Milwaukee County Circuit Court Filing Rules

A felony-division-prescribed Pretrial Scheduling Order must be completed and filed in every case scheduled for trial, whether jury or court trial.

Bail motions must be served and filed in writing at least 48 hours before the scheduled hearing unless the parties agree to shorten the notice period.

A summary judgment motion must be filed at least 45 days before the hearing date.

References to published Wisconsin appellate-court decisions must include the Callaghan reporter citation, Wis. 2d.

Applications for waiver of costs and fees generally must be made in the Chief Judge’s office, except for harassment or domestic abuse restraining-order or injunction cases.

Other petitions, motions, and requests may be filed electronically or, for a non-legal party or pro se litigant that opts out of electronic filing, filed in the assigned branch.

Support and opposition briefs for the covered motions may not exceed 10 pages, while briefs for class-certification motions may not exceed 25 pages; the court may disregard overlong briefs and may modify the limits for good cause.

Litigants may not select their own adjourned dates before appearing in court.

A motion to seal seeks removal of a tenant's name from Wisconsin public court records.

For emergency requests, parties must contact the duty judge first, then the Presiding Judge of the Children's Division, and then the other Children's Division judges in reverse Duty Judge schedule order beginning with the most recently assigned judge.

Before filing a motion to compel discovery or a motion seeking permission to serve excess interrogatories, the party must confer in person or by telephone and make a sincere attempt to resolve the issue; the motion must state the conference date and place and identify all participants.