Overview

judges' benchThe Court of Appeals is the state's intermediate appellate court. The court is composed of 16 judges from four districts headquartered in Milwaukee, Waukesha, Wausau, and Madison.

The Wisconsin Supreme Court appoints the chief judge of the Court of Appeals. The chief judge handles administrative matters for the entire Court of Appeals while continuing to participate fully in deciding cases. The chief judge term lasts three years.

Each of the four districts of the Court of Appeals is managed by a presiding judge, appointed by the chief judge of the Court of Appeals. The presiding judges take on these additional duties for two-year terms.

Helpful links

District information

District court Counties Location/contact
District I
Milwaukee 330 East Kilbourn Avenue, Suite 1020
Milwaukee, WI 53202-3161
Ph: (414) 227-4680
Fax: (414) 227-4051
District II
Calumet, Fond du Lac, Green Lake, Kenosha, Manitowoc, Ozaukee, Racine, Sheboygan, Walworth, Washington, Waukesha, and Winnebago 2727 N. Grandview Blvd., Suite 300
Waukesha, WI 53188-1672
Ph: (262) 521-5230
Fax: (262) 521-5419
District III
Ashland, Barron, Bayfield, Brown, Buffalo, Burnett, Chippewa, Door, Douglas, Dunn, Eau Claire, Florence, Forest, Iron, Kewaunee, Langlade, Lincoln, Marathon, Marinette, Menominee, Oconto, Oneida, Outagamie, Pepin, Pierce, Polk, Price, Rusk, Sawyer, Shawano, St. Croix, Taylor, Trempealeau, Vilas, and Washburn 2100 Stewart Avenue, Suite 310
Wausau, WI 54401
Ph: (715) 848-1421
Fax: (715) 845-4523
District IV
Adams, Clark, Columbia, Crawford, Dane, Dodge, Grant, Green, Iowa, Jackson, Jefferson, Juneau, La Crosse, Lafayette, Marquette, Monroe, Portage, Richland, Rock, Sauk, Vernon, Waupaca, Waushara, and Wood 2921 Landmark Place, Suite 415
Madison, WI 53713
Ph: (608) 266-9250
Fax: (608) 273-5705

History of the seal

Court of Appeals sealThe seal for the Wisconsin Court of Appeals, approved by the Supreme Court in 2000, is based on a design originally commissioned in 1958 by the State Bar of Wisconsin. This "Lady Justice" was the model for a large wrought-iron sculpture for the entry wall of the Bar's then-new headquarters in Madison. The figure eventually became the association's official logo, appearing on State Bar stationery and publications for many years. The sculpture, which was removed when the Bar Center was remodeled in the 1990s, was then mounted above the Carroll Street entrance of the former Dane County Courthouse on Martin Luther King Jr. Blvd. In 2006, it was moved to the new courthouse and is mounted upon the South Hamilton Street façade.

The seal's creator, James S. Watrous, was an artist and professor of art and art history at the University of Wisconsin from 1935 to 1978. Watrous is perhaps best known for the colorful Paul Bunyan murals he completed in the Memorial Union in 1936. He is also remembered as the person who nearly single-handedly brought the University of Wisconsin's Elvehjem Museum of Art into being.

Watrous, who died in 1999 at age 90, was also a respected author, mosaicist, and watercolorist whose works have been exhibited at the Walker Art Center in Minneapolis, the Carnegie Institute, and the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts. His murals, painted under the aegis of the Works Progress Administration in the 1930s and early 1940s, grace the lobbies of federal buildings in Grand Rapids, Minnesota, and Park Falls, Wisconsin.

Watrous's widow, Margaret Modie Watrous, his daughter, Lynne Watrous Eich (wife of Court of Appeals former Chief Judge William Eich), and his sons, Stephen and Tom, granted the court permission to use the design for its new seal.