Aug. 19, 2026 – Four recently updated State Bar of Wisconsin PINNACLE® books provide new guidance on legislation, appellate decisions, courtroom procedures, and other developments affecting Wisconsin practitioners.

Newly Supplemented: Wisconsin Judicial Benchbook Vol. V: Probate, Guardianship, and Mental Health

Written from the perspective of judges and court commissioners who have extensive experience in probate court as well as guardianship and protective placement/services and mental health commitment cases, this Benchbook provides the essential rules, citations, and commentary in an easy-to-use format.

The 2026-27 supplement includes these updates:

• added information about recent legislation, including the creation of an alternative procedure to guardianship and protective placement – allowing patients’ representatives to consent to incapacitated individuals’ admission to certain health-care facilities; and

• discussions of recent case law concerning protective placement and involuntary commitment procedures (including administration of medication).

Wisconsin Judicial Benchbook Vol. V: Probate, Guardianship, and Mental Health is available both in print and via Books UnBound.

Newly Revised: Wisconsin Criminal Defense Manual (forms included)

The Manual is designed to give you:

• extensive overviews of the law;

• checklists for completing vital procedures accurately and completely;

• commentary and instructions for filing necessary forms; and

• a chapter on handling public defender cases.

Both the print and Books UnBound versions include a complete set of fillable, unannotated forms via download.

The 2026-27 revision includes numerous changes, including:

• In 2025, the Wisconsin Supreme Court issued a decision concerning the defense of coercion; Wisconsin’s jury instruction for this defense (Wis. JI – Criminal 790) was revised to incorporate the court’s holding.

• In a 2026 decision, the Wisconsin Court of Appeals considered the constitutionality of the Wis. Stat. section 970.032(2) standard for determining whether reverse waiver is appropriate. The Wisconsin Supreme Court has granted review.

• The Trial Notebook includes expanded discussion of the theory of defense, jury selection, opening statements, and witnesses for the defense and prosecution.

• A list of the court’s obligations to defendants during plea hearings has been added.

Wisconsin Criminal Defense Manual (forms included) is available both in print and via Books UnBound.

Newly Revised: The Wisconsin Rules of Evidence: A Courtroom Handbook

The Wisconsin Rules of Evidence: A Courtroom Handbook is an essential reference for lawyers who need the rules of evidence at their command throughout a trial.

You can locate applicable evidentiary rules and cases during trial quickly and easily, thanks to the Handbook’s tools. In the print book, these include an index, a table of cases, tabs with topical headings, and multiple cross-referencing features.

Since 1982, The Wisconsin Rules of Evidence: A Courtroom Handbook has helped trial lawyers and judges find applicable rules of evidence, available commentary on those rules, and relevant case law when they needed them most.

The 2026-27 revision includes numerous changes, including:

• newly added annotations for recently decided Wisconsin appellate court opinions analyzing evidentiary issues such as relevance, hearsay, and expert testimony;

• legislative amendments to the Wisconsin Rules of Evidence, including rules governing the admissibility of expert testimony and audiovisual recordings of children’s statements; and

• legislative amendments to the rape-shield law.

The Wisconsin Rules of Evidence: A Courtroom Handbook is available both in print and via Books UnBound.

Newly Supplemented: Family Law Casenotes and Quotes

Compiling family law cases published since the Divorce Reform Act of 1977 (and noteworthy, citable unpublished opinions issued after July 1, 2009), Family Law Casenotes and Quotes tackles the many issues that commonly come up in family law cases.

Each entry provides:

• the case’s name and full citation, including subsequent history;

• the name of the trial court judge and the county in which the case was heard;

• the name of the appellate judge who wrote the decision;

• a concise statement of the case’s relevant facts, including procedural aspects;

• the case’s important quotations and pinpoint citations for those quotations; and

• bolded subject terms highlighting each case’s most important topics.

The August 2026 supplement includes:

• new casenotes for recent Wisconsin appellate court opinions, addressing topics such as marital settlement agreements, property division, modification of maintenance, and contempt;

• revised casenotes that reflect updated citation information; and

• updated index and tables incorporating the new and revised casenotes.

Family Law Casenotes and Quotes is updated up to three times annually. It is available both in print and via Books UnBound.