Changing systems

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“It’s a big transition for me, going from being in the biggest court in the state, to the federal level” Jon W. Sanfilippo

After working in the Milwaukee County Circuit Court System for 12 years, Jon W. Sanfilippo was content.

Though he had applied to several court positions around the country, the Chief Deputy Clerk of Courts figured he would retire with the county.

Then, one day last year, Sanfilippo’s boss, Milwaukee County Clerk of Court John Barrett, asked him if he was going to apply for the Clerk of Court position for the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Wisconsin. Sofron B. Nedilsky was leaving the position after 25 years.

“I went home and told my wife about it and she said, ‘You have been applying to jobs all over the country and you’re not thinking about trying for one right here in Milwaukee?’” said Sanfilippo. “I figured I had better at least apply.”

The competition, which included everyone from U.S. Army colonels to a friend of college basketball coach Rick Majerus, was intense as was the screening process, but Sanfilippo got the call he had been hoping for from Chief Judge Rudolph T. Randa in January.

Flash forward to this May and Sanfilippo recently celebrated his 100th day in the federal courthouse on Wisconsin Avenue where he is thrilled to be part of the federal scene.

“It has renewed my zeal for the third branch of government,” said Sanfilippo, who began his court career as the Clerk of Court in Washington County from 1976-89.

Specifically, he is enjoying the structured atmosphere.

“It’s a big transition for me, going from being in the biggest court in the state, to the federal level,” said Sanfilippo. “The overall thing I’d say is that the federal court system is one where you have the necessary resources and tools to do a quality job in the service of justice, and that’s really what I found and appreciate here.”

County Crunch

It is no secret that the Milwaukee County Court System is strained and Sanfilippo dealt with that fact on a daily basis for a dozen years.

When he began in 1995, Sanfilippo was the Chief Deputy Clerk and helped oversee a staff of 300 and worked with a budget of $32 million. Two years later, he assumed the additional role of a Circuit Court Commissioner because of case volume.

“We got to the point where we didn’t have enough court commissioners, so the chief judge said, ‘Jon, go in and sit in court because we have a seven-day-a-week intake and it can’t not function, otherwise the jail backs up,’” said Sanfilippo, who estimated he’s heard close to 100 cases in a day as a commissioner.

While he tried to give each case its due attention, the pace made it near impossible. Sanfilippo called the county system a “triage” because the volume dictated how and when cases were handled.

“We had to pick and choose what were the priorities on a given day and try to work at getting them done,” said Sanfilippo, who admitted that his overall responsibilities have not changed much in federal court, just the ability to attend to them.

Jobs like providing juries for the judges, administrative work and financial budgeting is similar on both the state and federal levels, according to Sanfilippo.

“After being with my third court, the non-judicial side is the same,” said Sanfilippo. “But here I see our magistrate judges and district judges having the opportunity to put the time into a case and give it its full due, so a person can feel like they’ve had their day in court, not their minute in court.”

No Train, No Gain

Though still a student of his new position, Sanfilippo hopes to soon become a teacher.

“I guess I could sit back and enjoy the ride, but that’s not me,” said Sanfilippo who is a former grade school teacher and a judo instructor for the past 40 years.

He hopes to implement a progressive training program within the Eastern District to keep personnel and infrastructure constantly updated, again something that was difficult at the state level.

“Someone in the private sector might say, well why don’t you have training; of course you should, it improves the bottom line,” said Sanfilippo. “Where as in government, it’s more looked at as a luxury.”

With an average employment span of 15 years, and some as long as 38 years, Sanfilippo figured employees within the federal courthouse to be a sound investment.

“There is an opportunity to raise the level of everything we’re doing because my vision is to see a system where training is incorporated into the organization on an ongoing basis that will provide a higher level of work product or customer service,” said Sanfilippo. “If you do that individually, you raise the whole organization.”

The new federal clerk has already begun networking on a national level. He has attended several training sessions with other federal clerks and justices to establish open-ended communication on how the system can be improved.

Still, Sanfilippo has no regrets about remaining in Milwaukee and needs only to step into the federal courthouse to know he is home.

“When I walk into th
at building, it raises the level of everything I do and I’m excited to come to work each day,” said Sanfilippo.