Please ensure Javascript is enabled for purposes of website accessibility

Grzeca finds success in an unexpected practice area

By: Jack Zemlicka, [email protected]//December 16, 2011//

Grzeca finds success in an unexpected practice area

By: Jack Zemlicka, [email protected]//December 16, 2011//

Listen to this article
Jerry Grzeca

Growing up with 14 siblings helped Milwaukee attorney Jerry Grzeca of Grzeca Law Group SC develop a competitive nature at an early age.

The family’s three-bedroom ranch home in Plymouth put space at a premium, especially at night when kids often slept three or four to a room, Grezca said.

But the experience of growing up in a large family also gave Grezca, 49, an appreciation for effective conflict resolution, something which has translated well to his business immigration law practice.

While he didn’t intend to practice immigration law while at Marquette University Law School, Grzeca said, he took his first job in the area as a way to make money. His attraction to the immigration field grew and after seven years practicing with three firms in Washington, D.C., Grzeca returned to Wisconsin and opened his own immigration law firm in 1995.

Grzeca’s practice focuses on national and international hire and transfer of foreign workers and his clientele ranges from Canadian to Chinese citizens.

While he acknowledged that immigration laws are often moving targets, Grzeca said the challenge of overcoming regulatory road blocks makes “getting a win” for clients all the more satisfying.

Grzeca stepped away from the daily grind to share his thoughts in this week’s Asked & Answered.

Wisconsin Law Journal: If you could develop one CLE course for credit, what would it be about?

Jerry Grzeca: Immigration Law for Businesses. I think people just don’t know what immigration law is all about and there is a misperception. The business side that I deal with is pretty complex.

WLJ: What was your least favorite course in law school and why?

Grzeca: Property. It was a combination of subject matter and time of day.

WLJ: What do you consider your biggest achievement to date and why?

Grzeca: Raising my two sons because of how important it is to have a direct influence as a parent. It’s a lot more difficult than practicing law and more important in many ways than what we do on a day-to-day basis.

WLJ: What is the one luxury item you cannot live without?

Grzeca: Going to the gym

WLJ: What is one thing attorneys should know that they won’t learn in law school?

Grzeca: Creating, maintaining and growing your client base

WLJ: What is the first concert you went to?

Grzeca: Rush 2112 Tour. I think it was probably about 1978 at it was down at the old Milwaukee Arena.

WLJ: If you could trade places with someone for a day, who would it be and why?

Grzeca: Warren Buffett. I look at him as somebody who has really enacted good in many ways. In his later years, he has begun to take stands on unpopular issues. I like his combination of notoriety and the ability to draw an audience and enact change.

WLJ: What is your motto?

Grzeca: Let’s not focus on problems, let’s focus on solutions.

WLJ: What is your favorite movie about lawyers or the law and why?

Grzeca: ‘To Kill a Mockingbird.’ It portrays the human side of practicing law.

WLJ: If you hadn’t become a lawyer, what career would you have chosen?

Grzeca: A landscape architect. In my free time, I spend a lot of time outside in my yard doing landscaping stuff. When you are dealing with that as a project, it’s something you can accomplish immediately and see the end result. When you are pushing papers all day, it’s attractive to want to do something with your hands.

Polls

Should Steven Avery be granted a new evidentiary hearing?

View Results

Loading ... Loading ...

Legal News

See All Legal News

WLJ People

Sea all WLJ People

Opinion Digests