About Judge Emily Nolan-Plutchak
Judge Emily Nolan-Plutchak serves the people of Wood County as a judge on the Wood County Circuit Court.
In addition to handling a wide variety of cases as Judge, she presides over the Wood County Drug Treatment Court. Drug Treatment Courts make communities safer by holding offenders accountable, ending the revolving door of crime, saving taxpayer dollars, and turning lives around. She is the first woman to serve as a Circuit Court Judge in Wood County.
Judge Nolan-Plutchak has deep roots in Wood County. For nearly two decades, she served as a public defender in Wood County and central Wisconsin. In addition to handling thousands of cases, she was also the local attorney manager in the Wisconsin Rapids office of the Wisconsin State Public Defender.
Active in numerous community and professional organizations, Judge Nolan-Plutchak was a board member for Three Bridges Recovery, The Wisconsin Raptors Youth Football League, and a past member of the Grove Elementary School Parent Group, and the Enlarged Vestibular Aqueduct (EVA) Syndrome Group. She was also a leader of the Preemie Mom Group in Wisconsin Rapids.
Judge Nolan-Plutchak is nationally known for her work on Drug Treatment Courts. She is the former president of the Wisconsin Association of Treatment Court Professionals, served as a drug court member in Wood County (2007-2025), and worked with the National Association of Drug Court Professionals (NADCP) to write Wisconsin’s State Treatment Court Standards.
Judge Nolan-Plutchak is a graduate of the University of Wisconsin–Madison and Marquette University Law School. She is a single mom of twins, Declan and Rylan, seventh graders at Wisconsin Rapids Area Middle School who are active in athletics. The family, including dogs Finnegan and Noelle, lives in Wisconsin Rapids.
