ABOUT JANE BUCHER

Judge Jane Bucher has devoted her career to public service, equal justice, improving our courts, and working as part of the criminal justice system to protect children and families. She serves all the people of Green County as a Judge on the Circuit Court.

After Judge Thomas Vale’s retirement in January 2024, Judge Bucher was appointed to the bench. She will be on the non-partisan ballot on April 1, 2025.

Judge Bucher served for a decade as an Assistant Wisconsin State Public Defender (2011-2021). In that role, she represented children, juveniles, and adults who could not otherwise afford an attorney in both criminal and civil cases including termination of parental rights, mental health commitments, and protective placement cases.

Immediately prior to taking the bench, Judge Bucher was a partner at Russell Law Offices, in the Brodhead branch, representing clients in criminal and civil cases in courthouses in Green, Lafayette, Rock, Iowa, and Grant counties.

Judge Bucher is a graduate of the University of Wisconsin law school (2010). Her diverse legal training included internships at the Restorative Justice/Family Law Project in Madison; in the Oneida County District Attorney’s Office; and as an intern for the late Justice David Prosser the Wisconsin Supreme Court.

During her tenure as a Public Defender, Judge Bucher helped lead the creation and funding of Green County’s first treatment court (2017).  Treatment Courts hold offenders accountable, provide access to treatment that can help individuals turn their lives around, and save taxpayer dollars. She was also active in improving how the courts treat children in the system, serving on the Child Abuse and Neglect Prevention Board Chapter 48 Subcommittee and on the Youth Justice Statewide Assessment Implementation Policy and Document Development Subcommittee. Judge Bucher is a graduate (2019) of the Juvenile Training Immersion Program Summer Academy at Georgetown Law in Washington D.C.

Respected in the legal profession, Judge Bucher was appointed by the Wisconsin Supreme Court to the Office of Lawyer Regulation (2015-2023) and was elected to the Board of the Wisconsin’s professional organization for attorneys, the State Bar Association (2018-2021). In 2015, Judge Bucher served as the President of the Green County Bar Association. She served as President-elect of the Wisconsin State Bar from June 2023-April 2024.

Active in the broader community as well, Judge Bucher was a founding member of the Green County MultiCultural Outreach Program (2018-2022) which brings people together to build bridges between community members from diverse backgrounds. She also volunteered for Green County Big Brothers Big Sisters (2018-2021) and served on the board of Family Promise of Green County (2021-2023). Judge Bucher was a Peace Corps Volunteer in Senegal in West Africa (2006-2008).

She lives in Monroe with her husband, Ruedi, a cheesemaker born in Switzerland, and sons, Quinn and Xavier.