As the administrator of the

Clerks of Circuit Court DUTIES AND SERVICES Stacy Kleist, Richland County Clerk of Circuit Court As the administrator of the court system, Wisconsin s 72 clerks of circuit court operate the system that ultimately, serves as the final point for legal conflict resolution in our state. Clerks of circuit court are constitutional officers that are selected by their county s electorate in fall partisan elections held every four years. As manager of their county s circuit court system, they serve a vital role in the administration of justice and provide a multitude of services to those who come in contact with the court system, including case parties, law enforcement, child support agencies, attorneys, judges, court commissioners, and citizen jurors. Clerks of circuit court serve as the custodian of all official circuit court records. Their offices manage all of the information that comes to the court in the form of various legal documents. Often, they must decipher what it is that the documents call for including court scheduling, judgment entry, or judgment modification. Because the work they perform creates the public record for each court case, clerks of circuit court and their staff must be detailed and meticulous; any error may result in unintended, negative legal consequences for the parties who come before the court. Clerks perform these duties in accordance with the Wisconsin State Statutes and rules set forth by the Wisconsin Supreme Court. Part of maintaining the official court record is the keeping of minutes for all court proceedings. Clerks of circuit court or a member of their staff are present for every court proceeding held. The minutes taken by the courtroom clerk create the public court record and serve as a historical account of everything requested and ordered including the final judgment. In a criminal case, the final judgment is the document that sets forth a convicted person s 18 u May 2017

A Critical Link Between the Judiciary, County Boards and the Public. conditions of probation, jail or prison confinement, and all financial costs associated with the case. In a civil action, such as an eviction, the clerk produces the judgment that serves as the legal means for removal of a defaulted renter. Other examples of judgments generated by the clerk include traffic court judgments, small claims money judgments, protective injunctions, and name change orders. As managers of local court finances, clerks of circuit court develop and manage courts budgets, working closely with their county s administrator, county board, or other oversight committees. Clerks of circuit court offices serve as the collections point for all fines and costs ordered by the court in criminal, traffic, and non-criminal ordinance cases. Adhering to statutory guidelines, clerks of circuit court collect this money for distribution to crime victims, local municipalities, counties, and the state of Wisconsin. When money is due to their counties for reimbursement of attorney fees paid by the county in criminal or family cases, it is the Clerk of Court who works to recoup the funds, helping to avoid a burden on local taxpayers. In addition to maintaining the record and managing court finances, clerks of circuit court work diligently to provide and promote access to the court. Their offices answer questions and provide information on court processes to self-represented litigants, those who come to the court without the assistance of an attorney. As non-attorneys, clerks of circuit court and their staff cannot provide legal advice. However, they carefully, within the confines of the legal process, provide information that sheds light on a system often seen as scary or cumbersome to those outside of it. This assistance does not end with self-represented litigants. Clerks of circuit court and their staff are often called upon to assist attorneys and other legal professionals with new court systems and processes. Presently, throughout the state, clerks of circuit court are serving a critical role in Wisconsin s conversion to Supreme Court-mandated electronic filing (e-filing) of court records. More than half of Wisconsin s counties have already joined the e-filing revolution. State officials expect this conversion to be complete by the end of 2017. May 2017 u 19

