Schimel taps assistant prosecutor to lead criminal appeals

Attorney General Brad Schimel has chosen a new leader for the state Department of Justice’s criminal-appeals unit.

Schimel announced Thursday that he had chosen Assistant Attorney General Clayton Kawski to fill the spot. Kawski started working for the DOJ in 2010.

He led the DOJ’s special-litigation and appeals unit but left in 2016 when Gov. Scott Walker appointed him to fill Dane County Circuit Court Judge David Flanagan’s position on Branch 12, which handles criminal cases.

Kawski, who graduated in 2007 from Northern Illinois University School of Law in DeKalb, has also worked for Michael Best & Friedrich’s Madison office and spent time clerking for Wisconsin Supreme Court Justice David Prosser.