funded with grants), and the developmentof drug treatment courts in Eau Claire and Barron counties.

Those accomplishments aside, Brunner’s greatestsatisfaction in the chief judge role came from working onday-to-day management issues with District CourtAdministrator Gregg Moore. “I was very fortunate to havesuch a fine court administrator,” he said. “To be able to relyon him and work closely with him was a great experience.”

Brunner also cited the leadership and encouragement of

Chief Justice Shirley S. Abrahamson as central to his abilityto perform well as a chief judge. “Not only was permissiongiven [to try new things], but itwas encouraged,” he said. “Thatkind of support from the top isvery important and it makes thejob more rewarding.”

Law librarian willhelp steer State Barpublications

Connie Von Der Heide,reference/outreach serviceslibrarian at Wisconsin State LawLibrary, has accepted a one-year appointment as a publicmember of the State Bar of Wisconsin’s CommunicationsCommittee, effective July 1. The CommunicationsCommittee serves as the editorial board for WisconsinLawyer and WisBar, maintains the State Bar’s consumerpamphlet series, supports the publication of the annualWisconsin Lawyer Directory, and evaluates written budgetproposals from State Bar entities seeking funding from theassociation’s general fund.

New associate deans named toJudicial College

Three new associate deans have been named to theWisconsin Judicial College, which provides an annualintroduction to the bench for new judges as well ascontinuing education for experienced judges. The associatedeans assist Judge Robert G. Mawdsley, the College’s deanand a circuit court judge in Waukesha County, and JudicialEducation Director David Hass and his staff withcurriculum and teaching.

Judge Timothy G. Dugan, Milwaukee County, replacesJudge Emily S. Mueller, Racine County; Judge Dale T.Pasell, La Crosse County, replaces Judge Jeffrey A.Kremers, Milwaukee County; and Judge Lisa K. Stark, EauClaire County, replaces Judge Angela B. Bartell, DaneCounty. Each of the new associate deans will serve an initialthree-year term and is eligible to serve a maximum of nineyears.

Continuing as associate deans are Judge Patrick J.Fiedler, Dane County; Judge John R. Storck, Dodge County;and Judge Mark A. Warpinski, Brown County.

APPOINTMENTS continued from page 3

Connie Von Der Heide

Chief JudgeEdward R. Brunner

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The Wisconsin court system summer internship programfor law students, now in its ninth year, has placed 32

volunteer law clerks in 19 counties and at the Supreme Courtthis summer.

The interns do research, draft memoranda, observe incourt, job shadow prosecutors and defense attorneys, andmore. In Taylor County, Law Clerk Kristi Tlusty is workingwith District Court Administrator Scott Johnson and JudgeGary Carlson to coordinate theefforts of the Ninth District Pro SeCommittee. In addition to sortingand tabulating informationcollected from the district’s 12counties to ascertain whatcurrently is offered to pro selitigants, Tlusty will help to draftgrant proposals.

Tlusty likely will come awayfrom the unpaid clerkship withvaluable experience and the courtswill reap the benefits of her work.The judges who offer clerkshipsgenerally believe the time theyspend is a valuable investment.

“It’s a lot of question andanswer and give and take,” saidMilwaukee County Circuit CourtJudge Kevin E. Martens. Martensvolunteered for the program andwas matched with ElizabethBailey, a Wisconsin native who iscurrently a student at George Mason University School ofLaw in Arlington, Va.

“I think it’s an important symbol that the courts are open,and that it’s important for lawyers-in-training to have someopportunity to observe how the system functions and gainsome insights before they get a law license,” Martens said. “Ithink it’s a really valuable opportunity they might nototherwise get, to actually be in chambers, talking with thejudge behind the scenes.”

The summer law clerk program has grown each year – in2004, 27 interns in 16 counties participated – and for the pastseveral years, the number of applicants has exceededavailable slots. The high interest, however, does not mean theprogram is without its recruitment problems. Melissa Lamb,Office of Court Operations, said most students who applyprefer to clerk in either Milwaukee or Dane County (which,together, provided seven slots this summer), and may dropoff the list if they cannot be accommodated. In addition,applicants who initially accept volunteer clerkships oftenrelinquish them if a subsequent paid offer comes their way.

For Bailey, landing an internship in Milwaukee was agreat opportunity to learn and make connections. “I wasreally interested in just seeing what the legal field is like inWisconsin, because even though I’ve been living out in the

Washington D.C.-Virginia area for a while now, Wisconsin isstill home to me,” she said. “It’s sort of like coming home forthe summer.”

While in Washington D.C., Bailey worked for severalinternational organizations, including the Lawyers’Committee for Human Rights (now called Human RightsFirst), which she said sparked her interest in the law.

Bailey then spent a year in India with International JusticeMission. “It’s interesting to meseeing a Milwaukee courtcompared to an Indian court,because before this all I had everseen was an Indian court, andthose don’t even function,” Baileysaid. “Even though I was in Indiafor a year, I didn’t see one of ourcases reach a decision, not one.It’s just a remarkable testament towhat the American judicial systemdoes every day.”

