Wisconsin

A Mequon-based boutique, Biskupic & Jacobs came into being when Steven Biskupic, a noted white-collar and governmental regulatory based lawyer with one of Milwaukee’s largest firms, decamped to launch his own shop, focusing on niche areas. “Steven is a former US attorney in the Bush administration,” confirms a peer. “He, and his firm, get to take more interesting cases now. If my neck was on the line, they are the ones I would call. They do a lot of white-collar work, and they also get some challenging voters rights issues.”

Foley & Lardner has expanded over the past 172 years to 20 offices across the US, Europe, and Asia. Its lawyers have broad experience in antitrust, securities, product distribution and liability, intellectual property, employment, and environmental litigation. Aside from its Milwaukee headquarters, the firm maintains an office in Madison, which opened in 1976. The largest firm in the Badger State, “Foley & Lardner is very good,” remarks an adversary. “They’re our biggest competition for matters in the state.” A client weighs in, “Specific attorneys at the firm were chosen for their proven experience, skill, and judgment.” The specific attorneys referenced by this client are Thomas Shriner and James Clark. The former is said by a client to have an “established reputation” as “a great trial lawyer.” He is particularly experienced in commercial and public law litigation. He also enjoys a thriving appellate practice. The latter has more than 30 years of experience behind him and has tried more than 40 cases and negotiated numerous settlements. He recently represented a major competing law firm in the Milwaukee area in a legal malpractice claim arising of bond counsel opinions issued in connection with $50 million in bonds issues by the Lac du Flambeau Indian tribe and purchased by Saybrook. Claims have been asserted by both Saybrook on the bond obligation and the tribal parties in connection with the client’s representation of them in the bond transaction. Andrew Wronski serves the Milwaukee office as chair of its litigation department. He chiefly represents corporate clients in complex litigation regarding high-stakes commercial and financial disputes, particularly in fraud claims including RICO.

Addressed reverently as “Milwakuee’s premier litigation boutique,” Gass Weber Mullins was founded in 2004 and has since served such clients as Coca-Cola Enterprises, DuPont, Fairbank Farms, Lennox Industries, and Trek Bicycle Corporation. A competitor voices the general consensus shared by many: “Gass Weber is just an unassailable fortress of real trial talent. They try a lot of cases along a big spectrum.” Contemporaries also note the firm’s culture, some covetously: “It seems really collegial there, the kind of place we’d all like to work,” confides one. “They are enjoying their place in the market, getting great cases and having fun.”

Founding member Ric Gass not only remains as active a trial lawyer as ever, but elicits acclaim from well beyond the Badger State’s borders, and even beyond US borders; at least one Canadian lawyer, (a particularly prominent Bay Street trial lawyer in Toronto) has acknowledged Gass as a leader. On the strength of this recognition, Gass makes his debut appearance in Benchmark’s prestigious “Top 100 Trial Lawyers” list this year. Gass primarily focuses his practice on catastrophic injuries, product liability, and bad faith. He has tried nearly 300 cases to verdict, including a case worth $104.5 million, the largest jury verdict in Wisconsin. Gass recently obtained a defence verdict for Snugtop and Custom Hardtops after the plaintiff requested $44 million in damages for a spinal cord injury she received when a fiberglass cover was blown off the bed of a pickup and stuck her; she had alleged that the defendant defectively designed the fiberglass cover. Ralph Weber has provided counsel in some of the state’s highest-profile cases over the years. “Ralph Weber is the kind of trial lawyer I’d like to see more of,” opines a peer. “Understated, strategic and level-headed, not into trying to scare people by flapping his arms and making a lot of useless noise.” Weber pursues a nationwide practice representing companies in a variety of matters. Over the past 17 months he has represented Marquette University during the investigation and Faculty Hearing Committee process regarding the disciplining of a tenured professor. The case arises from the professor’s conduct in using his blog to publicly criticize a Marquette graduate student. Following a four-day hearing in September 2015, the Faculty Hearing Committee recommended unanimously that the professor should be suspended, Marquette’s President adopted this recommendation and the professor has filed suit in state court. Quickly risen former future star David Turek enjoys a rising profile in the Milwaukee litigation community. One peer extols, “David is very talented, a great writer, and a really good lawyer who at his young age has already done a really interesting and varied mix of catastrophic injury and commercial cases. I feel like you could bring him anything and he’d be willing to take it on.” Tamar Kelber, who joined the firm in 2015 from Sidley Austin in Chicago, is viewed as “a great addition to that firm, who brings product liability experience and a vital energy.” Kelber focuses on mass tort litigation, including individual cases in multiple jurisdictions across the country, and national coordination and defense of pharmaceutical and other product liability cases.

