About Hon. Linda M Van De Water
Hon. Linda M Van De Water (Ret.) has spent decades in Wisconsin’s legal system, shifting through prosecution, administrative proceedings, and the trial bench. She earned a B.A. in Communications from the University of Iowa in 1985 and a J.D. from Marquette University Law School in 1988. Early classroom work gave way to continuous public service soon after graduation.
Her legal career began in Waukesha County, where she joined the district attorney’s office as an assistant district lawyer in 1988. That early courtroom work centered on criminal prosecution and prepared her for a range of roles that observed. In 2000 she became a regulatory law judge assigned to the supervised release and parole unit at the State of Wisconsin Hearings & Appeals. The administrative post required cautious weighing of records and written orders, a diverse tempo from the trial calendar but one which deepened her procedural and evidentiary abilities.
In 2002 she served as a prosecution and enforcement lawyer for the Wisconsin Department of Regulation & Licensing. That role concerned regulatory things and enforcement actions, drawing on both her trial background and her administrative knowledge. The subsequent yr she took the bench as a Waukesha County Circuit Court judge. She presided over a wide civil and criminal docket and handled things conventional of a county trial court: motions, trials, sentencing, and case management. She later retired from the bench however retained an active presence in the legal network.
Beyond the court, Van De Water pursued training in dispute decision. She holds a Certified Professional Mediator credential from Northwestern University. That training enhances her judicial experience and her administrative listening to work. She is a member of the Wisconsin State Bar, the Leander Foley American Inns of Court (Family), and the Wisconsin Association of Mediators. Those affiliations reflect a mix of trial practice, household law pursuits, and mediation practice.
Today she practices thru CCMA SOLUTIONS, LLC. Her post-bench work draws on years as a prosecutor, regulatory law judge, and circuit court judge. She makes a speciality of mediation, case evaluation, and related dispute-resolution services in Wisconsin.
