Neimon takes pride in helping hold court system together

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Michael Neimon sees the court system as the glue that holds society together.

Many of his colleagues no doubt think the court system itself would have a few more loose ends were it not for the work of the District 3 court administrator.

Broadly speaking, Neimon’s main responsibility is to provide administrative support to the chief judge for the Third District, Jennifer Dorow, as well as for circuit-court judges and staff within the district. In practice, the job has him doing everything from helping courts manage their caseloads to overseeing security and construction projects at courthouses.

Neimon may spend a lot of time working with circuit courts in the Third District, which encompasses Jefferson, Ozaukee, Washington and Waukesha counties. But he is technically an employee of the state Supreme Court.

As such, part of his time is spent making sure lower courts are following procedures and rules set by the high court. Neimon said he seldom if ever finds himself having to push someone to come into compliance.

“I mostly try to be a colleague and provide technical and professional expertise in areas that they might not have,” he said. “Luckily for me, I have the best clerks of court in the state of Wisconsin.

So they make my job a whole lot easier.”

In nominating Neimon for an Unsung Hero award, Waukesha County Judge Michael Bohren noted that Neimon sits on the state court’s Planning and Policy Advisory Committee’s court security subcommittee. Outside of work hours, Neimon helps organize conferences held every year in Wisconsin on court safety and security.

“The conference is better each year in part due to Mike’s hard work,” Bohren wrote in his nomination.

When not doing things related to his job outside work hours, Neimon is at no loss for ways to stay busy. The Wauwatosa native is the Scoutmaster for Boy Scout Troop 49 in Oconomowoc and is the father of two Eagle Scouts.

He serves as the president of the Meadows of Delafield Homeowners Association and prides himself on his conservation work with that group. He also coaches high school students at the Kettle Moraine Curling Club. And, last but not least, he has a black belt in karate and helps teach students at a local martial-arts academy.

Although Neimon said he doesn’t go out of his way to be publicly honored, he is happy to receive an Unsung Heroes award. He views it not so much as a recognition of his own particular accomplishments, but rather of the essential yet behind-the-scenes work that hundreds of people perform every day to keep the judicial system running smoothly.

“My colleagues and I, we work together to solve problems and simply do the work we are entrusted to do,” Neimon said. “So that’s what’s good for me about this — to have it acknowledged that that’s where all the solutions come from, when we work together as a team.”