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David serves as the firm’s managing partner and works closely with clients, lawyers, and staff to determine and implement Michael Best’s strategic growth and development plan. In this capacity, his priorities include building and maintaining productive client relationships; enhancing value of the firm’s services through improved business operations and flexible fee structures; and attracting and retaining a diverse group of top-tier legal and business talent on both a regional and national level.

For more than 30 years, Paul has specialized in product liability defense, class action defense, multi-district litigation (MDL) defense, and other complex commercial litigation. He is particularly well known for his work in the class action and food and beverage sectors, where he is a nationally and locally recognized speaker and thought leader on product liability issues and regulatory trends.

For more than 30 years, Todd has helped numerous clients remain in compliance with all aspects of the complex and dynamic suite of environmental laws, with a particular focus on Clean Air Act regulation. His extensive knowledge of and experience includes obtaining environmental permits, planning future activities to minimize the expense of regulation, litigation involving all manner of environmental regulation, and the defense of allegations that a company may have violated environmental laws.

Jeff counsels clients on a wide range of business and intellectual property matters, including trademark, copyright, advertising, and unfair competition. He assists clients in developing strategies to protect, exploit, and enforce their intellectual property rights and represents them against allegations of infringement.

Bill provides strategic patent counsel to clients in the chemical, pharmaceutical, and medical device areas. With a Ph.D. in Organic Chemistry and more than 20 years of experience in pharmaceutical research, he brings a wealth of scientific expertise to his patent prosecution, counseling, and opinion practice.

Luke focuses his practice on trademark and copyright law. Known for his close relationships with clients and the practical advice he offers on a wide range of complex matters, he assists in the acquisition, enforcement, use, and management of IP assets in the U.S. and worldwide.

Clients turn to Dan because he is an outstanding trusted advisor and litigator who handles cases (class actions, multi-plaintiff, and single plaintiff) and other matters involving myriad employment, higher education, and other issues. His clients include colleges and universities; businesses (from financial services to film studios); municipalities; and non-profit organizations.

Chuck represents clients in all phases of intellectual property law. In addition to vigorous and effective litigation, he helps them obtain, maintain, assess, and enforce ownership of valuable intellectual assets in the U.S. and worldwide.

Kerryann serves as a trusted advisor to companies seeking a pragmatic, solutions-oriented approach to employment matters. Clients value her depth of knowledge and unfaltering commitment to their business goals. Kerryann is an experienced and effective litigation strategist, successfully defending clients in employment disputes at the federal and state levels. She uses her litigation experience to assess employment practices and to structure personnel polices to increase workplace productivity and minimize the threat of litigation.

Brian brings strategic business vision to his work representing companies engaged in employment-related disputes, both in state and federal courts and before administrative agencies. The focus of Brian’s practice is to deliver positive outcomes in litigation matters, including class action discrimination, wage and hour collective actions, harassment and discrimination claims, wrongful termination, disability accommodations, theft of trade secrets, and enforcement of restrictive covenants.

Marshall’s practice focuses on resolving disputes regarding scientific issues and counseling clients in chemical and biotechnology matters. A skilled first chair litigator and trial lawyer, his practice includes helping clients develop strategies for obtaining and effectively enforcing their intellectual property rights. Clients seek Marshall's advice to help solve complex intellectual property-related problems.

Marty is a partner, past member of the firm’s Management Committee, and former Co-chair of the Intellectual Property practice group. Over the course of his career, Marty has been involved in a wide variety of intellectual property litigation matters, including trademark, copyright and patent infringement matters, trade secret misappropriation, enforcement of restrictive covenants and unfair competition matters. 

Courtney is an experienced commercial, business, and employment litigator with a lengthy record of success in bench and jury trials. He represents employers, companies, executives, and officers in a broad range of industry sectors. Courtney’s clients have included hedge funds, their founders and valued employees, private equity firms, property managers, major food producers, manufacturers, retailers, and fine art collectors, among others.

Stuart maintains a diverse practice, including many long-standing client relationships. His primary focus is on mergers and acquisitions, business planning, and federal tax issues. Clients across multiple industries value Stuart’s knowledge and experience, as well as his responsiveness to their concerns. 

