New Hires, Promotions, Partners

Robb Evans, U.W. 2017, has joined the Janesville office of Murphy Desmond S.C. as an associate in the business law, business start-ups, and estate planning practice groups, focusing on assisting businesses in all stages of operation and working with estate planning clients on wills, trusts, and powers of attorney. He previously worked for a law firm in Eau Claire.

Thomas A. Griesbach, U.W. 2017 cum laude, has joined Steimle Birschbach LLC, Manitowoc, and focuses on estate planning, probate, and Medicaid planning.

Lauren Matthiesen, Marquette 2012, has joined Lindner & Marsack, Milwaukee, as an associate and focuses on defending worker’s compensation claims across a variety of industries. Previously, she practiced worker’s compensation defense at Husch Blackwell and insurance defense and subrogation at Matthiesen, Wickert & Lehrer S.C.

Several attorneys have joined Reinhart Boerner Van Deuren s.c.

In the Milwaukee office: Joseph W. Bukowski, Marquette 2018 magna cum laude, is with the trusts and estates practice, focusing on wills, trusts, marital property agreements, and powers of attorney. Tomás Clasen, U.W. 2018 cum laude, is with the real estate practice, focusing on general real estate matters and acquisitions and dispositions of commercial real estate and commercial leasing. He also works with municipalities to obtain entitlements and real estate financing for clients.

Laura Ferrari, Marquette 2015, and Ashley E. Hornung, Notre Dame 2018 cum laude, are with the labor and employment practice. Ferrari’s work includes helping employers comply with state and federal laws, defend against discrimination and wage and hour claims, prepare employment and noncompete agreements, and draft severance agreements.Hornung focuses on counseling and litigation, including drafting agreements, conducting research, and assisting with pretrial preparation.

Emily Pellegrini, U.W. 2018 cum laude, is with the employee benefits practice, focusing on corporate benefits, public plans, and Taft-Hartley matters. Debbie A. Thomas, Marquette 2018 magna cum laude, is with the corporate law practice, focusing on general corporate practice, mergers and acquisitions, commercial transactions, entity formation, and general corporate governance.

In the Madison office: Erin E. Burns, U.W. 2016, is with the health care practice. She also represents individuals, small businesses, and corporations in litigation matters. David G. Palay, Chicago 2015 with honors, is with the litigation practice. He represents individuals, private equity firms, and operating companies in complex commercial disputes, white-collar criminal defense, and regulatory and transactional matters. Previously, Palay worked at an Am Law 100 firm in Chicago and served as a judicial law clerk to the Hon. John G. Koeltl of the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York.

Chad P. Wade, Valparaiso 2008, has been promoted to shareholder at Strang, Patteson, Renning, Lewis & Lacy s.c., Oshkosh. He focuses on school and higher education law with an emphasis on special education, labor and employment, and municipal law.

Mergers, Relocations, New Offices

David F. Grams & Associates S.C., a Middleton-based estate and business planning law firm, is changing its name to Grams & Christoffersen S.C., effective Jan. 1, 2019. Eric D. Christoffersen, U.W. 2010, has become a named shareholder with firm founder David F. Grams, U.W. 1971.

Appointments, Elections

Max T. Stephenson, Marquette 2013, has been named president and Brianna J. Meyer, Marquette 2017, is now a member of the board for the Milwaukee Young Lawyers Association (MYLA). Stephenson is an associate at Gimbel Reilly Guerin & Brown LLP, Milwaukee, in the family law department and former secretary of MYLA. Meyer, also an associate at the firm, practices criminal defense, health care litigation, and civil litigation.

The Wisconsin Association of African-American Lawyers has elected the following officers and directors for the 2019 fiscal year: president – Kristen D. Hardy, Marquette 2014, Rockwell Automation Inc., Milwaukee; president-elect– Makda Fessahaye, Marquette 2014, Wisconsin Department of Corrections, Madison; immediate past-president – Jessica Butler, U.W. 2009, Gruber Law Offices LLC, Milwaukee; parliamentarian – Brittany Grayson, Marquette 2011, Milwaukee County District Attorney’s Office; treasurer – William Sulton, U.W. 2008, Gingras, Cates & Wachs, Waukesha; financial secretary – Danielle White, Marquette 2011, Rockwell Automation Inc., Milwaukee; corresponding secretary – Ashley Murray, U.W. 2012, Milwaukee County Child Support; and directors – T.O. Odutayo, Illinois 2016, Foley & Lardner LLP, Milwaukee; Jasmyne Baynard, Marquette 2017, Crivello Carlson S.C., Milwaukee; Amber Raffeet August, U.W. 2013, Legal Aid Society of Milwaukee Inc.; and Alexander Lodge, Iowa 2016, Foley & Lardner LLP, Madison.

DeWitt Ross & Stevens S.C., and its affiliate DeWitt Mackall Crounse & Moore S.C., has been approved for membership in SCG Legal Network, an association of more than 140 independent law firms serving businesses in all 50 state capitals and major commercial centers around the world. The network was founded by 17 former state governors in 1989 to better serve clients in sharing information about the practice of law before state legislative, judicial, and executive bodies. SCG Legal also helps identify local counsel and assists businesses with government relations matters, litigation coordination, and multijurisdictional regulatory concerns in the United States and around the globe.

