Payal Khandhar

Professional career

• Since 2018, she has also held the role of a supplemental court commissioner for the Dane County Circuit Court
• Nonpartisan judge for Branch 2 of the Dane County Circuit Court in Wisconsin, appointed in June 2024 and later elected in 2025, with a term running through 2031
• Governor Tony Evers appointed Payal Khandhar to Dane County Circuit Court – Branch 2 on June 17, 2024, filling the vacancy created by Judge Josann M. Reynolds’ resignation
• In 2016, she became a partner at Jasti & Khandhar, a Madison-based criminal defense firm
• Khandhar’s legal career began in 2009 as an assistant state public defender in Northwestern Wisconsin, later serving in Dane County

Education

Additional information

• In April 2025, she won a nonpartisan general election for re‐election, securing a new term through August 1, 2031.
• Began her judicial tenure on July 13, 2024 and initially served a term ending July 31, 2025.
• Before law school, she held a position as a case manager for formerly incarcerated women and as a neighborhood-based case worker assisting low-income families.
• Graduate of the University of Wisconsin–Madison (undergraduate and law school).
• Governor Evers described her as “a highly regarded attorney... committed to service and dedicated to improving her community”.
• Khandhar has said she will approach her judicial role with “kindness, humility, and humanity” and continues her mission of fostering a more just and equitable community.
• Assigned Room 7105 at the Dane County Courthouse in Madison, WI.