Brad counsels clients on mergers and acquisitions, federal and state securities law compliance, forming and financing startup businesses and matters relating to the sale of cryptocurrencies and digital tokens. He has extensive experience in private placements and other private securities transactions, Rule 506 offerings, and corporate governance matters.

Steve serves as a trusted advisor and lead litigation counsel to many top national and international companies. His clients include technology, healthcare, pharmaceutical, communications, financial services, real estate, manufacturing, and state and federally regulated companies, as well as developers, property owners, and others. 

Scott is an experienced intellectual property attorney whose practice focuses on software, electronics, internet, medical device, telecommunications, cloud computing, financial, and semiconductor technologies.

As an Intellectual Property litigation attorney with more than 20 years’ experience, Jon is adept in handling complex legal issues and challenging logistics. He concentrates on patent litigation, devising winning strategies that give his clients competitive advantages in the marketplace.

Joe has a strong track record in representing clients in a variety of commercial litigation matters. These include contract disputes, insolvency and collection matters, including foreclosures, replevin and bankruptcies, negligence and intentional tort actions including fraud and theft by contractor, permitting and regulatory matters before the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources and Department of Administration. 

Eric is known for his extensive experience in energy, water, wastewater, and environmental matters, particularly the regulation of utilities at both the state and federal levels. He helps clients with regulatory filings and issues before state public utility commissions and environmental regulators, local utility districts, the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC), and Regional Transmission Organizations (RTOs).

Holly concentrates her practice on labor and employment disputes and counsel. As a litigator, she mounts forceful and persuasive defenses before federal and state courts and administrative agencies on behalf of employers. As an advisor, she helps management develop and maintain compliant employee policies.

David’s practice sits squarely at the intersection of the food-water-energy nexus. His work in the areas of environmental, regulatory, agricultural production, manufacturing and distribution, and renewable energy projects gives him the depth of experience necessary to counsel clients who will be feeding and powering a projected global population of nine billion people by 2050—at a time when resource scarcity and consumer confidence require an ongoing commitment to stewardship and sustainability.

Mike is a member of the firm’s Management Committee and serves as the Firm Hiring Partner. He is also the former chair of the firm’s Transactional Practice Group. He is an experienced transactional attorney who serves as outside general counsel to many real estate investment and corporate clients, and is seen as strategic counselor and advisor.

Jordan helps energy companies and other sophisticated businesses structure and contract for large scale capital expansion and procurement, including representation in siting and certification cases for large power generation facilities, electric transmission lines, private energy facilities, and large agricultural projects.

Tod Linstroth is a past member and Chair of the firm’s Management Committee and a senior partner in the firm’s Transactional Group. He serves as lead corporate counsel to many significant traditional corporate and technology-based clients, and co-founded the firm’s Venture Best^TM venture practice.

Porter has established a strong track record based on his strategic, results-driven representation of clients involved in complex corporate transactions. A diverse group of clients look to him for sound guidance on general corporate counsel, commercial contracting, including inbound and outbound supply and distributor agreements, corporate restructuring, acquisitions of companies and company assets, divestitures of companies and company assets, joint ventures, and general contracts.

Clients call on Hamang for guidance on the federal, state and local tax and business law issues stemming from complex business transactions. His strategic counsel encompasses mergers and acquisitions, tax-free reorganizations, spin-offs, new market tax credit financings, historic tax credit financings, partnerships and joint ventures, REIT acquisitions, real estate transactions, and renewable energy tax incentives.

Ian’s strong track record in commercial litigation is based on his success in trying cases before juries, judges, and arbitration panels. Clients and colleagues respect Ian’s sound professional judgment and creative thinking. He is often called upon to offer a second opinion in regard to especially challenging legal issues.

Farrah serves Michael Best in two capacities: as partner in the Labor and Employment Relations Practice Group. Her practice focuses on employment counseling and employment litigation, with a particular emphasis on discrimination, noncompetition, and Federal Contract Compliance Programs (OFCCP).