With Milwaukee roots that date back to 1957, Godrey & Kahn has expanded to four additional locations within the Badger State—Appleton, Green Bay, Madison, and Waukesha—as well as a Washington, DC outpost that allows the firm the assist clients with national matters. “Godfrey & Kahn is absolutely dynamite,” a peer claims. Clients further attest to the firm’s responsiveness and strong working relationships, citing “excellent customer service” and addressing them as “an exceptionally effective litigation practice with reasonable billing rates.” “They are very knowledgeable and responsive. They also get the ‘big picture’ regarding the business objectives of the client.” With 50 litigators, half of whom are partners, the firm has a thriving litigation practice specializes in cases involving financial institutions, insurance coverage and bad faith, reinsurance and insolvency, intellectual property, antitrust, ERISA, labor and employment law, product liability, real estate and construction, securities, and white-collar defense.

The latter practice is bolstered by the work of Daniel Flaherty, whom peers call “the lead guy in white collar” and “an outstanding trial lawyer.” A former federal prosecutor and noted white-collar champion, Flaherty’s practice nonetheless focuses on a diverse array of complex business litigation, including antitrust, complex corporate disputes, financial institutions, health care, IP, internal corporate investigations, securities, and tax litigation. His practice takes him to the Milwaukee, Appleton, and Green Bay offices. In the Madison office, James Friedman co-leads the litigation team and is the chairperson of the insurance and reinsurance working group. Clients sing his praises: “James Friedman is bright, articulate, experienced, honest, ethical and understands the needs of [our company].” One continues, “With [Friedman] we know that we will always have excellent legal representation by an [attorney] with an excellent reputation.” Friedman was lead counsel for amicus curiae Wisconsin Insurance Alliance Insurance in a case in which one of the defendants provided the wrong active ingredient for a probiotic supplement. The supplement had to be recalled and removed from the shelves of a major, national pharmacy. The Supreme Court case focused on whether the insurers of two of the defendants were obligated to provide coverage under certain insurance policies. He also represented Platte River Insurance and Capitol Indemnity in a matter in which the two insurers wrote bonds in nearly all 50 states for Braz Transfers. As security for the bonds, Braz conveyed over $1 million in collateral, most in cash. Braz later assigned its right to the collateral to a third party, who then sued the insurers to recover the collateral, alleging breach of contract and bad faith. The clients argued they were entitled to the collateral based on the terms of the bonds and a related security agreement. A client raves on Friedman’s behalf, “James provides us with unmatched legal and public policy counsel and continues to excel beyond his peers as an appellate lawyer.” Paul Heaton is addressed by peers as “one of the finest. [He is] the most well-rounded, strategically minded lawyer that I’ve worked with. And he is the best writer - his briefs absolutely sing. He handles significant litigation for Northwestern Mutual around the country, and currently has a large plaintiffs case going on right now.” Madison-based Bryan Cahill is tipped for stardom by a peer, who goes on to note, “He is nationally known for his bankruptcy. He is special master for Puerto Rico in their bankruptcy.”

Hurley Burish & Stanton is noted for its “superb white-collar” practice, among other areas. Established two decades ago by three partners, the firm remains a boutique with 12 accomplished attorneys practicing today. Its corporate clients include businesses small and large in industries as varied as news media, high-tech, and finance. A client raves, “The firm’s client service is outstanding - the lawyers are incredibly responsive, their industry expertise top notch, and their fees reasonable.” A competitor claims, “[Stephen] Hurley himself is one of the better white-collar defense lawyers in the town.” Hurley has more than 35 years of experience and has seen great success before agencies and state and federal courts. Hurley recently handled an investigation of the FBI and the US Attorney’s office for the Eastern District of Wisconsin into alleged wrongful billing practices of a construction company. The matter was resolved without charging the corporation or any individual through a deferred prosecution agreement. The client was charged with tax evasion. The matter was resolved when the government agreed to dismiss the indictment against the defendant. “When politicians get into trouble in Madison, they call Steve,” succinctly quips one peer. Future star Marcus Berghahn is called “an adroit white-collar practitioner who achieves astounding results for his clients.”

