Former Court of Appeals Judges

David G. Deininger

District IV (1996-2007); Presiding Judge (2003-2005)

Governor Tommy Thompson appointed Deininger to the Court of Appeals in 1996 and District IV voters returned him to the post in 1997 and 2003. He previously served as Green County Circuit Court Judge (1994-1996) and as a Representative to the State Assembly (1987-1994) for parts of Green and Rock Counties.

Deininger is a life-long resident of Monroe, his only absence from that community occurring between 1965 and 1975 while Deininger attended the U.S. Naval Academy and served on active duty as a nuclear submarine officer. After returning to Wisconsin in 1975, Deininger attended law school, first at the University of Chicago and then at Wisconsin, where he graduated magna cum laude in 1978. He then practiced with a four-person firm in Monroe and served four years as Green County Corporation Counsel, which was a part-time position at the time. After being elected to the Assembly in 1986, Deininger maintained a very limited practice in an “of counsel” capacity until he was elected to the circuit court bench in 1994.

Deininger has been very active in his community, having served on the Monroe School Board (1986-1989), as a director of the Community Foundation of Southern Wisconsin, and as president of the Monroe Optimists Club and the Green County Bar Association. At the time of his retirement, he was a board member and treasurer of Monroe Clinic, a nonprofit hospital and clinic under the sponsorship of the Congregation of the Sisters of St. Agnes, and was president of the church council of St. John’s UCC in Monroe. Deininger also plays trombone in the Monroe City Band and serves as the treasurer of his grandson’s Cub Scout pack.

Deininger and his wife, Mary, have two adult children and two grandchildren, one of whom, Emerson, resides with them. His retirement plans include parenting Emerson and pursuing the community activities described above; working part-time as a reserve judge, and perhaps as a mediator and arbitrator; working on his golf game and spending more time at the family cabin in Arbor Vitae.

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