Bailey said her duties as a lawclerk offer a good mix of firsthandexperience and old-fashioned legalresearch. Martens said researchdone by student clerks not onlyspeeds up individual cases, butalso gives judges in large districtslike Milwaukee the ability tocoordinate and share information,to make the best possible use ofresearch.

Martens said he encourages Bailey to observe theworkings of the courts as much as possible, both in hiscourtroom and in others, to get a flavor for differentproceedings and different personalities.

Bailey recently witnessed her first trial, and saideverything about the process, down to watching jurors’ facesand hearing defendants’ stories, was informative. She alsosaid she hadn’t expected the level of camaraderie she sawamong different court personnel, or realized the extent towhich their roles intertwined.

“I think I’m learning the most just talking to JudgeMartens,” Bailey said. She added that, especially afterwatching another judge’s intern frantically running errandsthroughout a trial, she is grateful to have been paired with ajudge who is able to help her learn.

Martens also said he has enjoyed having the opportunityto discuss issues that arose in the courtroom and his judicialreasoning with Bailey. “It’s been a very positive experience,”he said.

Bailey agreed, saying aside from the fact that theinternship is unpaid, she wouldn’t change a thing about theprogram.

See 2005 summer interns, page 11

Summer law clerks trade time for knowledgeby Holly C. Noe, court information intern

Judge Kevin E. Martens, Milwaukee County CircuitCourt, poses during a court recess with law studentBetsy Bailey who is one of 32 volunteer law clerksworking in Wisconsin courts this summer. The oldestof nine children, Bailey recently spent a year in Indiawith an international justice organization.

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2005 summer interns

Barron County: Judge Edward R. Brunner – Brock Alton, WilliamMitchell College of Law

Brown County:Judge Sue Bischel – Jennifer Brook, University of FloridaCollege of LawJudge Donald R. Zuidmulder – Hannah Good, GoldenGate University

Calumet County:Judge Donald A. Poppy – Mary McCormack, Universityof Virginia School of Law

Dane County: Judge John C. Albert – Melanie Stibick, Northern IllinoisUniversityJudge C. William Foust – Marc Wood, UW Law School

Douglas County:Judge Michael T. Lucci – Jody Peterson, UW Law School

Eau Claire County:Susan Schaeffer, chief circuit court officer – JenniferMead, Albany Law School (this intern worked for all fiveEau Claire County judges)

Fond du Lac County:Judge Peter L. Grimm – Andrew Christenson, CaseWestern Reserve University School of Law

Kenosha County: Judge Mary K. Wagner – David Angeluzzi, MarquetteLaw SchoolJudge Wilbur W. Warren III – Amee Falbo, University ofSouthern California

Marathon County: Chief Judge Dorothy L. Bain – Andrew Paprocki, ArizonaState University

Milwaukee County: Judge William W. Brash III – Brian Hagner, University ofDenver

Judge Michael J. Dwyer – Andrew Steffel, University ofDaytonJudge Daniel L. Konkol – Andrea Bergstrom, Universityof IllinoisDeputy Chief Judge Jeffrey A. Kremers – David Helmke,Marquette Law SchoolJudge Kevin E. Martens – Elizabeth Bailey, GeorgeMason University School of Law

Outagamie County: Judges John A. Des Jardins and Michael W. Gage –Bradley Schraven, Florida Coastal School of Law

Racine County: Judge Dennis J. Barry – Anisa Caskey, Michigan StateUniversity College of LawJudges Faye M. Flancher and Emily S. Mueller – MichellePeterson, William Mitchell College of LawChief Judge Gerald P. Ptacek – Katherine Holom,University of Denver College of Law

St. Croix County:Judge Scott R. Needham – Timothy Donarski, Universityof MinnesotaJudge Edward F. Vlack III – Rachel Toberman, WilliamMitchell College of Law

Taylor County:Deputy Chief Judge Gary L. Carlson – Kristi Tlusty,Hamline University School of Law

Vernon County: Chief Judge Michael J. Rosborough – Jonathan Siegler,University of Michigan Law School

Washington County:Judge Annette K. Ziegler – Chris Sobic, Marquette LawSchool

Waukesha County: Chief Judge Kathryn W. Foster – Megan McCormick,Chicago-Kent College of Law

Winnebago County:Judge Thomas J. Gritton – Nathaniel Jones, University ofMinnesota Law School

Dane County court reporter, clerkstep down

Judge Robert A. DeChambeau’s court reporter and clerkretired within days of one another this summer, leaving thejudge and Judicial Assistant Nancy Nickel to pull together anew team in time for an upcoming rotation from the CivilDivision to the Criminal Division.

Court Reporter Leah Sachtjen, who has worked in thecourt system for 35 years, and Deputy Court Clerk JeanHahn, whose tenure spans 33 years, both retired in earlyAugust, saying a low-key good-bye over Hahn’s homemaderaspberry pie.

Jean HahnJean Hahn characterized her 18 years with Judge Robert

A. DeChambeau as “a very good experience.” Prior tojoining his staff, she worked with two judges who are nowdeceased, William Byrne and Richard Bardwell.

