Who’s doing what 11/05/07

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Jonathan P. Nagy has joined American Family Insurance Co. as staff counsel in Madison. Nagy was formerly an associate of Payne & Blanchard, LLP in their Dallas, Texas office, and he is a 2000 graduate of the Southern Methodist University School of Law.

Wisconsin State Public Defender Nicholas Chiarkas was elected to the National Legal Aid & Defender Association’s (NLADA) Board of Directors. The 24-member Board provides expert counsel to the association regarding its policies and services.

The NLADA is a national organization that focuses on the equal justice community comprised of defender programs, legal aid programs and individual advocates.

Chiarkas, a former New York City Police Officer, was previously elected to the Wisconsin Forward Inc. Board of Directors and the Alumni Executive Council at Harvard University's JFK School of Government. He earned his law degree from Columbia University.

Michael Best & Friedrich LLP is announced that José A. Olivieri has been named Chair of the firm's Labor and Employment Relations Practice Group. Olivieri succeeds Jonathan O. Levine, who served as Chair for four years. He received a J.D. from Marquette University Law School

• The law firm of Godfrey & Kahn, S.C. announced that Timothy F. Nixon has been named to the American Bankruptcy Law Journal’s 2008 Editorial Advisory Board. Nixon was selected by the National Conference of Bankruptcy Judges Board of Governors from a national pool of candidates, and he will fill one of two practicing attorney positions on the 11-member board.

The Schroeder Group, S.C., Attorneys at Law announced that Michele Marsh has joined the firm.

Marsh has been practicing law in the area of litigation for thirteen years. She has represented insurance companies and their insured clients in the defense of various legal matters and has been responsible for contractual interpretation and litigation as related to insurance coverage issues.

John T. Bannen, a partner with Quarles & Brady LLP’s estate planning team, has been appointed State Chair of Wisconsin for the American College of Trust and Estate Council (ACTEC).

Bannen’s practices focus on estate planning and estate settlement matters for individuals, small business owners and professionals. He earned a law degree from Marquette University in 1976.

On Oct. 13, 18 volunteers from The Wisconsin Association of Legal Administrators (WALA) members, vendors, spouses and family, assisted the Boys & Girls Clubs through Camp Whitcomb/Mason from 9:00 a.m. to 12:00 p.m. in splitting wood and grooming the trails.

WALA was able to provide much needed assistance to the camp, which has only two full-time groundskeepers.

2007 Participating WALA Law Firms:

Attorneys' Liability Assurance Society, Inc.; Lathrop & Clark, LLP; Marshall, Gerstein & Borun LLP; Melli, Walker, Pease & Ruhly, S.C.; Murphy Desmond S.C.; Neider & Boucher, S.C.; Nowlan & Mouat LLP; Quarles & Brady LLP; Simpson & Deardorff, S.C.; Solheim Billing & Grimmer, S.C.; The Schroeder Group, S.C., Attorneys at Law.

Eric L. Hafferman, Valparaiso University School of Law 2002, has joined the law firm of Nowakowski & McManus, LLP, Elm Grove, and continues to concentrate his practice in workers’ compensation defense and civil litigation. He previously was with Kasdorf, Lewis & Swietlik, Milwaukee.

James E. Snodgrass, University of Nebraska 1971, has also joined the firm, concentrating his practice on representing the interests of health insurance carriers in civil claims and employers and insurance companies in workers’ compensation claims. He comes to the firm from the Law firm of Snodgrass & Wahlberg, where he was a partner for 16 years.