News

Chief Justice Patience Drake Roggensack announced today that the Wisconsin Supreme Court has named Chief Judge Randy R. Koschnick, Jefferson County Circuit Court, as director of state courts, effective Aug. 1, 2017.

Koschnick will fill the post now held on an interim basis by J. Denis Moran, who previously served as director from 1978 until his retirement in 2003.

“We are pleased that Judge Koschnick accepted this position. His experience on the bench and as chief judge of a judicial administrative district will be a valuable asset to the Supreme Court and the entire court system,” Roggensack said.

Koschnick has served as chief judge of the Third Judicial Administrative District since 2012 and previously served as the district’s deputy chief judge. The Third Judicial Administrative District encompasses Jefferson, Ozaukee, Washington, and Waukesha Counties.

Koschnick was elected to the Jefferson County bench in 1999 and re-elected in 2005 and 2011. Before that, he served as an assistant State Public Defender from 1985 to 1999. Koschnick is a graduate of UW-Stevens Point and Hamline University School of Law.

The director of state courts is the top non-judicial officer of the court system and serves at the pleasure of the Supreme Court under the direction of the chief justice. Working with department heads, advisory committees, and chief judges of the state’s 10 judicial administrative districts, the director has responsibility for personnel, budgeting, and information technology, among other duties, and provides advice to the Supreme Court on a wide range of matters affecting the judiciary.

Moran began serving as interim director on June 4, 2015 and continues in that role. He is one of only two people to have held the post since it was created in 1978. Former Director of State Courts A. John Voelker left the court system in July 2014 to become deputy secretary of the Wisconsin Department of Employee Trust Funds.

Contact:
Tom Sheehan
Court Information Officer
(608) 261-6640