The clerk must also work closely with system partners... to establish policies and procedures that promote the efficient and cost-effective administration of justice, ensure compliance with ever-changing state laws, and implement new initiatives COURT ADMINISTRATION Carlo Esqueda, Dane County Clerk of Circuit Court, Wisconsin Clerks of Circuit Court Association Past President Wisconsin clerks of circuit court have a wide array of duties, most required by statute, but some are implicit within the general structure of county government. At the core, the Clerk of Circuit Court is responsible for all of the court s record-keeping functions, from accepting new case filings, recording the minutes of what transpires at in-court proceedings, and documenting the various outcomes from case dispositions. Clerks are also responsible for jury administration, including the summoning of prospective jurors, ensuring their eligibility to serve, and assembling panels to go to court for the formal jury selection process. In addition to these duties, the Clerk is expected to serve as any other county department head would, taking responsibility for all office personnel matters, budgeting, and financial management, including collection efforts on unpaid court-ordered obligations. The clerk must also work closely with system partners (the judiciary, the Wisconsin Director of State Courts Office, the county executive/ administrator, the county board, the sheriff, the district attorney, local law enforcement, the private bar, and many others) to establish policies and procedures that promote the efficient and cost-effective administration of justice, ensure compliance with ever-changing state laws, and implement new initiatives, such as the courts ongoing statewide electronic filing initiative. In smaller counties, especially those having just one or two judges in the courthouse, the Clerk of Circuit Court must attend to all of these administrative responsibilities, as well as attend court as the judicial court clerk, call witnesses, mark exhibits, keep minutes, etc. In larger counties, like Dane and Milwaukee, the focus is more concentrated on the administration aspect of the office, as staffing and budgets are larger and more complex. These clerks must rely heavily upon appointed deputies to perform the core record keeping functions that arise from busy court calendars. It bears noting that while the clerk of circuit court indeed functions as the de facto court administrator for day-to-day operations in their circuit, the authority is not absolute. Article VII, Section 4 of the Wisconsin Constitution notes that it is the Chief Justice of the Wisconsin Supreme Court who is the administrative head of the judicial system. This authority has customarily been delegated to the chief judges of the ten Wisconsin judicial districts. Indeed, Supreme Court Rule 70.32 holds that the chief judge may direct the activities of all clerk of court offices within the district and may recommend or direct changes in the operation of any clerk s office. In general, however, District Chief Judges have not opted to invoke or exercise this authority with any regularity. 20 u May 2017

COLLECTIONS Theresa Russell, Washington County Clerk of Circuit Court, Wisconsin Clerks of Circuit Court Association President How much do I owe you? This is a common question clerks of circuit court answer multiple times each day. Collecting fines, forfeitures, costs, fees, and other court ordered obligations are one aspect of every clerk of circuit court s job. Fines are ordered as part of a sentence in criminal matters and are meant to be a deterrent from committing future offenses. Orders forfeiting bond occur as a consequence for those defendants who do not comply with the conditions of their release from jail. Reimbursement of costs and fees for services the court provides is often required by the litigants that use those services. Other court ordered financial obligations include fees owed by defendants who are appointed an attorney at county expense in criminal matters because they did not qualify for a state public defender. Fees can also arise in family matters when two parties cannot agree on the custody or placement of a child. The court is required by statute to order the appointment of a guardian ad litem to represent the best interests of the child. At times, psychologists and other experts are also necessary to resolve cases. Since theses matters are civil cases, the court requires reimbursement in full to the county for the fees incurred. Collecting all debts that are due to the courts is managed by each clerk of circuit court. Policies and practices vary county-to-county. Clerks work with debtors who find it difficult to pay their debt in full by the due date. One of the most common practices is to negotiate payment plan arrangements, which may include an income assignment that is sent to the employer and possibly submitting the debt to the Wisconsin tax refund intercept program (TRIP). Clerks of circuit court are given several tools for collecting on those debts in which the debtor fails to comply with their payment plan agreement, or fails to pay in full by the due date. Some of the tools include a one year driver s license suspension, civil judgment plus statutory interest, income assignment, TRIP, referral to a collection agency, or the State Debt Collection Agency (Wisconsin Department of Revenue), as well as jail time. Combining collection tools usually creates the best results. Some collection actions are time consuming and require significant staff time and others do not need much monitoring or effort. Each clerk of circuit court determines what works best for them. Collecting fines, forfeitures, costs, fees, and other court ordered obligations are one aspect of every clerk of circuit court s job. May 2017 u 21

