The Max Raskin papers are organized into three categories: Correspondence, Legal Records, and a Subject File. The legal records compose the majority of the collection with the remainder roughly equally divided between the other two series.

The CORRESPONDENCE, 1961-1975, focuses on Raskin's career as a judge and generally relates to criminal cases tried in his court. Included are letters from convicted defendants describing prison conditions, their efforts to win parole, and possible grounds for appeal; from defendants' relatives requesting leniency; and from the general public commenting on Raskin's judicial decisions and actions. Another portion of the correspondence contains information on the establishment and operation of the Volunteer Probation counseling Program which he helped to organize. Also included are incoming letters from Governors Gaylord Nelson, John Reynolds, and Patrick Lucey; Senator William Proxmire; and Supreme Court Justice Tom C. Clark and routine letters from couples that Raskin had married and school children who had visited his court. Correspondence also documents his work as a labor arbitrator, his opposition to anti-Semitism, his support of gun control, his interest in helping his niece emigrate from the U.S.S.R. to Israel, and his protest against Supreme Court Justice Robert Hansen's 1973 criticism of “marshmallow” judges. The correspondence is arranged chronologically and is the smallest series in the collection.

The LEGAL RECORDS, 1963-1975, are composed of judicial decisions and jury charges which Raskin rendered as circuit court judge. These records comprise over half of the collection. A small portion relates to some arbitration decisions; the bulk of the file is composed of jury charges, in which Raskin summarized the case and instructed the jury on the rules of law which they were to observe in deciding the verdict; and memorandum decisions, in which he pronounced a judgment to settle a controversy submitted to the court. Raskin arranged these legal records alphabetically by plaintiff in civil cases and by defendant in criminal cases.

The SUBJECT FILE contains campaign scrapbooks, awards and other certificates, clippings, reports, speeches and writings, and other certificates clippings, reports, speeches and writings, and other miscellaneous material relating to Raskin's political and legal career. The scrapbooks cover his 1956 and 1964 campaigns and include clippings, correspondence, and ephemeral materials. Other clippings also contain information on several of his political campaigns and his participation as both a lawyer and a judge in several legal cases most notably the 1955 Kohler strike. His newspaper column, “Legally Speaking,” is included in the section of speeches and writings. The arrangement of this entire series is alphabetical and roughly chronological thereunder.