Original Blog post by Grant Griffiths, Badger Volunteer Spring 2023. Updated edition by: Lina Raouf, Fall 2023.
Legal Resources in Dane County
Dane County has plenty of resources to help people in need of legal advice or representation. In this post we will cover some important legal assistance programs that different resources offer. Hope this post will help!
Legal Action of Wisconsin
Wisconsin’s largest nonprofit law firm providing free legal assistance for low income Wisconsin residents. Offer personalized legal assistance Services include legal assistance in areas of Consumer Law, Family Law, Victims’ Rights, Public Benefits Law, Low Income Tax Clinic and more.
- Phone: (855) 947-2529
- Hours: Weekdays 9am- 5pm
- Address: 744 Williamson Street, Suite 200, Madison, WI 53703.
LIFT Wisconsin
Provides technology driven legal assistance to clear civil legal barriers to economic prosperity for Wisconsin families. Deals with legal problems like suspended driver’s licenses, medical debt, child support arrears, and criminal records. Offers a Legal Tune Up to connect individuals to tech-driven time-saving forms and tools, to solve their legal problems on their own or seamlessly connect them to free education and legal help if additional help is needed. Website also includes a number of other available resources.
- Phone: (855) 947-2529
- Address: PO Box 259824, Madison, WI 53725
Dane County Courthouse clinics
In partnership with the Dane County Bar Association and the UW Law School, the Dane County Circuit Court offers several legal public assistance programs. This includes the Family Law Assistance Center, Family Court Clinic, Small Claims Assistance Program, Restraining Order Clinic.
Low cost legal assistance for a variety of needs in Dane County — An extensive guide of resources listed with descriptions and contact information. Definitely worth looking through if the other resources on this guide are not what you are looking for.
Wisconsin State Bar Association
A professional organization that serves the legal needs of Wisconsin. Two of its many services involve educating the public about the legal system and providing reduced-fee legal assistance for low-income state residents. Their Lawyer Referral & Information Service resource refers you to an attorney or other individuals that might be able to help you with your legal problem. You can also talk to one of their legal assistants for free, and they can help forward you to someone that is best fit for your needs. This online service has a $30 fee.
Phone: 1-800-362-9082
Online Request: https://sbw.intouchondemand.com/findlawyer/index
How to find and contact your public defender
All criminal defendants — people accused of committing a crime — have the right to an attorney (i.e. lawyer), and if the defendant cannot afford a lawyer, the government is required to appoint one or pay the defendant’s legal expenses. This will generally be a public defender, a lawyer employed by the state to provide representation for these circumstances. Each county in Wisconsin has a State Public Defenders (SPD) office.
If you have already been assigned a public defender for your court case but forgot their name or info, you can find the contact information for your public defender online. There are several ways to do this:
- Wisconsin Circuit Court Access (formerly called “C-CAP”) – Look up the case information on WCCA. You’ll need to enter either the defendant’s first and last name, or last name and date of birth or the case number. Your public defender will be listed on the documents.
- County Clerk of Courts – You can also contact the court clerk’s office for the county where the case will be heard for info about your public defender. Click here for info on contacting the Dane County Clerk of Courts.
- SPD Office – Contact the public defenders’ office in the county where the case is being heard. There is also a SPD directory available online through the Office of the Wisconsin State Public Defender website.
