Waukesha judge announces bid for Neubauer’s seat

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A Waukesha County circuit court judge has announced that he will be challenging Court of Appeals Judge Lisa Neubauer for her seat in 2020.

Judge Paul Bugenhagen made the announcement Wednesday, on the heels of Neubauer’s loss to Court of Appeal Judge Brian Hagedorn for Justice Shirley Abrahamson’s seat. Neubauer conceded April 10, eight days after the election. Hagedorn won by nearly 6,000 votes.

Bugenhagen was elected to the Waukesha County bench in 2015. He presides over the Waukesha County’s family and probate court divisions and was made head of the family court division in 2018. Before his time on the bench, Bugenhagen practiced general litigation with a firm and Menomonee Falls and Waukesha.

Bugenhagen earned his degree from the Western Michigan University Cooley School of Law in 2005, the same year he was admitted to practice law in Wisconsin.

Neubauer, who earned her law degree from the University of Chicago Law School in 1979, has served on the Court of Appeals bench since 2007 and was appointed by then-Gov. Jim Doyle. Before her appointment to the bench, Neubauer was a partner and litigation attorney at Foley & Lardner and a law clerk for U.S. District Court Judge Barbara Crabb. Follow @erikastrebel