Wisconsin judges to receive raises in January.

Byline: Michaela Paukner, mpaukner@wislawjournal.com

State Supreme Court Chief Justice Pat Roggensack used her State of the Judiciary Address on Wednesday in part to talk about the pay increases judges can expect to receive in January 2020 and January 2021.

Speaking at the annual Wisconsin Judicial Conference, held in Elkhart Lake on Wednesday, Roggensack said the increases will also raise the per diem reserve for judges who serve as substitutes for sitting justices.

"A meaningful raise in judicial salaries was long overdue," Roggensack said. "After many, many meetings, we fared well with the legislature and Gov. Evers in regard to increasing judicial salaries."

Ongoing judiciary successes

Roggensack also said she's beentryingsince she took office to improve the court's relationship with Wisconsin's legislative and executive branches. As examples of these endeavors, she citedher work with the State Public Defender's Office to increase statutory pay rates for contract public defenders, adding 65 new public defender positions andincreasing the state Supreme Court's budget for county courts to$3.6 million

Roggensackalso spoke aboutseveral ongoing projects. She said eFiling is in the process of moving into the Court of Appeals. She said that although the system has encountered some obstacles, she believes it will ultimately prove as successful as CCAP at the circuit court level.

"I believe that when appellate judges try working with electronic filings, over a period of time, they will find electronically filed briefs and records very beneficial," said Roggensack. "I have given up working with paper records."

Pilot projects

The Commercial Docket Pilot Project is meanwhile ongoing in Waukesha County and the 8th Judicial Administrative District. The project allows judges to promptly intervene and resolve business cases. Roggensack said many cases inWisconsin's...