Pursuing a trademarked agenda of “aggravated litigation,” Kravit Hovel & Krawczyk is a nine-member Milwaukee boutique that has freed itself to attend to a wide variety of civil and criminal disputes. The figurehead behind this agenda, Stephen Kravit is a noted practitioner who is humorously referred to as “bad news” to his opponents. “The Kravit firm is a ‘fire-and-brimstone’ firm,” assesses one competitor. “They are a good, strong litigation shop. They are willing to take on some plaintiffs-side cases sometimes and have hit the jackpot a few times in this role.”

Yet another Milwaukee boutique, and one making its debut in this edition of Benchmark, Meissner Tierney Fisher & Nichols has maintained its lean model since its beginnings in 1848. The firm houses 11 partners total, attending to a relatively even split between corporate and litigation. The firm’s disputes practice is solely devoted to “sophisticated and complex matters, which honestly don’t often go to trial for the very reason of their complexity.” Litigation head Michael Cohen is unanimously given the nod by Milwaukee peers. “I’m glad to hear Benchmark is ranking him, he is one of the best,” insists a peer. “He is a very talented litigator, who also serves a mediator.” Cohen’s practice is varied, covering business torts, non-competes, trade secrets, shareholder disputes, breach of fiduciary duty, complex insurance coverage matters, the latter typically being environmental coverage- or asbestos-related. He also is involved in several sensitive civil rights matters. “Michael Cohen is great at anything, but he is especially known for insurance coverage matters. He is also one of the most well-connected Milwaukee lawyers.”

While it has since grown in size and stature to cover several US commercial markets, Quarles & Brady remains the quintessential Milwaukee law firm, with unanimous peer recognition and one of the largest benches in the state. In the same breath, however, peers are quick to point out, “Several of Quarles’ best litigators are not even getting the recognition they should from the Milwaukee market because they are actually not trying cases here. They are getting calls to be national counsel for local clients.”

The most noted example of this is Mark Kircher, who has been working for Wisconsin mainstay Harley-Davidson as national counsel. “That is a plum engagement,” notes one peer, “and he’s tried more cases than most litigation departments, but most people in Milwaukee don’t even know him!” Another example is the firm’s appointment as national counsel for Miller-Coors, for whom Eric Van Vugt, a seasoned trial lawyer and ACTL member, and Josh Maggard, a younger partner, will be trying a case in November of 2018. One local client that the firm does represent in Wisconsin-based litigation is Johnson Controls.

Reinhart Boerner Van Deuren enjoys a consistent flow of positive peer review throughout the legal community. “My colleagues and I would put them really high on the list,” says a competitor. Founded in Milkwaukee in 1984, the firm has since expanded to Madison and Waukesha as well as Chicago and Rockford, Illinois, and Phoenix, Arizona. The firm’s litigators practice across a full spectrum of cases. Scott Hansen serves his clients’ general commercial needs with an emphasis on complex disputes between businesses or between business and governments. He is further known for his antitrust and intellectual property practice with cases that have been valued at hundreds of millions of dollars. He successfully represented Techtronic Industries when it was accused of engaging in a conspiracy to exclude the plaintiff’s product from the US market. The court dismissed the case on its merits without leave to amend. Hansen also represents One World, Ryobi and Milwaukee Tool in an antitrust matter in which plaintiffs allege the defendants conspired to boycott the plaintiffs’ safety technology for table saws. The plaintiffs also alleged other state and federal conspiracy claims but none of them survived review by the Fourth Circuit after being dismissed. He also represents US Paper in a matter in which plaintiffs seek recovery and reallocation of $1 billion of remediation costs and additional natural resource damages caused by PCB pollution of 39 miles of the lower Fox River from Menasha to Green Bay Wisconsin. This case already has had two trials and three reviews by the Seventh Circuit. As the chair of the white-collar litigation and corporate compliance team, Mark Cameli is widely praised throughout the legal community for his work in the field; a competitor discloses, “We’d love to have him here.” Allen Schlinsog is currently defending Cargotec Solutions from claims of personal injuries, allegedly resulting from exposure to diesel particulate emitted from Terminal Tractors manufactured by the client. Future star David Peterson is hailed for being “unflappable, and always ready for court.”