Diane Fremgen’s career with the courts began in 1990 in the Winnebago County Clerk of Circuit Courts Office, where she calculated child support arrears. Since then, she has served as Winnebago County Clerk of Circuit Court (1997-2012), Clerk of the Supreme Court and Court of Appeals (2012-2017), and in her current role as Deputy Director for Court Operations since 2018.
During her tenure as deputy director, Fremgen played a pivotal role in guiding statewide court operations through the pandemic and into recovery, among a number of other significant accomplishments.
On Feb. 21, the Wisconsin Supreme Court issued an order and revised interim rule for a phased transition to mandatory eFiling (electronic filing) in Supreme Court cases over the next four months. The transition period will begin April 1, 2023 with the expansion of a voluntary eFiling pilot program, and end June 30, with mandatory eFiling effective July 1.
The transition to mandatory eFiling in the Supreme Court will complete mandatory eFiling at each level of the Wisconsin courts. With very few limited exceptions, eFiling has been required in the circuit courts since 2017 and in the Court of Appeals since July 1, 2021.
Retired District II Court of Appeals Judge Harry G. “Spike” Snyder passed away on February 23. He was 85. Snyder was first appointed to the District II Court to Appeals in 1991 by then-Gov. Tommy Thompson, and served until his retirement in 2010. He had previously served on the Waukesha County Circuit Court from 1980 until his appointment to the Court of Appeals.
A number of justices, judges and state court staff are among panelists and presenters at the State Bar of Wisconsin’s 2023 Annual Meeting and Conference (AMC) at the Pfister Hotel in Milwaukee, June 15-16.
The conference features more than 20 educational programs eligible for judicial continuing education credits. Among a few of the topics addressed in this year’s sessions: civility and safety, appellate advocacy, making the record, ethics, and mediation. Breakout sessions on several practice areas will be offered, including business law, real property, family law and criminal law.
During 2022, the Wisconsin State Law Library marked its return to the first full year of in-person library operations since 2019. “This was an important milestone in the return to ‘normal,’” wrote State Law Librarian Amy Witt Crowder in the library’s 2022 Annual Report released this month.
Among other information, the report includes a budget breakdown, the numbers and types of materials used by library patrons and a graphical representation of the most frequent requests for information relating to self-represented litigants and family law.
Clerks of Court Institute
Circuit Court Legal Advisor Amber Peterson of the Office of Court Operations presents at the 2023 Clerks of Court Institute held Feb. 16-17 in Wisconsin Dells. Clerks of circuit court from across the state attended the conference, which featured presentations by Court Operations and CCAP staff, among others. A full-day orientation program was also held for new clerks of circuit court.