Hahn said the job’s biggest challenge has been managingthe growing caseload. “The increase has just beenoverwhelming,” she said, adding that much of the growthhas occurred in divorce and child-custody matters wherepeople often appear without attorneys. Working with pro selitigants in emotionally charged proceedings can befrustrating, but Hahn said the availability of information has

RETIREMENTS

see Retirements on page 12

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RETIREMENTS continued from page 11

made it easier.“If they want to become informed, it’s easy to do that

now,” she said. “The majority of them do take the time tolook up the procedures and try to follow them, but manytimes there’s a step or two that they miss.”

The best part of the job is the time in court, where Hahnsaid she has learned a great deal about the law and hasdeveloped a profound respect for the judges and lawyersand court staff who make the system work.

“What I see is fairness,” she said. “Day in and day out,that has been the constant: people are treated fairly.”

In retirement, Hahn looks forward to spending more timewith her husband, Peter McConley, who retired two yearsago, and her Cocker Spaniel and Maine Coon cat. Aftertaking a few weeks to relax, she plans to spend a bit moretime with two of her favorite things: jewelry and Victorianantiques.

“I’ve been thinking I might work part-time in a jewelrystore,” she said. “Now that I won’t be able to afford it, I canat least find a way to look at it.”

Leah SachtjenLeah Sachtjen began her career in Dane County with

Judge William Eich, and, when he moved to the Court ofAppeals, she worked for Judges Paulette Siebers and JackAulik (who unseated Siebers in her first bid for electionfollowing her gubernatorial appointment) before joiningDeChambeau’s staff.

Sachtjen is the daughter of Judge William Sachtjen andthe granddaughter of Judge Herman Sachtjen – both ofwhom served in Dane County. In recent years, she hasworked in her father’s former courtroom, where his portraitis displayed. Sachtjen’s retirement means that the DaneCounty Courthouse, for the first time in more than 60 years,will not have a member of the Sachtjen family workingunder its roof – although Sachtjen’s husband, Atty. GeraldMowris, will continue to practice there.

Sachtjen met Mowris, who was then an assistant districtattorney, at the courthouse. The couple now has two grownchildren – Danae, a fourth-year medical student, and Jeffrey,who just graduated from the UW with a degree inmechanical engineering.

In retirement, Sachtjen looks forward to enjoyingunstructured time and not having to listen to the troublingthings a person hears in criminal court. “I’m tired of hearingabout the seamier side of life,” she said, adding that, whileshe never feared for her safety in the courtroom, she has feltthreatened during commitment hearings at Mendota MentalHealth Institute. Once, a client slapped his defense attorneyat Mendota, and another time, a patient knocked the judge(Judge Robert R. Pekowsky) to the ground.

In spite of the drawbacks, the job has been wonderful,Sachtjen said, because of the people with whom she hasworked and the contact with the public. “We’re here for thepublic, and I try to treat people the way I’d like to betreated,” she said. “I know the courthouse can be anintimidating place.”

District administrative assistantretires

When Lu E. Pertzsch became the district administrativeassistant (DAA) for Wisconsin’s Seventh Judicial District in1980, she was shown to an “office” in the courthousebasement that consisted of a typewriter on a typewriter tablein a corner of the law library. As the district’s first DAAafter court reorganization, Pertzsch had little time to noticeher surroundings; helping to design and institute a systemfor managing the courts in the district’s 13 counties wasmore than full-time work.

During Pertzsch’s 25 years as a DAA, professional courtmanagement techniques took hold in District Seven – whichencompasses Buffalo, Crawford, Grant, Iowa, Jackson, LaCrosse, Monroe, Pepin, Pierce, Richland, Trempealeau, andVernon counties – and throughout the state. The introductionof technology made the work immeasurably easier, butcertain challenges remained constant.

“The biggest challenge I think was the court reporterissue. There are sofew per diems thatwhen an officialcourt reporter wouldcall in sick or needvacation, it was aconstant struggle tofind someone tocover,” she said.“Most of the officialcourt reporters werevery good aboutvolunteering orgoing when asked,but there weresimply times when courts couldn’t be covered.”

Compensating for the difficult moments and the heavyworkload was the opportunity to work with a wide varietyof people across the district and around the state. Pertzschespecially enjoyed getting to know the DAAs from thestate’s other nine judicial districts, although budget cuts inrecent years made it impossible to meet face-to-face. Still,she said, “I have made some very good friends through thesystem, those I will cherish forever.”

Pertzsch worked with former District CourtAdministrator Steven Steadman for 23 years and withSteadman’s successor, Patrick Brummond, for the final twoyears of her tenure with the courts.

In retirement, Pertzsch and her husband, Bruce, whoretired in 2004 from his position as an administrator at theGale-Ettrick-Trempealeau School District, plan to “enjoyeach and every day that we have together.” They arespending time at their Black River Falls cabin and awaitingthe birth of their third grandchild. Their two grandchildrenlive nearby, Pertzsch said, “and are, of course, the light ofour lives.” Also nearby are the couple’s two daughters,Turena (Scott) and Alexis (Mike). Their son, Quint, lives inDenver.

District Administrative Assistant Lu E.Pertzsch and her husband, Bruce.

