Dec. 4, 2024 – This article is for those who could use a primer or refresher on resources for civil litigation and procedure or for any civil litigator who is new to Wisconsin practice. Plus, there are some specific tools described that may enhance your core research.
Primary Law
First, the basics.
Several Wisconsin statutes are naturally essential to civil litigation. Civil procedure, of particular topical interest to litigators, is the subject matter heading of Wis. Stat. chapters 801-847.
Other key chapters include:
Wis. Stat. chapter 600 – Insurance
Wis. Stat. chapter 800 – Municipal Court Procedure
Wis. Stat. chapter 799 – Small Claims
Wis. Stat. chapters 775-788 – Actions and Proceedings in Special Cases
Wis. Stat. chapters 885-895 – Provisions Common to Actions and Proceedings in All Courts; chapter 893 is specifically on statutes of limitation
Wis. Stat. chapters 901-911 – Evidence
Wis. Stat. chapter 985 – Publication of legal notices
Books and Treatises
There are a number of treatises that cover relevant and noteworthy topics involved in Wisconsin civil litigation.
The State Bar of Wisconsin
PINNACLE® library of books includes
these volumes relevant to civil litigation:
For those seeking digital volumes, PINNACLE offers the
Books Unbound™ civil litigation library.
West's Wisconsin Practice Series has chapters on civil discovery, procedure, rules, and evidence, and includes the
Trial Handbook for Wisconsin Lawyers, Third Edition. Another resource of value is the
Restatements of the Law – Torts which, along with numerous other secondary sources and reference tools, can be accessed from both Westlaw and Lexis.
Wisconsin Court Sites
Well-known assets of the Wisconsin Court System’s website are the
Circuit Court Automation Program (CCAP) for court dockets and also
legal opinions. Additionally, there is guidance on
eFiling and
pro hac vice admissions;
directories for judges, court reporters and other staff; and information on
specialty courts and the Trust Account Program.
Diane Duffey is an information resource specialist at Reinhart Boerner Van Deuren sc in Milwaukee. She is a current member and past president of the Law Librarians Association of Wisconsin.
Several
court publications are available under headings such as guides, reports, and more. There is the
Wisconsin Guide to Small Claims Court; reports include
Citing to Unpublished Opinions and
Jury Reform in Wisconsin.
Each court level compiles and provides
monthly and annual statistical reports. The
circuit court caseload statistics dashboard is a portal to a breadth of statistics for the previous two years, which can be filtered by county, case type and category, and display things like clearance rate and disposition. As examples, Dane County took in 8,869 civil/small claims cases in 2022; 24 of these went to a jury trial, and in 2023, Milwaukee County took in 16 cases which were part of the Commercial Court Pilot Program (which has now been discontinued).
Another portal leads to
livestream hearings for any of the circuit courts as well as arguments for Courts of Appeals and the Supreme Court. “Third Branch eNews,” a monthly newsletter on the Wisconsin judiciary, can be useful for finding profile and other information about judges in Wisconsin.
The
Office of Lawyer Regulation’s page provides resources on license information, rules of professional conduct, and access to the
Attorney’s Professional Discipline Compendium - a searchable database of private and public reprimands.
U.S. District Courts for the
Eastern and
Western Districts of Wisconsin also host useful materials such as forms, judicial data, and information on eFiling and local rules.
Other Governmental Resources
The
Wisconsin State Legislature site connects users to Wisconsin statutes and the administrative code, and hosts a law archive of older statutes, acts, regulations, and
legislative drafting files going back to 1999. If you need to dig into the history of an administrative rule, clearinghouse rules and cross-reference lists are available.
The site of the
Wisconsin Department of Financial Institutions provides records for entities registered to do business in Wisconsin and lists their registered agents. In addition, from the “Securities” tab you can find franchise registrations and documents. Information on state banks and loan companies can be accessed at the “Financial Institutions” tab. You can also search for Uniform Commercial Code filings and notary publics.
To assist with publication of services or similar notices, the Wisconsin Department of Administration makes available in a PDF a
list of newspapers certified to publish legal notices, along with detailed rate information.
The
Legislative Reference Bureau and the
Legislative Council offer informative publications covering a range of topics of interest to litigators.
Wisconsin Digital Archives is also useful in this capacity and has older versions of the jury instructions and other documents.
Other state government sites worth investigating include but are not limited to the
Labor & Industry Review Commission (look up decisions) and the Department of Safety and Professional Services (look up license information on individuals).
The Wisconsin State Law Library (WSLL) offers a fantastic guide to legal resources in general. Their
Wisconsin law page lists links for state ordinances, codes, and tribal law.
Jury instructions have been provided for a few years now on this site, and include both Microsoft Word and PDF versions with comments. With a
WSLL library card, certain resources can be accessed remotely like Lexis Digital Library, which makes available eBooks like
Employment in Wisconsin: Guide to Employment Law, and HeinOnline, which provides access to law reviews and more.
Wisconsin’s law schools also provide useful guides.
Miscellaneous Websites
The National Association of Insurance Commissioners website has a
Lookup Search for insurance companies in Wisconsin and other states, providing users with corporate and registered agent information.
Wisconsin Eye streams state court and legislative hearings.
WisPolitics covers news of Wisconsin government.
The League of Wisconsin Municipalities offers free access to its articles, which can be useful for many zoning and other municipal questions.
The site of the
National Association of Process Servers features a directory to assist in locating a process server in Wisconsin and around the country.
Wisconsin’s Online Library,
Badgerlink, along with local library resources, can be explored remotely with a library card or at the library for helpful news and business tools.
Milwaukee Public Library has PropertyLink - a database for Wisconsin real estate data, and even Fastcase; while
Madison Public Library has Profiles of Wisconsin – demographical data on all of the state’s municipalities and counties.
Subscription-based resources like BloombergLaw, Westlaw, and Lexis have access to analytics reports on judges, lawyers or law firms.
Wisconsin Law Journal, with a subscription, provides information on jury verdicts and settlements in the state.
The State Bar of Wisconsin’s wisbar.org hosts
ethics opinions and a
portal to local court rules for Wisconsin counties. Several articles in the State Bar’s
Wisconsin Lawyer and
InsideTrack serve as resourceful topical guides or offer useful advice. The following are just a few:
We’re Here to Help
If you are feeling overwhelmed by the resources above or are unsure where to start, contact a librarian! We are trained to assist patrons with finding and using the best resources for them and their unique legal research topics. Reach out and ask your local law librarian for help with your research, or at these libraries:
