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Attorney brings class-action background to Wisconsin practice

By: JESSICA STEPHEN//April 26, 2013//

Attorney brings class-action background to Wisconsin practice

By: JESSICA STEPHEN//April 26, 2013//

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Doug Dehler

By Jessica Stephen

Doug Dehler honed his specialty skills as a class-action attorney out of state, but now he’s brought them home.

“It’s not your typical commercial practice,” said Dehler, who in January was elected shareholder at O’Neil, Cannon, Hollman, DeJong & Laing in Milwaukee. “It’s unique because there are relatively few class-action cases in Wisconsin.”

Since returning to Wisconsin after working on the East Coast, Dehler’s class-action work generally has involved consumer cases, as well as some Employee Retirement Income Security Act matters, which typically involve the administration of employee benefits.

ERISA cases are becoming more common as employers hire third parties to oversee employee benefits. Lawsuits get filed when those third parties wind up with money meant for employees. In those cases, there’s seldom any question that a fiduciary debt is owed.

“The question is who owes those fiduciary duties,” Dehler said. “That area of the law is evolving.”

Dehler also handles insurance cases, a specialty he developed in private practice shortly after finishing law school in 1991 and honed as in-house counsel for an insurance company.

But his love of the courtroom led him back to private practice.

“I enjoy the competition, being head-to-head with somebody and trying to get the best result for your client and the challenges associated with that,” Dehler said. “It requires you to be creative and hard-working. And that’s the downside: a lot of hard work and emotional investment that can take a toll, the confrontational nature of it.”

Wisconsin has a more relaxed atmosphere, though, he said, which is one of the reasons he’s appreciated his return to the state.

“I enjoy the atmosphere in Milwaukee,” Dehler said. “The lawyers have a good sense of working well with other people and, in my experience, don’t engage in the scorched earth litigation you might see in other areas.”

Wisconsin Law Journal: What is the best part of being an attorney?

Doug Dehler: This is going to sound cheesy, but being able to help people with their problems. Many of my friends in law school decided to become lawyers with noble ideas of doing good. Me, too. I still try to do good things. The older I’ve gotten, the more I’ve come to learn it’s not always easy to know what “doing good” really means. But, I try. Getting a favorable result for a client is about as good as it gets for me now.

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

Dehler: Who knows? I went to business school as an undergrad. Before going to law school I was working in a management training program for a large department store company. I made it about a year – through one Christmas return season — before deciding to go to law school. I remember the guy who ran the management trainee program telling me that “greener pastures are not always so green.” In this case, I think they were.

WLJ: If you could be a superhero, who would you be?

Dehler: Oh, I’d say Superman. No more airports. Think how easy travel would be.

WLJ: What was your most useful law school course? Why?

Dehler: First semester, Criminal Procedure, not because of the substance, which I never use, but because of the professor, Walter Dickey. He was my small group professor at UW Law School and somebody I really enjoyed. He helped me to learn what being a lawyer really means. He once told us that the law is a ‘service business.’ A simple statement, but one I’ve always remembered. We’re here to serve others.

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

Dehler: Tax II during my second semester, third year. I never should have taken it. I thought it was a good course to take because I was going to be working for a big law firm in the fall. It wasn’t for me. Too difficult, and something I really had little interest in. Especially during the second semester of my third year.

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

Dehler: Wow, that’s a tough one. I do a lot of work in the class action area, so probably something about class actions and using the class action procedure for good. The procedure, meaning Rule 23, has existed for a long time, and it can be used to stop illegal practices that otherwise wouldn’t be addressed because, individually, the amounts at stake are too small. Like anything, the process can be abused, and I think that it probably has been in some cases, but it is an important tool in the legal system that probably needs to be better used and understood.

WLJ: How would your mother describe you in one word?

Dehler: If she was still here, she would probably say that I’m ‘good.’ I never really caused her any trouble. I probably should have caused more trouble, for my own sake, but I didn’t.

WLJ: What do you miss most about your childhood?

Dehler: Speaking of my mother, her. She died when I was 20. I wish she could have known her grandchildren, and that I could have gotten to know her more as an adult. All my memories of her are skewed. They are from the perspective of a child or teenager. I would like to know her now.

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

Dehler: Raising my kids: two children and two stepchildren. It hasn’t been easy, and I certainly haven’t done it perfectly. But, in the end, it’s what matters to me most and is my greatest accomplishment.

WLJ: Finish this sentence: Happiness is …

Dehler: … the day my son, Matthew, and daughter, Jenny, were born. I’ve never been as profoundly overjoyed and happy as I was at those particular moments. There is nothing quite like being there at the birth of your child. Oh, and a day game in good weather at Miller Park is pretty good too.

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