JURY ADMINISTRATION Carlo Esqueda, Dane County Clerk of Circuit Court, Wisconsin Clerks of Circuit Court Association Past President Wisconsin clerks of circuit court have the statutory responsibility for jury management in their respective counties. The process has been improved in recent years through automation, but has remained largely unchanged over the decades. Counties rely on two basic methods of summoning and qualifying jurors. In general, smaller counties prefer the two step method, while larger counties prefer the one-step method. In both approaches, the population of prospective jurors for the county is identified the same way: via a data-sharing agreement between the Wisconsin Director of State Courts Office and the Wisconsin Department of Transportation (DOT). A list of all individuals in the county who have drivers licenses or state identification cards is provided by DOT. The court s computerized jury management system randomly pairs down this list into a smaller subset of people who will receive outreach from the court regarding their juror status. In a two-step county, prospective jurors will receive a juror qualification questionnaire. Once those questionnaires have been returned to the clerk, the clerk is able to eliminate those who do not qualify (to qualify, prospective jurors must be over the age of 18, a citizen of the United States, a resident of the county in which they are being summoned, able to speak and understand the English language, and must not be a convicted felon still under sentence supervision). When the pool of qualified jurors is known, the clerk then sends summonses to some or all of these jurors to appear for a jury selection date. In a one-step county, the clerk sends questionnaires and summonses together to a subset of the DOTsupplied list. Jurors that do not qualify will be informed that they need not report on the summoned-in date; the rest will be told to appear unless scheduled jury trials settle in the interim. On the day of jury selection, the clerk of court or a deputy clerk greets and orients the prospective jurors who have reported. The jurors are then sent to the courtroom for the voir dire process, in which the judge and attorneys question the jurors to determine which should be excused for cause or are subject to peremptory strikes. For the most part, once the jurors have been selected for trial, their supervision falls to the judge and the bailiffs who are charged with securing the court. Once the verdict is rendered and the trial is over, the clerk works with the jurors to ensure that they have any documentation that their employers may deem necessary to excuse them from work. The clerk will also see to the payment of the jurors for their time. Wisconsin law currently holds that jurors shall be paid at least $16 per day of service, plus transportation reimbursement, but some counties opt to pay something more than that. Effective jury management is a process of continuous improvement and clerks of circuit court work closely with their judiciary and state court officials to try to optimize juror utilization. Examples of this include finding strategies to minimize the number of jurors who fail to appear for their summoned dates, as well as ensuring that too many jurors are not summoned, such that too many spend significant time in the courthouse without ever making it to voir dire. It is the prerogative of every clerk of court to ensure that prospective jurors come away from their experience feeling like they made a positive contribution to the justice system and that their valuable time was not misspent. 22 u May 2017

The courts have come a long way from handwriting the docket in oversized ledgers to being able to process entire case files electronically. MANDATORY E-FILING Theresa Russell, Washington County Clerk of Circuit Court, Wisconsin Clerks of Circuit Court Association President Almost gone are piles of court files and the feeling of never getting out from under mounds of paperwork. As of July 1, 2016, all clerks of circuit court are transitioning to electronic case files for civil, small claim, criminal, family, and paternity cases. By the end of 2017, mandatory electronic filing will be in every Wisconsin county. High-volume filing agents who file ten or more small claim actions in one year, and all licensed Wisconsin attorneys, are mandated to file all documents for the circuit court electronically. Litigants who are not covered under the mandate can volunteer to electronically file. Many court users are familiar with the website www. wicourts.gov. Now, attorneys or those unrepresented by an attorney can access the electronic case file, including documents, upon payment of the $20 optin fee. Customers doing business electronically can now submit documents electronically by 11:59 P.M. on any business day and it will be considered filed as of that day after the clerk reviews it. This is especially helpful in cases in which a deadline needs to be met. Parties that have opted-in to receive information electronically will have access to the case and documents 24 hours a day. Electronic parties also no longer need to mail documents or come to the courthouse to deliver or pick-up paperwork. A benefit to employees of the Wisconsin court system is files that were previously transported from one clerk of courts office to another can be viewed electronically by the assigned judge from any location. Not only do the circuit court clerks have electronic files, the clerk of the Court of Appeals is now accepting electronic circuit court files that are on appeal. There is no need to transport boxes of documents to different courts any longer. Other benefits of e-filing are that electronic files will not fall victim to a fire, flood, or loss as they are maintained on several servers at different locations. Also, multiple users have the ability to access the files simultaneously. For example, an attorney can view the file at the same time as the judge and prosecutor. The courts have come a long way from handwriting the docket in oversized ledgers to being able to process entire case files electronically. On behalf of the Wisconsin Clerks of Circuit Court Association, I want to thank the Supreme Court for their support in making electronic filing a reality. May 2017 u 23