John is a trusted advisor who helps clients navigate their business issues with great insight, clarity and perspicacity.  Clients rely on John’s extensive litigation and counseling experience to make practical, results-oriented business judgments. John’s work includes counseling clients regarding:

Sheila works with clients to help them preserve and protect their wealth – and plan for its stewardship in the future. She takes the time to understand each client’s unique circumstances and goals. She then works compassionately and creatively with clients to devise personalized estate plans that are tailored to their needs and save taxes. Sheila regularly lectures on estate planning and charitable giving topics.

Melissa works closely with entrepreneurs and has a strong track record helping to organize, finance, and build early-stage and emerging growth companies. Her broad experience includes aiding startups in industries as varied as IT, medical devices, clean tech, and mobile applications. She also represents venture capital funds, angel funds, and other investors. She also represents venture capital funds, angel funds, and other investors. Melissa’s broad background helps her lead the firm’s Venture Capital Practice Group and Start-up & Emerging Businesses Practice Group.

Teresa has more than 20 years of experience procuring patent protection in the area of life sciences, working with therapeutics and pharmaceutical clients in their product life cycles from discovery to development to manufacturing and marketing. She also provides strategic patent advice in regulatory matters such as Food and Drug Administration Orange Book listing and Hatch-Waxman patent term extension.

Leah takes a big-picture approach in advising clients as they face challenges on environmental, food safety and regulatory compliance issues. She draws on experience gained in cases involving the EPA, FDA and other public agencies. Leah’s success as a counselor, litigator and negotiator reflects her combination of subject matter expertise, industry knowledge and creativity.

Tim acts as general corporate counsel to privately held businesses, private equity, and venture capital firms.

Phil has more than 20 years of experience assisting individuals with estate, wealth, and business succession planning and helping businesses with corporate and real estate matters.

As an estate planner, Phil knows that transferring wealth effectively requires the preservation of family relationship. When advising clients and their families, he devotes significant time to communicating with members of each generation. He strives to develop practical plans that carry out his clients’ wishes and minimize taxes, while also providing the flexibility needed to address unforeseen circumstances.

Victor represents clients in a broad scope of litigation matters in both state and federal courts. His experience encompasses pre-suit investigations, motion practice, discovery, mediation, trial work, and collecting on judgments.

Chris is a partner focusing his intellectual property practice on domestic and international patent matters relating to mechanical, electro-mechanical, medical, materials science, software, and business method technologies. He also helps clients acquire and enforce United States and foreign trademark rights, copyrights and trade secrets, negotiates intellectual property licenses and technology transfers, and prepares patentability and non-infringement opinions. His work applies strategic planning to intellectual property protection to help clients achieve their business goals.

Businesses, owners, and boards of directors look to Scott as their outside general counsel to ensure legal compliance of their operations and initiatives. Scott also represents businesses and manages litigation in federal and state courts and administrative agencies throughout the country in all areas of employment law.

Peter brings strategic business vision to his work assisting emerging and established companies in corporate and finance matters, particularly in the areas of mergers and acquisitions, executive compensation, and business-succession planning. He counsels companies in a variety of sectors including technology, software, digital and traditional media, distribution, and consumer products. 

David is a zealous and unrelenting advocate in employment and labor relations matters. He also serves as general counsel for selected clients. David’s practice is defined by his singular commitment to helping clients achieve their business objectives.

Michelle provides strategic counsel and representation to clients involved in a range of construction, real estate, and project development matters. Representative work includes complex real estate purchase, sale and leasing transactions, entitlement processes, easements, licenses and rights-of-entry agreements, developing and implementing best practices on large-scale, high-ticket construction and development projects, and more. 

Colleagues and clients alike describe John as a creative and pragmatic litigator. As an advisor to corporate boards, CEO’s and presidents of publicly traded and privately held companies, John puts his law degree and Masters in Economics to work serving banks and insurance industry clients in a broad range of complex disputes.

Kelly helps employers of all sizes meet their staffing needs by handling the immigration issues they face in hiring foreign nationals and moving employees around the globe. A partner in the firm’s Labor & Employment Relations Practice Group and Co-chair of the immigration practice, she handles compliance issues for corporations that transfer dozens of employees into and out of the United States each year, as well as small companies seeking to bring in a few key hires from abroad.

Thom brings deep knowledge and significant experience to his real estate and finance practice. His focus includes real estate development, urban redevelopment, municipal finance, land use and zoning, tax incremental financing, and general municipal law. Prior to joining Michael Best, Thom represented the City of Milwaukee as an Assistant City Attorney in the Office of the City Attorney.

