Judge Thomas J. McAdams is a former Milwaukee County Circuit Court Judge who now serves full-time as a mediator, arbitrator, and special master. He served as a trial judge for 13 years, from 2013 to 2026, before retiring from the bench in July 2026.
In 2022, Judge McAdams was selected for the Civil Division and assigned to the Large Claims calendar. During his four years in the Civil Division, he presided over a wide range of complex disputes involving personal injury, construction defects, contracts—including real estate, employment, and UCC matters—medical and professional malpractice, products liability, insurance coverage and bad faith, business and commercial disputes, employment, eminent domain, financial matters, class actions, and landlord-tenant disputes.
Prior to his appointment to the bench, Judge McAdams served as a commissioner and former acting chairperson of the Wisconsin Tax Appeals Commission, a position to which he was appointed by the Governor in 2008. During his tenure, he authored hundreds of tax decisions applying federal tax law.
Before his appointment to the Commission, Judge McAdams spent 20 years as an Assistant District Attorney with the Milwaukee County District Attorney’s Office, gaining extensive trial and litigation experience.
Judge McAdams has extensive mediation training. In 2023, he completed a 40-hour, in-person mediation training course at the National Judicial College. He also earned a 2024 Certificate in Mediation and Dispute Resolution through Harvard Law School’s Program on Mediation and Conflict Management. In 2025, he completed a 24-hour Family Law Mediation training focused on placement, custody, and marital property disputes. In 2026, he completed an additional 40-hour online mediation seminar through the National Judicial College, followed by a two-day Advanced Mediation course at the National Judicial College in Reno after retiring from the bench.
Judge McAdams is a graduate of the University of Wisconsin, where he earned both his B.A. and J.D. He also holds an LL.M. in Taxation from DePaul University.