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Filipino delegation visits DaneCounty

A delegation of judges, lawyers, and court administratorsfrom the Sandiganbayan (anti-graft court) of the Philippinesvisited Wisconsin in June to explore ideas for improving theflow of cases in a system where delays of months and evenyears are to be expected in most cases. The group, travelingunder the auspices of the American Bar Association,watched Dane County Circuit Court Judge Maryann Sumihandle a court proceeding, listened to a presentation byJudge C. William Foust on managing a high-volumecriminal docket, met with District Five Chief Judge MichaelN. Nowakowski, and explored the Supreme Court chamberswith Chief Justice Shirley S. Abrahamson and Justice AnnWalsh Bradley, who taught in the Philippines last summer.The delegation also heard from Reserve Judge Gerald C.Nichol, who discussed mediation and alternative disputeresolution.

The Filipino courts grapple with extensive delays thathave a few root causes. First, rules of pleading and practice

are commonly interpreted to allow immediate certioraripetitions on virtually all motions, from the determination ofprobable cause to the exclusion of evidence. As a result,trials are started and stopped, and witnesses and evidenceare presented piecemeal over many months and sometimesyears. Second, prosecutors and defense attorneys arecommonly unable or unwilling to meet deadlines establishedby the court, and judges are hesitant to deny continuances.Third, witnesses who must travel from outside Manila oftendo not appear – a problem exacerbated by the lack of fundsto cover their costs and an inefficient subpoena system.

The Wisconsin judges shared with their Filipinocounterparts simple, inexpensive ways to improve the flowof cases. They focused on the role of the judge, theresponsibilities of administrative personnel, and howdiscovery (which is rarely used in the Philippines) canreduce the time of the trial.

African dignitaries watch pleacolloquy

A delegation visiting Wisconsin under theauspices of Marquette University’s Les Aspin Centerfor Government stopped by the Milwaukee CountyCourthouse in June to watch a plea hearing and learnabout the constitutional protections affordeddefendants in criminal proceedings. The visitinggroup included 18 judges, members of parliament,journalists, and others who hold positions of publictrust in the African nations of Ghana, Kenya, Mali,and Nigeria.

Judge Paul R. Van Grunsven hosted the group along withChief Judge Kitty K. Brennan. Van Grunsven scheduled aplea to coincide with the group’s visit.

“We actually took a guilty plea from a defendant so ourguests could see the lengths that courts in this state take tomake sure a guilty plea is freely, voluntarily andintelligently made,” Van Grunsven said. “The feedback fromour guests was overwhelmingly positive.”

Barbara Allar strikes a pose before sheand her longtime colleagues celebrate her35 years in the Waupaca County Clerk ofCircuit Court Office. Allar is a deputy clerkof court and handles all forfeitures for theoffice. She has spent much of her careerworking in the Criminal Division.

WISCONSIN CONNECTS

Chief Justice Shirley S. Abrahamson and Justice Ann WalshBradley, standing, and Judge Maryann Sumi, seated center,share a light moment with a group of Filipino judges whovisited the Wisconsin Supreme Court in June under theauspices of the American Bar Association.

Milestone

Judge Paul R. Van Grunsven

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Anew edition of the Wisconsin court system’s guide tovideoconferencing is in production and will be

available in early fall. “Bridging the Distance 2005” willprovide information on implementing videoconferencing,choosing and using equipment, and evaluating theeffectiveness of a program. It also will include acomprehensive resource directory of videoconferencingcontacts throughout the state.

The guide is the result of many months of work by thePlanning and Policy Advisory Committee (PPAC)subcommittee on videoconferencing. The subcommittee wasreconvened in February 2004 to update the original guide tovideoconferencing that was written and published in 1999.

The subcommittee hopes to encourage greater use ofvideoconferencing in the Wisconsin court system by

providing anup-to-datefoundation ofrules,procedures andprotocols for itsuse, whileemphasizingthe need toensure therights oflitigants. Anelectronicversion of thenew guide willbe available onthe courtsystem’s Website and will becontinually updated.

Videoconferencing guide updatedby Erin Slattengren, senior policy analystOffice of Court Operations

New system tracks court security and facility information onlineby Erin Slattengren, senior policy analystOffice of Court Operations

As a result of recent events, information on courtsecurity and facilities has become a hot topic

nationally. Since 1995, when Supreme Court Rule 70.39establishing facility, security, and staffing guidelines wasenacted, the Court’s Planning and Policy AdvisoryCommittee (PPAC) has collected information semi-annuallyfrom each county about security incidents involving judgesand other court staff. The data collected by PPAC haveproven useful in maintaining voluntary compliance withSCR 70.39, in sharing information between counties as theyundertake new facility construction or security initiatives,and in documenting security incidents to demonstrate tocounty officials the need for courthouse securityimprovements.

To make this process more efficient, PPAC and theConsolidated Court Automation Programs (CCAP) recentlycreated an online system for collecting this information. Thenew system is housed on CourtNet and county respondentslog into a database and complete a short survey. The onlinedatabase allows this information to be quickly gathered andanalyzed. In the future, PPAC plans to expand the surveyquestions to collect additional data that reflect currentsecurity developments.