Julie’s outstanding track record is built on successful outcomes in legal matters related to estate planning, trust administration, and probate. Clients rely on her sound judgment regarding lifetime planning, as well as the administration and distribution of assets at death.

Denise represents management clients in regard to labor and employment matters. Clients in sectors such as construction, transportation, manufacturing, healthcare, food, and education turn to her for informed guidance on matters involving Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) and Mine Safety and Health Administration (MSHA) issues, including investigating, defending citations, and assisting with abatement.

Nancy is a partner in the Real Estate group. Her more than 30 years of experience covers a broad range of real estate law, including assisting clients in purchases, sales and leases of property, and development and zoning work; representing borrowers and lenders in real estate loans; assisting in foreclosures and workouts; advising on questions of condominium law; negotiating construction and architects' contracts; and assisting in real estate litigation.

Bob has participated in hundreds of transactions during the course of more than 30 years’ experience in his practice, advising closely held and family-owned U.S. and European (German, Swiss, Polish) clients involved in mergers and acquisitions, joint ventures, venture capital financings, and other significate business events.

Brad’s practice includes all areas of estate and business succession planning. He serves as a trusted advisor to individuals, families, and companies seeking to cost-effectively structure or transfer businesses. Clients value Brad’s responsiveness, particularly his ability to help them understand complex property and tax law concepts.

Jon is a persuasive and effective advocate for large commercial clients seeking to protect their intellectual property assets. His outstanding track record is built on successful outcomes in high-profile litigation related to patents directed at a wide range of technologies. Jon’s common sense and diligent attention to client goals have proven a winning combination in dozens of trademark, unfair competition and trade libel cases across the United States. 

Joe is a trial attorney practicing primarily in the areas of products liability, class action defense, wage and hour litigation, employee benefits litigation, regulatory compliance, and complex commercial litigation. In this capacity, he routinely helps clients deal with class actions suits across all subject matters and handles all aspects of complex employment litigation including wage and hour suits arising under the federal Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) and applicable state laws, plus benefits litigation.

Kirk’s practice focuses on legal issues related to all aspects of the employment cycle, from hiring through termination and severance. Substantially experienced in both benefits and employment law, Kirk is well positioned to help clients respond to the opportunities, vulnerabilities and benefit ramifications of particular employment decisions.

Mitch serves as a trusted advisor to businesses on all aspects of management labor and employment law. Clients value his deep knowledge of employment and labor laws, with an emphasis on wage and hour law. Clients regularly seek his counsel regarding compliance with the many and continually changing labor and employment laws, as well as to address challenging or risky personnel situations.

Bret assists clients with the transactional and operational aspects of acquiring, forming, operating, owning, and structuring businesses. A problem-solver who can help companies get back on track, he is also a hard-nosed negotiator whose tireless work for clients often results in deals that surpass their highest expectations. Bret represents privately and publicly-held corporations, nonprofit corporations, limited liability companies, and partnerships. He focuses on matters concerning business ...

Kelly assists employers with administrative law matters, focusing her practice primarily on employment-based immigration. She regularly helps clients meet critical staffing needs by obtaining nonimmigrant status for foreign workers and securing and maintaining legal permanent residence for foreign nationals.

Eric advises clients in all areas of labor and employment law. With a practice that is national in scope, he is particularly active in litigating matters involving trade secrets, non-competition agreements and related disputes. Eric has a nationally recognized practice in the area of contingent labor and regularly prepares and reviews policies, procedures and contracts and litigates contested matters for users and providers of temporary employees, consultants, independent contractors and other contingent talent.

Tim provides strategic counsel on tax matters contested by the Internal Revenue Service, the Wisconsin Department of Revenue, and the taxing authorities of other state and local jurisdictions. Contested matters, for Fortune 1000 and other clients, include: federal income taxation of banks, insurance companies and manufacturers; multistate apportionment and allocation of income; transfer pricing among affiliated entities; and sales and use tax for retailers, manufacturers and construction contractors.

