Clerk of Circuit Court

Clerk of Circuit Court John Barrett

Clerk of Circuit Court / Register in Probate / Director of Court Services

The Clerk of Circuit Court provides services in four separate buildings in Milwaukee County including the Milwaukee County Courthouse, the Vel R. Phillips Youth and Family Justice Center located in Wauwatosa, the Safety Building and the Criminal Justice Facility. To handle the day-to-day responsibilities, the Clerk of Circuit Court has a workforce of nearly 300 employees and an annual operating budget of $42 million. The office processes over 150,000 case files per year.

The mission of Combined Court Related Operations is to ensure public safety by providing judges, attorneys, persons proceeding without an attorney, and all other persons involved in Circuit Court proceedings or other functions of the Circuit Court with courteous, proficient and professional services that facilitate the operations of the Circuit Court System.

John Barrett is the elected Clerk of Circuit Court/Director of Court Services/Register in Probate for Milwaukee County, Wisconsin, first elected to the position in 1998. In that capacity he provides all administrative, clerical and record keeping functions for 47 judges and 22 court commissioners within the First Judicial District of Wisconsin.

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No jurors needed until June 15, 2020. In-person public office hours limited to 12 - 2 p.m. per Clerk of Circuit Court due to Covid-19 precautions.

On March 22, 2020, the Supreme Court of Wisconsin issued an order suspending all jury trials and most in-person court proceedings until May 22, 2020, due to the COVID-19 emergency in Wisconsin and throughout the country. This means all jurors summoned for jury duty will not have to serve during this time period. They will have been considered to have satisfied their jury duty requirement for four years, according to Clerk of Circuit Court John Barrett. Further, the office of the Clerk of Circuit Court is reducing office hours to 12 - 2 p.m. daily to accept in-person filings effective Tuesday, March 24, 2020. These hours will continue until May 22, 2020, unless ordered otherwise by the Supreme Court or Chief Judge Mary E. Triggiano. All in-person contacts with the office will be conducted in Room 104 of the Courthouse or Room 1530 of the Vel Phillips Juvenile and Family Justice Center on Watertown Plank Road. The criminal division office in the Safety Building will be closed to the public during this time and individuals will need to go to Room 104 of the Courthouse to conduct business with the Criminal Division. The electronic filing system remains fully functional 24 hours-per-day.