For more details about the online system or to requestinformation, contact Erin Slattengren in the Office of CourtOperations at (608) 266-8861 or erin.slattengren@wicourts.gov.

In addition to suspensions and revocations, the latestphase allows the clerks to transmit license reinstatementsand changes to the citation disposition record. The citationinterface includes:

processing electronic citations from State Patrol weighstations in 12 counties;

processing electronic citations from State Patroltroopers in 24 counties; and

transmitting citation dispositions to DMV from thecourts in 68 counties.

The Electronic Citation Interface eliminates severallabor-intensive steps in the clerks’ offices, State Patrol, andDMV. Information is no longer manually typed intomultiple systems, which improves efficiency and accuracy.Reducing redundant paperwork means court clerks canspend more time helping their customers and focusing oncollections and officers can spend more time on patrol.

Approximately 10 percent of all citations received bycourts contain at least one error, according to a Universityof Pittsburgh School of Law study that concluded,“Electronic ticketing has the ability to eliminate most, if notall, of these types of errors....”

“With the inclusion of electronic suspensions, we areone step closer to becoming fully automated on receivingand disposing of citations. This interface is a great benefitto our office with accuracy and time savings,” said Clerk ofCircuit Court Cindy Kimmons, Lincoln County. Futureplans include rolling out all phases of the interfacestatewide and exchanging information electronically withlocal law enforcement agencies. The State Patrol will beproviding the Wisconsin TraCS software to all local lawenforcement agencies statewide to help facilitate an easiertransition to electronic citations.

CCAP continued from page 1

1999 videoconferencing manual

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VOLUNTEERS IN THE COURTS

With a $40,000 grant from the National CASAAssociation, Rock County recently launched a CASA

(Court Appointed Special Advocate) program thanks to theefforts of Lisa Anderson, director of the Rock CountyCASA, and John Pfleiderer, executive director of FamilyServices of Southern Wisconsin and Northern Illinois, Inc.

Anderson learned of CASA four years ago and decided itwas a program that Rock County needed to have. Workingfor Family Services’ Sexual Assault Recovery Program andserving as a foster parent gave her a clear picture of theneeds of abused children and she knew more needed to bedone for them.

Pfleiderer worked for a CASA program in southernIndiana and knew Rock County would benefit from a similarprogram. He and Anderson turned to Judge Richard T.Werner, who has served on the bench in Rock County fornine years and who currently presides in the county’sJuvenile Court. Werner, who has taken an active interest inchild-welfare issues in the past, agreed that a CASAprogram would be beneficial and offered his full support.Also involved from the start was Chief Judge Michael N.Nowakowski, who, Pfleiderer said, has been “a critical partof this process.”

Rock County CASA anticipates assigning its firstvolunteers to children in November. Each volunteer will beassigned one case at a time and must commit to a minimumof a year with that child. The volunteers must complete 40

hours of training and attend half a day of juvenilecourt. To accommodate the volunteers’ schedules,training sessions will be held on Saturdays beginningin September.

CASA volunteers help judges understand moreabout the abused and neglected children who come tocourt. By gathering sufficient information andpreparing reports on each child, volunteers opendoors for these children to receive the help they need.“The role of the CASA volunteer is to augment thejudge’s information base for making life-definingdecisions for children,” Pfleiderer said.

Funding is slow to come. The $40,000 grant covers only65 percent of the program’s expected costs. Funds have alsocome from United Way of Northern Rock County andvarious foundations. Anderson and Pfleiderer recentlycompleted their first fundraising event – a motorcycle pokerrun – as they continue to seek more volunteers.

“Sometimes it seems slow to get going,” Pfleiderer said,“but the benefits the children will receive make itworthwhile.”

For more information contact Anderson at (608) 305-0187 orPfleiderer at (608) 365-1244. For more information on startinga CASA program, contact Marsha Varvil-Weld, executivedirector, Wisconsin CASA Association, at (608) 742-5344 ormlweld@wisconsincasa.org.

CASA of Brown County launched in June 2004 withgrant money from the National CASA Association. ThisCASA currently has 13 volunteers. It receives additionalfunding from the Brett Favre Foundation, variouscommunity organizations, and the State of Wisconsin.

Columbia-Sauk CASA serving Columbia and Saukcounties since 1999. This CASA currently has 15volunteers serving 17 children. It receives funding froma National CASA Association emergency grant, theState of Wisconsin, United Way, various communityorganizations, and Columbia County Human Services.

Dane County CASA established in 1995. Dane wasthe first county in Wisconsin to launch a CASA; thisprogram currently has 50 volunteers serving 58children. Funding comes from the Dane County Clerkof Courts Office, United Way, community organizations,and the State of Wisconsin.

Voices for Children CASA Program (KenoshaCounty) operating under the Alcohol & Other Drug

Council of Kenosha. This program began in 1998 andcurrently has 14 volunteers working with 29 children.Its funding comes from the State of Wisconsin, in-kindcontributions, fundraising events, and United Way.

YWCA of the Coulee Region – CASA Program(La Crosse County) serving the La Crosse area since2001. This program currently serves 30 children with 20volunteers and receives funding from the State ofWisconsin, United Way, private grants, variouscommunity organizations, and fundraising events.