A persuasive advocate, Charlie vigorously defends employers and benefit plans in courts and other forums. He excels at assessing and fixing problems that arise with employee benefit programs and providing a strategically driven approach to benefits compliance and risk management planning.

Brent represents clients on the full spectrum of finance issues. His strong background in commercial, real estate, and municipal finance and transaction experience have generated an excellent track record in these areas.

Representative matters on behalf of lenders and borrowers encompass negotiating and documenting secured and unsecured financing transactions.

Clients turn to Martin for his tenacious problem-solving approach to all areas of employee benefits law. He is particularly valued for his track record of untangling and simplifying complex executive compensation matters. Clients seek his counsel with respect to retirement and executive compensation plan design, ongoing compliance with tax and regulatory requirements, and benefits issues in mergers and acquisitions.Martin has spoken frequently on employee and retirement benefits topics.

Clients turn to Dan when facing white-collar criminal or complex civil litigation, relying on him for the judgment, sound counsel and strong courtroom skills he has developed through years of trial experience as a federal and state prosecutor and defense lawyer. Dan routinely helps companies and individuals respond effectively to government inquiries and investigations, especially in relation to fraud and cybercrime.

Ted is an accomplished trial lawyer and lead partner in Michael Best’s Litigation practice group. An outstanding business litigator, Ted has tried and argued complex, non-routine commercial disputes throughout Wisconsin and the United States. He has established a proven track record of delivering exceptional results for clients on their most challenging, high-value matters.

Emily focuses her practice in the areas of trademark and copyright law. She counsels clients on prosecution, portfolio management, clearance, enforcement, and dispute resolution, helping businesses protect and defend their valuable brand assets.

Carrie is a seasoned healthcare attorney who regularly advises both established companies and healthcare innovators in regulatory compliance, credentialing, and reimbursement disputes. She acts as a strategic advisor to her clients and often serves as outside general counsel. Carrie draws on her extensive litigation experience when acting as an advisor to her healthcare and other clients and maintains an active litigation practice including appearances before state and federal courts and before regulatory agencies.

Lucas focuses his practice in the areas of intellectual property litigation, prosecution, and licensing.

Jim provides clients with a wealth of experience and insight regarding securities regulation and corporate and transactional law, informed by more than 50 years of practice. He primarily focuses on broker-dealer and investment adviser compliance, public company periodic reporting, new equity financings, and acquisitions and reorganizations involving publicly traded companies. He organizes new business entities, structures complex transactions, coordinates international business ventures, and advises on corporate governance.

Melinda represents companies in commercial matters with a focus on defending asbestos product liability claims. She draws on her experience across business sectors and issues that include insurance coverage, risk management, railroad, leasing, and entertainment. Melinda also has experience assisting individuals as they pursue and defend personal injury and civil sex offense cases. 

Lyndon advises businesses and government entities on a broad spectrum of corporate and transactional issues. Known to his clients as an informed and experienced businessman who is also a lawyer, he helps them with corporate and commercial matters including compliance with securities laws, buying and selling businesses, and creating and organizing new lines of business.

Evan Strassberg is a civil litigator who holds active licenses in both Utah and California. Evan has extensive experience in a wide variety of litigation matters, including defense of consumer class actions and disputes regarding trademarks, breach of contract, fraud, securities, employment discrimination, eminent domain, and personal injury.

Clients from a variety of industries turn to Kevin for guidance and counsel on a broad range of matters pertaining to securities. He has extensive experience in public and private securities offerings, broker-dealer compliance (particularly regarding resales of restricted securities), and regulatory enforcement defense with the U.S. Securities Exchange Commission (SEC), Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC), and state securities regulators.

Clients look to Kevin for strategic counsel on the protection of their intellectual property, including acquisition of, enforcement of, and defense against United States and international patents. His strong track record in these areas, paired with a technical background as a product engineer, give Kevin a unique perspective on the challenges facing developers of mechanical, electro-mechanical, and biomedical technologies. 

Tom advises Fortune 500 and other national corporations on all aspects of labor, employment and discrimination law. Clients value his extensive, multistate experience spanning a range of industries, including manufacturing, service, chemicals, financial, retail, food, pharmaceuticals, and warehouse/distribution. Clients also turn to Tom for guidance on labor and employment matters arising out of major acquisitions, divestitures, and consolidation of operations.

