Who’s Doing What 01/23/09

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Davis & Kuelthau, S.C. announced the addition of three new attorneys to the corporate practice of the firm. Frank Kowalkowski and William Woodward joined the firm as shareholders in its Green Bay office and John Shore joined the firm as a shareholder in its Brookfield office.

Kowalkowski practices in real estate, business, and construction litigation law. He graduated magna cum laude from Marquette University Law School in 1992.

Woodward practices in the areas of business and real estate law where he deals with issues ranging from mergers and acquisitions and complex business formations to commercial and residential real estate developments. Woodward graduated from Marquette University Law School in 1989.

Shore practices in the areas of business, real estate, and estate planning law. Shore graduated from the University of Wisconsin-Madison Law School in 1987. Nathan E. DeBaun has joined The Schroeder Group, S.C., Attorneys at Law.

DeBaun has three years of experience providing counsel in the corporate and intellectual property areas of law. DeBaun began his career in a mid-sized law firm in downtown Chicago, where he focused on corporate transactions as well as on helping clients maintain and protect their intellectual property. He graduated from Rutgers the State University of New Jersey in 2005. The Madison law firm of Axley Brynelson LLP recently named Attorney Mitchell R. Olson a partner at the firm.

Olson works as a litigation attorney. His litigation practice includes civil litigation, real estate, land use and zoning, municipal, insurance and appellate law. He received his law degree from the Northwestern School of Law of Lewis & Clark College in Portland, OR.

Madison-based attorneys-lobbyists Peter C. Christianson and Anthony H. Driessen and lobbyists M. Alice O’Connor and Thomas J. Fonfara have joined the Government Relations Group at DeWitt Ross & Stevens.

Christianson represents trade and professional associations and corporations before the Wisconsin Legislature, the governor’s office and state agencies. Christianson is a frequent lecturer on Wisconsin’s ethics, lobbying, and campaign finance laws and is an editor of “Lobbying, PACs and Campaign Finance 50 State Handbook,” by Thomson West.

Driessen has more than 20 years of experience in working successfully with Wisconsin legislators, various state agencies and policy advisors in the governor’s office. As a lobbyist, O’Connor represents clients in areas of business, accounting, retail, law enforcement, hospitality, health care, finance, time-share development, local government and utilities, natural gas and non-profits.

Fonfara, a lobbyist, has been involved in Wisconsin state government for nearly 25 years, the last 10-plus years working as a successful lobbyist representing numerous clients before the legislature and state agencies. The law firm of Whyte Hirschboeck Dudek S.C. announced the addition of Brian D. Anderson to its Madison office.

Anderson is counsel to a range of businesses, including developers, design and construction firms, waste handlers, law firms, manufacturers, financial institutions, investors, building owners, and retailers. His commercial practice includes real estate development and re-development, condominium development, conversion and management, leasing, contract analysis, finance and construction. von Briesen & Roper, S.C. announced that the firm has moved to larger office space in Madison. von Briesen is located on the top floor of the Tenney Plaza at Three S. Pinckney St. on the Capitol Square. von Briesen’s Madison office has grown significantly in the last year and now employs 20 people.

The firm also announced that two attorneys have recently joined the firm’s Madison office.

Thomas S. Hornig and Kraig A. Byron increase the total number of attorneys in the Madison office to 11. von Briesen concentrates its practice in the representation of hospitals, banks, municipalities, businesses and institutions and has adopted a long range plan of emphasizing its core practice areas of litigation, banking, business, health, bankruptcy, labor, employee benefits, real estate, municipal and school law.

Hornig is a shareholder who brings over 35 years of experience to the fields of business, civil litigation, land use, outdoor advertising law, eminent domain and estate planning. Hornig received a J.D. in 1972 from the University of Wisconsin.

Byron is a member of the Litigation and Risk Management Practice Group. Byron focuses on complex business litigation, labor & employment litigation, outdoor advertising law, family law issues, and general civil litigation. Byron received a J.D., with honors, from the University of Wyoming College of Law in 1992. Boyle Fredrickson, Wisconsin’s largest intellectual property law firm, has announced a new president and board of directors.

Serving as president is Peter C. Stomma, a firm partner since 2001. He succeeds Andrew S. McConnell, who continues his full-time practice at Boyle Fredrickson with an emphasis in intellectual property prosecution, counseling and pre-litigation dispute resolution.

Serving additional terms on the Milwaukee-based firm’s board are Vice President Michael J. Gratz and Secretary Timothy E. Newholm. They are joined by the firm’s newest addition to the board, Keith M. Baxter who also succeeds Stomma as the firm’s treasurer.

Stomma is a graduate of Drake University School of Law. His focus is on patent, trademark and copyright law and he has made several appearances before the United States Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit, various United States district and state courts, and the Board of Patent Appeals.

Gratz, a graduate of the University of Wisconsin School of Law, helped found the firm in 1999. He is the past chair of both the Milwaukee Bar Association’s Intellectual Property Section and the St. Thomas More Lawyers Society of Wisconsin.

Newholm, who also co-founded the firm, is a graduate of George Mason University School of Law. With prior experience as an adjunct professor of law at the Marquette University School of Law and patent examiner with the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office, Newholm provides expertise in the practice areas of patent prosecution, client counseling and patent litigation.

Baxter, who specializes in patent protection and counsel, the strategic use of patents and prelitigation management of patent disputes, graduated with honors from Georgetown Law and earned his undergraduate degree in electrical engineering from Yale University.

The national law firm of Quarles & Brady LLP announced that Ave M. Bie has been named the Managing Partner of the firm’s Madison office.

Bie, who joined the firm in 2005, focuses her practice on public utilities and corporate practice groups where she advises on state and federal issues for clients nationwide. She earned her law degree from University of Wisconsin.