Milwaukee CASA launched in 2001. This CASA has45 volunteers serving 84 children. It receives fundingfrom the National CASA Association, the State ofWisconsin, Junior League of Milwaukee, and variousfoundations and community organizations.

Note: Fond du Lac County runs a child-advocacyprogram similar to CASA through its Conflict ResolutionCenter.

Wisconsin CASA programsWisconsin has six other CASA programs:

Judge Richard T. Werner

Grant helps launch new CASA program

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On a steamy Friday morning in late July, Justice N.Patrick Crooks walked into the cluttered hive of activity

that is the Capitol Press Room and delivered a short,written statement that announced his intention to seeka second 10-year term in April 2006. “I enjoy myjob,” Crooks told the Associated Press. “ I find itchallenging. I find it interesting. I like my colleagues.We’re all getting along well. I’m just not ready toretire and walk away from it.”

A series on alternatives to incarceration brought areporter for The Oshkosh Northwestern to La Crosseto watch Judge John J. Perlich at work in one of thestate’s three drug treatment courts (the other two arein Dane and Monroe counties; several other countiesare running pilot programs). The series focused ontreatment courts because Oshkosh is working hard toopen one by early 2006. Judge Scott C. Woldt, whojoined the bench in Winnebago County in January, ischampioning a treatment court that would focus onboth drug and alcohol addiction. He told thenewspaper that his interest in the approach grew fromthe defendants he sees every day in court. Woldtrealized how many crimes and civil/family/juvenilematters are rooted in substance abuse. The reporterinterviewed various criminal justice experts,including UW Law School Lecturer Daniel Nevers,who was quoted as expressing concern aboutcorrections spending. “I’m not sure when we’ll hit

the point,” he said, “where we decide we’re no longerpunishing criminals, but are punishing ourselves.”

“Supreme enemies of openness” was the headline on anopinion column in the July 29 edition of Isthmus, a weeklyalternative newspaper in Madison. Columnist Bill Luederscomplained that a recent decision of the Wisconsin SupremeCourt (Hempel) that denied a police officer accused ofsexual harassment access to records from the investigationwas “likely to blow a hole in the Open Records Law.”

Wisconsin Lawyer magazine, a publication of the StateBar, featured in its July cover story Milwaukee CountyCircuit Court Judge Richard J. Sankovitz along with StateBar Pro Bono Coordinator Jeffrey Brown and Atty. RachelSchneider. Sankovitz and Schneider were profiled forcommitment to pro bono work, which takes different formsand includes a “Pro Bono Road Show,” which is conductedunder the auspices of the Milwaukee Bar Association’sLegal Services to the Indigent Committee. The road showbrings Sankovitz and Schneider to law firms large andsmall, where they discuss the importance of pro bono work.“What we do is give lawyers a practical, manageable, easy-to-learn way to do pro bono work,” Sankovitz was quotedas saying. “Once they’ve started, they find the workfulfilling, and it perpetuates itself.”

Florida court matters seem to make national headlineswith increasing frequency, but usually the cases, rather thanthe judges, drive the media interest. Not so in BrowardCounty recently, when a judge who could not find a dog-sitter decided to bring her German Shepherd to work withher. Perhaps predictably, the dog got loose while the judgewas on the bench and chased another judge down the publichallway. The dog owner chastised her fellow judge for

overreacting when he saw the 113-pound shepherd comingafter him. “When somebody runs from him, he thinks theyare playing and he chases,” she told the newspaper. “He’sharmless.”

In an effort to improve their response to people (oftennewly released inmates) who are in danger of becominghomeless, a group of public and private organizations inSauk County has banded together to form the Sauk CountyCollaborative Initiatives Group, which announced its toll-free number this summer. The number, which will ring tothe Central Wisconsin Community Action Council duringthe day and to St. Clare Hospital on nights and weekends,links people in need to dozens of organizations, includingcounseling services, job centers, county agencies, homelessshelters, hospitals and health-care organizations,probation/parole agencies, relief agencies and schools,reported the News Republic(Baraboo). Start-up funds havecome from Sauk County HumanServices and the First UnitedMethodist Church, organizers toldthe newspaper. The next step:developing a card for distributionto law enforcement and otherswith the toll-free number and alist of resources.

A recent Wisconsin StateJournal piece examined “the‘CSI’ effect” in state courts –the question of whether jurors who watch a lot of criminaljustice drama on television carry misperceptions into court.After viewing an episode of “Judging Amy,” Dane CountyCircuit Court Judge Stuart A. Schwartz decided extrameasures were necessary to make sure his juries separatedreality from fiction. The State Journal reported thatSchwartz has taken to reading jurors an admonition: “Thesedepictions do not take place in a real courtroom. Theseshows are not real trials with real winners and losers in alegal context. Sometimes, a judge is not a real judge.Entertainment triumphs. The judge is often blunt, decisiveand judgmental. The judge never cites a case, a statute oreven the Constitution. Decisions are drawn from the gut.”Dane County District Atty. Brian Blanchard saidprosecutors in his office were also concerned about “the

see People on page 17

PEOPLE

Justice N. Patrick Crooks

Judge John J. Perlich

Judge Stuart A. Schwartz

Milwaukee CountyJudges Kitty K.Brennan (left), KarenE. Christenson andMel Flanagan toasttheir completion of theDanskin Triathlon, afundraiser for breastcancer research heldJuly 10. The threejudges finished a half-mile swim, a 12.4-milebike ride, and a 3.1-mile run in,respectively, 1:49:57(Flanagan), 1:50:10(Brennan) and 2:13:39(Christenson).

