News
November 13, 2024 | By Benjamin Yount
Policy Issues
Crime & Safety

Wisconsin Chief Justice Challenges Lawmakers to Help Solve Lawyer Shortage

“When we cannot provide members of the public who are exercising their constitutional right to be represented by counsel with an attorney, access to justice is seriously compromised,” Annette Ziegler.

The chief justice of Wisconsin’s supreme court says the state simply has to find a way to get more lawyers out of Milwaukee and Madison.

Chief Justice Annette Ziegler spoke to the Annual Meeting of the Wisconsin Judicial Conference on Wednesday.

She said her biggest priorities for the next two years are dealing with judges’ safety, working on mental health courts, and ending Wisconsin’s lawyer shortage.

“We face a very serious lawyer shortage. It's particularly acute in rural areas. Access to justice is seriously impacted when those who wish to be represented remain unrepresented,” she said.

Ziegler said back in June that over the last four years, the number of active attorneys in Wisconsin has decreased by over 4%, and the number of students enrolling in Wisconsin’s two law schools had dropped by 7%.

Ziegler said seven counties in northern Wisconsin have no certified attorneys to take cases when the local public defender cannot.

“When we cannot provide members of the public who are exercising their constitutional right to be represented by counsel with an attorney, access to justice is seriously compromised,” Ziegler added.

She’s not saying what she wants lawmakers to do, but she charged the Judicial Conference to begin working on a [package of suggestions that lawmakers can vote on something next year.

Ziegler said lawmakers approved a package for judicial safety last year, but she wants more.

“It’s a basic tenant of judicial Independence that judge should not be intimidated, influenced, threatened, or killed for doing their job. Those should not be tools that are used to control the outcome of a case, nor the consequence of how a judge acted in a case,” Ziegler added. “Our courthouses have to be safe for staff, practitioners, members of the public, and judicial officers alike.”

Ziegler did not touch on the split on the Wisconsin Supreme Court during her remarks. She was also silent as to the coming caseload that includes two cases dealing with abortion, a likely challenge to Act 10, and other cases that the liberal majority may want settled before next spring’s supreme court election.

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