| Honorific-Prefix: | The Honorable |
| Office: | Chief Judge of the Wisconsin Court of Appeals |
| Term Start: | 1989 |
| Term End: | 1998 |
| Predecessor: | Burton A. Scott |
| Successor: | Thomas Cane |
| Term Start1: | 1985 |
| Term End1: | 2000 |
| Appointer1: | Tony Earl |
| Predecessor1: | Martha Bablitch |
| Successor1: | Paul Lundsten |
| Office2: | Wisconsin Circuit Court Judge for the |
| Term Start2: | August 1, 1978 |
| Term End2: | 1985 |
| Predecessor2: | Transitioned from County court |
| Successor2: | Paulette L. Siebers |
| Office3: | County Judge for |
| Term Start3: | 1975 |
| Term End3: | July 31, 1978 |
| Appointer3: | Patrick Lucey |
| Predecessor3: | Michael B. Torphy, Jr. |
| Successor3: | Transitioned to Circuit court |
| Birth Place: | Park Ridge, Illinois, U.S. |
William Eich is an American lawyer and retired judge. He was Chief Judge of the Wisconsin Court of Appeals from 1989 to 1998. Earlier in his career, he served as a county judge and Wisconsin circuit judge in Dane County, Wisconsin.
Eich was born in Park Ridge, Illinois. He graduated from Maine East High School in 1956, Beloit College in 1960 and the University of Wisconsin Law School in 1963. Eich and his wife, Lynne, have four children.[1] Eich has published in law reviews and legal periodicals on a variety of legal and government-related topics.
After practicing with a private law firm in Madison, Wisconsin, Eich served as an Assistant and Deputy Attorney General of Wisconsin with Attorneys General Bronson La Follette and Robert W. Warren. In 1971, Governor Patrick Lucey appointed Eich as Chairman of the Public Service Commission of Wisconsin. Lucey later appointed Eich to be a Judge of the Wisconsin Circuit Court in 1975. Eich was appointed to the Court of Appeals by Governor Tony Earl in 1985. He later became chief judge in 1989 and remained in that position until 1998 before retiring in 2000. Since retiring from full-time judicial service, he has remained a reserve judge for the Circuit Court and served as a legal advisor to the Wisconsin State Journal.