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‘CSI’ effect” leading jurors to acquit in the absence offorensic evidence like fingerprints or DNA, but said nonehad actually experienced this.

The Racine County Courthouse was the site of acelebration recently as Racine artist John D. VanKoningsveld unveiled a bronze bas-relief of “Justitia,”Lady Justice, minus her customary blindfold. As reported inthe Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, Van Koningsveld found inresearching the Lady Justice image that blindfolds wereoriginally worn by protesters in Europe to call attention towhat they saw as unfair court practices and only later wasthe blindfold adopted as a symbol of justice. VanKoningsveld’s models for the sculpture were Judge Faye M.Flancher, in whose courtroom Justitia is displayed, andformer Racine County Executive Jean Jacobson, whocommissioned the piece. The artist spent 400 hourssculpting the bas-relief, which was funded by localphilanthropist Joseph Haban and the county. VanKoningsveld now is working on a second commission: apiece of art for display in a seventh-floor courtroom.

This year’s inductees to theAppleton West High SchoolHall of Fame included SupremeCourt Justice David ProsserJr., a member of the class of1961. The Hall of Fame beganin 1991 to recognize graduateswho have made outstandingcontributions to theirprofessions and theircommunities. Before beginninghis tenure on the SupremeCourt bench in 1998, Prosser

served as Outagamie County district attorney and asminority leader and speaker of the state Assembly. Asreported by the Post-Crescent, Prosser’s fellow honoreeswere Franklin Jesse, an expert on international law whoadvised the Reagan administration, Marilyn JustmanKaman, who served as a district court judge in Minnesota

and as a United Nations judge in Kosovo, and GeorgeMueller, the retired president and chief executive ofWisconsin Tissue Mills.

Melissa Wallace was sworn in as La Crosse County’sfirst certified court interpreter, and she told the La CrosseTribune that she looks forward to being able to helpSpanish-speaking defendants feel as comfortable incourt as English speakers. Wallace, a native ofWisconsin Rapids, is a Spanish instructor at UW-LaCrosse and spent five years living in Spain. When shereturned to Wisconsin in 2000, she inquired aboutbecoming a certified interpreter, but the state did nothave a training program in place at the time. To earnher certification, Wallace received two days ofinstruction followed by several examinations on courtprocedures and ethics. District Court AdministratorPatrick Brummond told the Tribune that having acertified interpreter with knowledge of courtprocedures would allow the court to better serve its diversepublic.

Judge Paul B. Higginbotham, Court of Appeals –District 4, gave the commencement address at EdgewoodCollege, where he told graduates he almost became a priest,The Capital Times reported. “Now I have a job where I weara black coat, people rise when I walk in, people confesstheir sins to me, and some folks even fall asleep in thecourtroom. So maybe I’m not too far from my originalcalling,” he said.

Justice David Prosser Jr.

PEOPLE continued from page 16

Judge Paul B. Higginbotham

fund state operations appropriations (these include the threelevels of court, the Director of State Courts Office, and theWisconsin State Law Library).

Delete 2.3 percent of the courts’ operations funding, with aprovision to allow the secretary of the Department ofAdministration to restore all or part of the funding. Becausethe amount available is 4 percent less than the amountdeleted, the veto message directs the secretary to apportionthe reduction across state government in a manner thatminimizes the impact on critical services.

Through the governor’s partial vetoes, require additionallapses from unspecified state operations appropriations.What impact, if any, these vetoes will have on the courts isnot known.

Provide state funding for the court interpreter programcurrently funded with expiring federal funds, and provideadditional county reimbursement funds to reflect increaseddemand for court interpreter services.

Increase a number of surcharges imposed on fines orforfeitures to provide revenues for executive branchprograms and the general fund.

Reduce certain first-offense operating a motor vehicle afterrevocation (OAR) convictions from criminal to civiloffenses.

Reduce the terms of probation for certain misdemeanoroffenses.

Narrow the definition of “habitual traffic offender” toreduce the number of persons whose operating privilegesare revoked.

Create a subsidized guardianship program. Create a grant program to provide reintegration services for

female non-violent prisoners from Milwaukee County andtheir children.

Create a grant program to provide alternatives toprosecution and incarceration for criminal offenders whoabuse alcohol or other drugs.

Budget continued from page 2

Supreme CourtJustices Louis B.Butler Jr. and N.Patrick Crooks lineup for a ride aroundthe Capitol Squarein a 1928 Packardsedan, courtesy ofSupreme CourtCommissionerNancy Kopp andher father (at thewheel), Rudy. Thecar, which is inpristine condition,was the lowestpriced Packardsedan when it wasintroduced, but stillcost more than$2,000 when it wasnew – a price thatwould havepurchased severalModel T Fords.

