Dane County Clerk of Courts

Dane County is seeking lawyers interested in contracting with Dane County to represent indigent parents of CHIPS children for the Parental Representation Project (PRP).  Those currently participating do not need to reapply. If interested, please submit a letter of interest, specifying qualifications and experience (including trial work) to:

Jeff Okazaki
Dane County Clerk of Courts
215 S. Hamilton Street, Room 1000
Madison WI 53703-3285

Or by email: Shelly.maas@wicourts.gov

Project Description:  The Parental Representation Project (PRP) is comprised of a pool of attorneys who provide legal counsel to indigent parents of children subject to CHIPS proceedings. It is recognized that the need to appoint counsel will differ from case to case.  Appointments are made in these cases after the court concludes "that either the efficient administration of justice warrants it or that due process considerations outweigh the presumption against such an appointment." Experience with youth and families, including persons of color and/or Spanish speaking, in a legal and related field is helpful.  Please note in your application such relevant experience.

For questions, please contact Shelly Maas at (608) 266-4288

Deadline to apply has been extended to April 12, 2024

Effective Wednesday, February 26th, 2020 weapon screeners will no longer hold on to prohibited items brought in the courthouse. Those entering the courthouse with a prohibited item will be asked to remove the item from the courthouse prior to conducting business inside the building.

An example of a prohibited item in the courthouse is any of the following:

Guns, knives, ammunition, facsimile weapons, explosives, Taser, martial arts weapons, baton, pepper spray, brass knuckles, needle-nose pliers, screw drivers, drill bits, wrenches, construction nails, box cutter, nail punch, chisel, putty knife, hammer, bike tools, sharp kitchen utensils, skateboard, bicycle, metal darts, scissors, drugs (other than your prescription), and alcohol.

This list is not all inclusive. Weapon screeners may use discretion to disallow any other item into the courthouse that is believed could be a safety and security issue.

• Documents requiring the signature of a court official must include a blank 3" top margin on page 1 and a blank 1/2" top margin on all subsequent pages. Court software will place the court official's electronic signature in the heftier margin on the first page, along with the filed stamp and a header containing the case number, document number, filed date, and pagination. The header will be applied to the top 1/2" of all pages of documents filed with the courts, whether or not a court official signature is necessary. More information can be found here.
• You are required to file copies of documents instead of originals. Keep all originals, as the court may ask to inspect them at a later time. This new policy prevents original documents from being shredded after scanning into our electronic record-keeping system.  Go here for more information.
• The eFiling system will permit filings received by 11:59 pm on a particular business day to be stamped as filed on that day.  The same will hold true for non-eFilers who submit filings via fax.  Remember that only filings that have no associated filing fee and are fifteen or fewer pages in length are permitted to be submitted by fax.
• To request to convert an existing case to an eFiled case, please fax your request to the attention of Jeff Okazaki at (608) 266-9286, or send via U.S. mail.  Cases may take several days to convert to an eFiled case depending on the location of the physical file, its age and the number of documents that will be required to scan into the case prior to conversion.
• When submitting a new eFiled case, if any party will need an interpreter, please make sure to check that an interpreter is needed and select the appropriate language in the party screen.

Dane County Law Library - Open to walk-in service for forms and copies 8:30-4:30 Monday-Friday

Click HERE to see what Legal Assistance Programs are available.

For More Information contact:

608-266-6316
Fax: 608-266-5988
dcll.ref@wicourts.gov