Sept. 17, 2014 – “CA,” “CSA,” “FS” – At first glance you might see them as shorthand for “California,” “Community-Supported Agriculture,” and “For Sale.” But find them in the Wisconsin Judicial Benchbook series, and they take on entirely different meanings. Read on to find out what these abbreviations mean, why the books don’t just spell them out in full, and how to use the books – on and off the bench.
Crack the Code with a Simple List of Abbreviations
Open any page in the Wisconsin Judicial Benchbook series, and you’ll come across one or more of dozens of acronyms. Some are obvious – e.g., “AG,” “DA,” and “GAL” – but others make sense only after a glance at the “User’s Guide and Abbreviations” pages at the front of each benchbook volume. Check out the User’s Guide and Abbreviations for the Criminal Benchbook, for example, and you’ll learn that “CA,” “CSA,” and “FS” stand for “Court of Appeals,” “Child Support Agency,” and “Federal Supplement.”
Find the Information You Need at a Glance
Why the shorthand? Because it lets the benchbooks provide quick and efficient access to information for judges on the bench, and for attorneys in the courtroom. The print books are in a condensed, easy-to-follow format – with citations in one column of the print book and the outlined discussion in a second column, while the online Books UnBound version presents the citations directly above the pertinent outline sections. Say you’re working on a criminal case and you’re wondering about the change-in-venue process. You’ll find the process concisely explained on two pages of the Criminal Benchbook’s chapter on jurisdiction and venue, along with citations to relevant statutes, Wisconsin and U.S. Supreme Court cases, and even a standard court form on change of venue (another abbreviation – “RMC Form GF-120” – the Wisconsin Records Management Committee Form GF-120); these citations are all hyperlinked in Books UnBound to the underlying primary sources in the Fastcase database.
Know What the Judges Know
These benchbooks were originally produced by the Wisconsin Office of Judicial Education to fulfill a long-recognized need for a practical courtroom reference for Wisconsin’s judges, especially new judges and those periodically rotated to new assignment areas. But in 1983 they became available to the legal community at large. In that year, the Office of Judicial Education began an ongoing collaboration with the State Bar of Wisconsin to maintain and update the series, now consisting of five volumes:
It’s the one legal resource all Wisconsin circuit court judges have in their libraries, and the one that you should have in yours.
Order today!
All five titles in the Wisconsin Judicial Benchbook series are available in print at a cost of $129 per volume or $499 for the entire set, plus tax, shipping, and handling. Subscribers to the State Bar’s automatic supplementation service will receive future updates at 10 percent off the update price. Annual subscriptions to Books UnBound® start at $149 per title, $349 for the entire set of benchbooks online (single-user prices; call for firm pricing). Subscribers to the full Books UnBound library will receive updates automatically. Order online, or for more information, call the State Bar at (800) 728-7788 or (608) 257-3838.
