Neubauer’s time as appellate chief judge ends with new term limit

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By Michaela Paukner

Court of Appeals Chief Judge Lisa Neubauer began her time in office as chief judge with the end in mind.

“My focus over the past six years has been to ensure that we’re serving the public with excellent and timely opinions,” Neubauer said. “Our job as a high-volume, error-correcting court is to not only address the views the parties before us present, but also to provide concise, clear guidance to the bench, the bar and the public.”

Neubauer was first appointed chief judge of the Court of Appeals in 2015 and reappointed in 2018. She’s been serving District II since 2007.

During her time as chief judge, she has advocated for additional support for court staff and undertaken initiatives to help the court work more efficiently through the approximately 15,000 motions it receives every year. One such endeavor helped bring electronic filing to the appellate level, a procedure which became mandatory on July 1.

Neubauer thinks one of the hardest parts of the job is the need to strike a balance between acting efficiently and ensuring that opinions are both timely and of a high quality. She expects her successor, District I Presiding Judge William Brash III — who will assume the role of chief judge on Aug. 1 — will face many of the same things.

The Wisconsin Supreme Court terminated Neubauer’s appointment in an order issued on June 28, explaining that she had served the maximum of six years of chief judge. The two-term limit is new for the role of appellate chief judge.

Neubauer said Chief Justice Annette Ziegler called her a few days before the court issued its order to give her advanced notice of the decision. In the time since Brash was selected as Neubauer’s successor, she’s been in communication with him to help with the transition.

“He and I have had an excellent relationship,” Neubauer said. “We’ve worked together many years, including recently in his role as presiding judge of District I. It is my goal to provide him with whatever help I can and make his transition as smooth and as effective as possible.”

Term limit for appellate chief judge added in June

The role of chief judge of the Court of Appeals dates to 1977, when Wis. Stat. 752.07 also stipulated that a single term for a holder of the position would last three years. Since then, six judges have served in the role (see right). All of them, with the exception of Neubauer, have served up until their retirement or retired shortly after the end of their final term as chief judge.

In Wisconsin, it’s internal operating procedures that govern term limits for appellate chief judges. These procedures may be suspended or modified by a majority vote of a quorum of the Wisconsin Supreme Court.

Section VI of the internal operating procedures forbids a chief judge of the Court of Appeals to serve more than two consecutive terms. At the same time, though, it allows the state Supreme Court to extend the chief judge’s service beyond the stipulated two-term limit in exceptional circumstances.

So, when did the term limit that was applied to Neubauer come into being? Its origins are not entirely clear, but it appears to have been added in the June 30 amendment to the internal operating procedures. An archived version of the document from April 24, 2021, does not include Section VI.

“The IOP term limit for the chief judge of the court of appeals brings symmetry to the judicial system,” Chief Justice Annette Ziegler said in a statement to the Wisconsin Law Journal on July 21.

“Namely, all chief judges in the state now may serve a maximum of six years.”

Concerns about timing, ‘lack of process’ from 3 justices

Justices Ann Walsh Bradley, Rebecca Dallet and Jill Karofsky had some questions about why the term limit was enforced starting with Neubauer. Bradley sent an email to all appellate judges on June 30 after the three complained that they had had no opportunity to attach a separate writing to the court’s June 28 order.

“But why has her term expired after serving only two terms, comprising six years of service?” the justices asked in the email. “Never before has this court limited the number of terms that can be served as Chief Judge of the Court of Appeals.”

The justices said they didn’t intend to “cast a pall over the beginning of Brash’s tenure” and that they believe the Court of Appeals is in good hands but they were concerned about the “timing and lack of process employed by a majority of this court.”

In response to the idea that the term limit was enforced to bring the court system closer to operating under a uniform set of rules, the justices noted that other discrepancies that have been allowed to persist. There, for instance, is no limit to how long a person can remain chief justice of the state Supreme Court.

Neubauer declined to speculate about why she was the first chief judge to be subjected to a term limit, saying she wasn’t privy to the discussions that no doubt led up to the decision.

The Law Journal submitted an open-records request for documents related to the decision. That request had not been answered as of press time.

Brash has ‘full support’ of appellate judges

The chief judge of the Court of Appeals wears many hats, Neubauer said. She supervises the chief staff attorney, the chief staff attorney’s legal advice to the courts and clerk of courts, all other staff attorneys and legal assistants. The chief judge also sets policy and appoints other judges to committees dealing with issues faced by the courts.

Neubauer said she believes chief judges benefit greatly from the continuity and experience that can come only from serving in the same role for years. At the same time, she said she is proud of all 16 appellate judges and their ability to work together to serve the public.

“We all understand that collegiality ensures we can provide those excellent, succinct, concise and timely decisions that provide clear guidance to the bench, the bar and the public,” Neubauer said.

“I have no doubt that Judge Brash will receive the full support of all the judges and staff on our court, including me.”

Neubauer will remain on the District II Court of Appeals for the rest of her term, which expires in 2026. She will then be up for re-election.