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Guardianship Clinic co-founder passes the torch

By: Jack Zemlicka, [email protected]//January 6, 2012//

Guardianship Clinic co-founder passes the torch

By: Jack Zemlicka, [email protected]//January 6, 2012//

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Noleta Jansen (Staff photo by Kevin Harnack)

Tears and emotional highs and lows are all part of day’s work for attorney Noleta Jansen of Whyte Hirschboeck Dudek SC, Milwaukee.

As a 2007 co-founder of the Guardianship Clinic at Children’s Hospital of Wisconsin Inc. Jansen, 34, said she has sat in court next to clients who burst into tears of joy when granted custody of developmentally disabled adult children.

She said the satisfaction of successfully completing guardianship cases through the program has been a highlight of her nine-year legal career.

The pro bono program has handled 92 guardianships and Jansen recently passed the torch as co-leader of the program to a new crop of eager associates at the firm.

But the trusts and estates lawyer still plans to be an advisor with the program and said she would like to see it expand in the coming years.

Jansen sat down to discuss her history with the guardianship program along with her affection for desserts in this week’s Asked & Answered.

Wisconsin Law Journal: If you could develop one CLE course for credit, what would it be about?
Noleta Jansen: Estate and trust disputes. It is an interesting area and a part of my practice that I enjoy.

WLJ: What was your least favorite course in law school and why?
Jansen: Criminal law; an important topic and very interesting, but I knew I did not want to practice in that area.

WLJ: What do you consider your biggest achievement to date and why?
Jansen: Helping to establish and run the Children’s Hospital of Wisconsin Inc. Guardianship Clinic and the Milwaukee County Guardianship Assistance Program Clinic. It feels terrific to know how many clients have been helped on a pro bono basis through these programs.

WLJ: What is the one luxury item you cannot live without?
Jansen: Dessert, especially chocolate mousse pie

WLJ: What is one thing attorneys should know that they won’t learn in law school?
Jansen: The practice of law requires so much more than just knowing the law. Practice management, client relations and attention to administrative detail are also critical skill sets.

WLJ: What is the first concert you went to?
Jansen: Paula Abdul, with Color Me Badd as the opening act, in Milwaukee in the early 1990s

WLJ: If you could trade places with someone for a day, who would it be and why?
Jansen: My grandmother as a young woman. She is an amazing person and I would love to have the chance to gain an even greater appreciation of her and to learn more about my family.

WLJ: What is your motto?
Jansen: ‘Stay positive.’ I try to find the bright side of things and appreciate the learning opportunity that each difficult situation presents.

WLJ: What is your favorite movie about lawyers or the law and why?
Jansen: I must admit that I am not a big movie buff and do not have one.

WLJ: If you hadn’t become a lawyer, what career would you have chosen?
Jansen: Before law school I had not seriously considered other career paths, having had my heart set on becoming a lawyer for a long time. As I think about it now, though, I would have loved to be one of the food television personalities with a show about traveling to interesting places and eating amazing food, preferably dessert, while on vacation for a living.

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