Clerk to help justices, appeals court take on e-filing across the state

By: Erika Strebel, [email protected]//June 29, 2018//

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Sheila Reiff had once planned to become an interpreter.

Because her father was a fighter pilot in the U.S Air Force, Reiff and her family found themselves living for one seven-year stretch in Europe. Three of those years were spent in Germany and four in Italy.

Reiff picked up various languages along the way. Her strongest, Italian, she learned largely while attending Catholic school in Italy as a little girl.

Life later led Reiff to public service. Many of the other military children she went to school ended up heeding the same call — a fact she learned at a class reunion.

“It’s hard to explain the military side to people who haven’t been exposed to it,” Reiff said. “We learned how to be diverse, we learned how to be respectful – and it was kind of a family.”

She has now spent more than 30 years working in the state’s court system, much of it in the Walworth County Clerk of Circuit Court’s office. She took the helm after being elected in 1995 and went on to be re-elected several times. Beyond being responsible for the court’s multi-million budget, she has worked as register in probate, registrar and probate commissioner for the county.

“I enjoy the challenges of working with all the different agencies, the people and the challenges coming with new technology,” she said.

The Wisconsin Supreme Court recently appointed Reiff the new Clerk of the Supreme Court and Court of Appeals. Her first task in her new job, which has a statewide role to play, will be to usher in electronic filing for both the high court and appeals court. That’s scheduled to happen once the state’s trial courts have themselves fully adopted electronic filing.

Reiff is no stranger to change of this sort. While in Walworth County, she worked to help get local courts ready for e-filing.

“We will be training with my staff and the appellate districts staff for smooth transition with new employees,” Reiff said. “This will help my office understand the other side of the process.”

This article has been edited to reflect that Sheila Reiff’s father was with the U.S. Air Force and that Walworth County has a multi-million dollar budget.

Getting to know Reiff

Wisconsin Law Journal: How has the transition into your new role gone so far?

Sheila Reiff: I have only been in the office for three months. It is going from having all the answers to asking all the questions. Everyone has been very helpful with the transition. I am learning about the position and working with my new staff.

WLJ: What’s a misconception about the work you do?

Reiff: The pro se, the people who don’t have attorneys … They’re not mad at us. They’re upset with what’s happening to them. Most of the time they just want someone to listen or guide them. It’s very difficult sometimes to understand what it is for people who don’t have attorneys to help them through the process.

WLJ: Who has had a significant impact on the way you approach your work and why?

Reiff: My work ethic comes from my maternal grandparents and both parents. They all helped prepare me for this position.

My grandparents, who were the oldest children in their families, had to quit school to work. What they accomplished in their lives was exceptional. My grandfather was on the water commission for the state of California, built a cotton gin, taught himself the stock market and had the University of California come to study how he turned an alkali piece of property into one of the best fields for raising cotton in the state.

My grandmother was my hero. She was also well-read and was way ahead of her time. …

My father was a fighter pilot for 26 years. … He was at Wheeler Field when the bombs hit Pearl Harbor, and then they hit his field on the way out. So he became a pilot after that … He met my mom in California, then was in the European Theater for World War II.

… My mother believed that when you are in another country, you learn their language and their customs.

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