Section 978.06 – Restriction on district attorney

May 14, 2021 | Criminal Procedure, Wisconsin

(1) No district attorney, deputy district attorney or assistant district attorney may receive any fee or reward from or on behalf of any prosecutor or any other individual for services in any prosecution or business to which it is the district attorney’s official duty to attend.
(2) No district attorney, deputy district attorney or assistant district attorney may be concerned as attorney or counsel for either party, other than for the state or county, in any civil action depending upon the same state of facts upon which any criminal prosecution commenced but undetermined depends.
(3)

(a) No district attorney, deputy district attorney or assistant district attorney while in office may hold any judicial office. No full-time district attorney, deputy district attorney or assistant district attorney may hold the office of or act as corporation counsel or city, village or town attorney. A part-time district attorney, deputy district attorney or assistant district attorney may hold the office of or act as corporation counsel or city, village or town attorney or otherwise serve as legal counsel to any governmental unit.
(b) Notwithstanding par. (a), if a district attorney, deputy district attorney or assistant district attorney holds a judicial office on January 1, 1990, he or she may continue to hold that office until January 1, 1993.
(4) No person who acted as district attorney, deputy district attorney or assistant district attorney, or special prosecutor under s. 978.045, for a county at the time of an arrest, examination or indictment of any person charged with a crime in that county may thereafter appear for, or defend that person against the crime charged in the complaint, information or indictment.
(5)

(a) No full-time district attorney, deputy district attorney or assistant district attorney may engage in a private practice of law, but he or she is authorized to complete all civil cases, not in conflict with the interest of the county or counties of his or her prosecutorial unit, in which he or she is counsel, pending in court before he or she takes office. A part-time district attorney, deputy district attorney or assistant district attorney may engage in a private practice of law.
(b) Notwithstanding par. (a), if a full-time district attorney, deputy district attorney or assistant district attorney has a contractual obligation on January 1, 1990, to provide legal services, he or she may continue to provide those services until January 1, 1993. The services provided may not be in conflict with the interest of the county or counties of his or her prosecutorial unit.
(6) No district attorney, deputy district attorney or assistant district attorney may appear in a civil action or proceeding under s. 49.22(7), 59.53(5), 767.205(2), 767.501 or 767.80 or ch. 769.

Wis. Stat. ยง 978.06

1989 a. 31, 117; 1991 a. 39; 1993 a. 326; 1995 a. 201, 404; 1997 a. 35; 2005 a. 443 s. 265.