Joseph T. Leone, Marquette 1992, and Christopher M. Scherer, John Marshall 1999, have been appointed cochairs of the intellectual property practice group at Dewitt Ross & Stevens. They succeed Charles S. Sara, George Mason 1981, who chaired the group from 1991 to 2018. Leone, with the Madison office, focuses on helping clients secure and enforce patents, trademarks, copyrights, and trade secrets and also drafts freedom to operate opinions and serves as an expert witness. Scherer, with the metro Milwaukee office, concentrates on domestic and international patent prosecution, particularly for electrical and electronic circuits and systems, computer software, medical devices and treatment technology, device fabrication, and optical and mechanical devices.

Daniel S. Welytok, U.W. 1986, LL.M. (taxation) DePaul, has been appointed by the U.S. Department of Treasury to serve on the Internal Revenue Service Advisory Committee on Tax Exempt and Government Entities. He is a shareholder in the business practice group at von Briesen & Roper s.c., Milwaukee, focusing on tax issues, acquisitions and divestments, capital structuring, financing, corporate governance, and regulatory and compliance issues.

Authors, Speakers

Eunice Gibson, U.W. 1973, presented “Reasonable Accommodations for Workers With Disabilities” at the annual conference of the Inter-American Bar Association in Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic, in June. She is a member of the association’s Committee on Labor and Social Security.

Kendra Hogan, U.W. 2012 cum laude, is the lead author of “Trouble in Mind: Healthcare Informed Consent, Surgery, Anesthesia and the Aging Brain,” Journal of Legal Medicine (April-June 2018). She is assistant dean – academic accreditation, policies, and operations in the U.W.-Madison School of Medicine and Public Health.

Jesse S. Ishikawa, Michigan 1980, authored the recently revised Drafter’s Guide to Wisconsin Condominium Documents (State Bar of Wisconsin, 4th ed. 2018). He is of counsel at Reinhart Boerner Van Deuren s.c., Madison. He was assisted on earlier editions by Brian W. Mullins, who passed away in February 2018.

Awards, Degrees, Honors

Mary S. Gerbig, Marquette 1994, is corecipient of the 2018 George Tipler Award for Distinguished Service in School Law from the Wisconsin School Attorneys Association. She is chair of the school and higher education team at Davis|Kuelthau and is a member of the labor and employment team. She serves as counsel to numerous school districts throughout Wisconsin on general school law issues and matters involving students and employees and has extensive experience with regular and special education issues, Wisconsin school districts and correlating regulatory agencies, and labor and employment matters.

James R. Korom, U.W. 1982, is corecipient of the 2018 George Tipler Award for Distinguished Service in School Law from the Wisconsin School Attorneys Association (WSAA). He is a shareholder in the government law group at von Briesen & Roper s.c., Milwaukee. He advises public sector clients on all aspects of labor and employment law. He is a past president of the WSAA.

John M. Murphy, Chicago 2001 cum laude, has been named a Fellow of the American Bar Foundation. The Fellows comprise a global honorary society of attorneys, judges, law faculty, and legal scholars whose public and private careers have demonstrated outstanding dedication to the highest principles of the legal profession and to the welfare of their communities. He is a shareholder in the real estate practice at Reinhart Boerner Van Deuren s.c., Milwaukee, and has extensive transactional experience in acquisitions, dispositions, leasing, and real estate finance and sale/leasebacks. He is also an adjunct professor of law at Marquette University Law School, where he teaches a course on advanced contract drafting.

Thomas J. Phillips, Utah 1973, LL.M. (taxation) New York Univ., was elected a Fellow of the American College of Tax Counsel. He is a member of the tax section at von Briesen & Roper s.c., Milwaukee, and provides tax analysis, advice, and tax opinions to publicly traded and closely held business entities; structures tax-free reorganizations and mergers, spinoffs, cross-border transactions, taxable asset and stock purchase transactions, and partnership transactions; and represents clients before the Internal Revenue Service, the Wisconsin Department of Revenue, and federal and state courts.

Anniversaries, Retirements

Jason D. Luczak. Chicago-Kent 2008, is celebrating his 10th anniversary with Gimbel Reilly Guerin & Brown, Milwaukee, where he practices in criminal defense and civil litigation, licensing, and appeals. He is also an adjunct associate professor of law, teaching trial advocacy and the trial skills competition course at Marquette University Law School, and is chair of the Criminal Law Section of the Milwaukee Bar Association.

In Memoriam

Hymen Bear, U.W. 1958, Highland Park, Ill., March 28, 1929 – Oct. 22, 2018.

Hon. James L. Carlson, U.W. 1970, Whitewater, Jan. 24, 1944 – March 14, 2018.

John P. Dority, U.W. 1950, Athens, Ga., Nov. 7, 1924 – Nov. 11, 2017.

Donald M. Gorectke, Marquette 1949, July 9, 1923 – Nov. 10, 2017.

Bradley E. Grell, Marquette 2011, Oak Creek, Sept. 27, 1984 – Nov. 4, 2018.

Marie Kuhnla, Marquette 2001, Wantagh, N.Y., Aug. 12, 1956 – Oct. 15, 2018.

Hon. Patrick J. Madden, Marquette 1950, Fox Point, May 21, 1926 – Feb. 18, 2018.

Neil R. McKloskey, U.W. 1976, Green Bay, Dec. 10, 1944 – Oct. 23, 2018.

Robert E. Nelson, Northwestern 1950, De Pere, April 15, 1918 – Feb. 17, 2018.

Paul J. Scoptur, Marquette 1978, Milwaukee, Jan. 4, 1953 – June 3, 2018.

How to Place your Announcement

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