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Ayear after it piloted a new alcoholmonitoring system, Racine County has

decided to let SCRAM stay awhile. Known by anacronym that stands for Secure ContinuousRemote Alcohol Monitor, SCRAM uses abracelet to measure the chemical traces of alcoholthat seep through the skin. The system reports thewearer’s blood alcohol level via wireless modem.

Racine County became the first in the state totest SCRAM in April 2004 on five defendantsawaiting trial on drunk driving charges. Sincethen, the monitors have been used routinely ondefendants ordered to maintain absolute sobriety.Approximately three people are on the monitorson any given day.

Chief Judge Gerald P. Ptacek has orderedSCRAM several times in his felony court, mostlyfor fifth-offense operating-while-intoxicated(OWI) defendants who are released while theircases are pending. “It’s a great motivator,” Ptaceksaid. “Part of what we do is try to help peoplerestructure their lives if they’re convicted, and ifyou’re using a monitor, you’re allowing someonethe chance to prove themselves.”

A defendant’s success or failure with aSCRAM monitor also gives judges another wayto evaluate a defendant when determiningsentencing: Judges who place defendants onSCRAM bracelets are able to use their owncomputers to track readings, which are takenabout every half hour.

SCRAM also is used in the Racine CountySheriff’s Department’s Pretrial IntensiveSupervision Program for repeat drunk drivers andin the aftercare treatment program.“It’s just adding one more tool to the toolbox,”said Cheryl Zimmerman, whose consulting firmmanages the county’s jail diversion programs.“It’s not used as much as we’d like it to be used,but I think that’s just a matter of time andcommunication.”

Since Racine led the way, other counties havetaken an interest in SCRAM. Milwaukee Countybegan using the devices this spring on pretrialOWI defendants. Waukesha County is alsoplanning to use SCRAM in the alcohol treatmentcourt it has in the works.

“You can see the difference in people’s livesmade by a device that gives them some control,”Ptacek said. “So when you see violations, youcan also understand how strong, how compellingan addiction has to be to get someone to bedrawn to it instead of complying for their ownpersonal liberty – because if you don’t comply,

you generally get tossed back in jail.”Jerry Solem, who works with Zimmerman on

the jail diversion programs, said two-thirds of thepeople who have gone on SCRAM in RacineCounty successfully completed their stints withthe monitors. The remaining third had to bereturned to custody for drinking or tamperingwith the device.

SCRAM’s major drawback has been its price.At a cost of about $12 per day (paid to AlcoholMonitoring Systems in Colorado, the companythat created and runs the system), SCRAM ismore expensive than other forms of monitoring,which is the source of most complaints fromdefendants.

“There’s no pool of money set aside here, soit’s pretty much at the cost of the participant,”Solem said. “If they can’t pay for it, it doesn’thappen.”

As with any new piece of technology,SCRAM also has its bugs. One is that the deviceonly registers blood alcohol levels above .02, sosome drinking may go undetected. “You have tounderstand going in that it’s still possible forindividuals to drink at a low level,” Solem said.“But most of the population we’re serving tendsnot to stop at low levels, so it gets themeventually.”

Despite its shortcomings, SCRAM hasadvantages over traditional monitoring methods.It keeps a record, is able to detect attempts attampering such as placing something between thedevice and the skin, and participants in the pilotprogram reported that the threat of constantmonitoring did help deter them from drinking.

“It goes a long way in terms of improving thequality of the monitoring that we’re used to,”Ptacek said. “Before, a defendant is wearing adevice near a phone, gets a call, and blows intothe device – just a periodic check. This is acontinual check, which makes a lot of differencein terms of its credibility and usefulness in whatwe do. Other people should look at it because it’sso darn accurate.”

For counties interested in trying SCRAM,Ptacek recommends that all judges meet with arepresentative of the company who candemonstrate the device and answer questions.Zimmerman’s best advice is to conduct a pilotproject first to understand the system’s strengthsand limitations in practice. “This should just be amonitoring tool,” she said, “not the onlymonitoring tool.”

After a year, SCRAM sticks aroundby Holly C. Noe, court information intern

Chief JusticeShirley S. AbrahamsonDirector of State CourtsA. John VoelkerEditorAmanda K. ToddAssociate EditorC. Colleen FlesherContributing WritersDeborah BrescollMichelle Jensen-GoodwinHolly C. NoeErin SlattengrenGarrick VeidelA. John VoelkerEditorial CommitteeHon. Michael J. RosboroughVernon County Circuit CourtGregg T. MooreDistrict Ten Court AdministratorCarolyn OlsonIowa County Clerk of CircuitCourt

Graphic Design/LayoutC. Colleen Flesher

The Third Branch is aquarterly publication of theDirector of State CourtsOffice, providing news ofinterest to the Wisconsincourt system.

Send questions, comments,and article ideas to: Amanda K. ToddCourt Information OfficerP.O. Box 1688Madison, WI 53701-1688phone(608) 264-6256e-mailamanda.todd@wicourts.govfax(608) 267-0980