​Judge Ellen K. Berz was elected to the Dane County Circuit Court in 2012 and reelected in 2018. She is a Wisconsin native and earned her undergraduate degree from the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee (1979) as well as her J.D. from the University of Wisconsin-Madison (1983). She also completed the John F. Kennedy School’s Program for Senior Executives in State and Local Government at Harvard University (1999). After law school, Judge Berz began her legal career as an assistant district attorney for the Eau Claire County District Attorney’s Office where she served until 1985. She then joined the Wisconsin State Public Defender’s Office in Baraboo where she remained until being elected in 2012. Judge Berz served as a criminal justice representative to Janet Reno, former United State Attorney General, and also taught at the University of Wisconsin Law School.