Chuck is a go-to lawyer for complex cases involving OSHA, employment law, labor negotiations, independent contractor and joint employment matters. Clients rely on his years of experience in dealing with state and federal enforcement agencies to develop human resource, safety and environmental policies and practices that prevent problems and save them significant expense. Chuck has defended employers in more than 1,000 Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) citation cases over the past 26 years.

Derek brings more than 30 years of experience to his work in patent prosecution, portfolio management, intellectual property due diligence, and technology transfer and licensing matters. His strong track record of successful outcomes, coupled with his technical training as an electrical engineer, give Derek a unique perspective on the challenges facing in-house legal departments and technological innovators in a broad range of industries.

Louise focuses her practice on all aspects of brand protection including trademark, copyright, advertising, and Internet law. Louise manages global trademark portfolios and counsels clients on trademark clearance, prosecution, maintenance, and enforcement, including opposition and cancellation proceedings before the U.S. Trademark Trial and Appeal Board.

Garrett focuses his IP law practice on patent protection for inventions within the mechanical engineering field.

Michelle handles all aspects of U.S. and international trademark law, helping clients build and protect their IP portfolios while providing actionable advice on brand management. Her practice focuses primarily on clearance, prosecution, and enforcement matters. She has experience handling proceedings before the Trademark Trial and Appeal Board and coordinating foreign trademark enforcement and litigation for clients based in the U.S. and around the world.

Mike Barnhill is an experienced civil litigator and trial attorney who has represented clients in a wide variety of matters, including cases involving contractual breaches, torts (including fraud and negligence), misappropriation of trade secrets, securities violations, and employment issues (wage and hour, discrimination).  Mike also defends class action suits and financial services companies in consumer litigation.  Mike is licensed in both California and Utah and has represented extensively litigated cases in both states as well as many other states.

Kurt counsels clients on a variety of labor and employment and business-related matters with a concentration in employment litigation.

Dan is an approachable, energetic, and trusted partner with a practice focusing on general business and other corporate matters. Dan counsels corporate clients of all sizes and brings a broad range of experience to his practice in corporate law, including corporate planning and formation, commercial contracting and negotiation, mergers and acquisitions, and venture capital and angel fundraising.

Molly is experienced in all phases of obtaining patent protection both in the United States and internationally. Her patent prosecution and patent clearance practice is focused on computer software and hardware technologies, including imaging systems and applications (including computed tomography and radiographic image creation, analysis, and management), cryptographic and security applications, financial transaction processing, wireless networks and communication protocols, web-based applications and business methods.

Mark assists clients in a range of employee benefits matters, including legal compliance, transaction due diligence, and litigation. He brings a multifaceted, big picture outlook to helping clients unravel the challenges of complex benefits-related problems.He has established a strong track record in achieving successful outcomes for clients confronted by employee benefits litigation and arbitration claims. Mark has also successfully litigated patent and trade secret litigation claims, as well as employment non-compete claims.

Jonathan represents real estate developers in the acquisition, entitlement, financing, and construction of commercial real estate projects. He helps his clients navigate state and local government issues, including zoning and tax issues.

Jason brings a technical background in mechanical engineering to the full spectrum of patent issues related to mechanical and electromechanical products and systems. Clients look to him for his expertise in preparing, prosecuting, and analyzing patents directed to power tools, hydraulic systems, electrical switchgear, food and beverage equipment, diesel exhaust aftertreatment systems, and automotive components, among others.

Serene concentrates her patent practice on prosecution, clearance, and validity opinions for mechanical, electrical, and medical technologies. She represents clients spanning a range of industries, including manufacturing, construction, mining, healthcare, and nuclear technology.

Madeline counsels clients on corporate and transactional matters, including commercial lending transactions, mergers and acquisitions, and contract negotiation. Her core focus lies within the healthcare and manufacturing sectors. 

Nick brings strong experience and training as a mechanical engineer to his work in patent preparation and prosecution. A creative thinker who is known for his meticulous attention to detail, he helps clients develop proactive as well as defensive patent strategies. Nick’s focus includes patent preparation, patent portfolio management, patent clearance and patentability searches and analysis, and invalidity opinions.