By: WISCONSIN LAW JOURNAL STAFF//November 15, 2009//
By: WISCONSIN LAW JOURNAL STAFF//November 15, 2009//
Ed Thompson
Facilities Manager, Quarles & Brady LLP
For more than four decades, Ed Thompson has given his all to Quarles & Brady. He started 41 years ago as a court runner, taking documents to the courthouse and filing them. He notes that was so long ago that Louis Quarles, one of the firm’s namesakes, was still around.
Today, Thompson is the firm’s facilities manager, a role he describes as “kind of a Heinz 57 thing” where he oversees the physical operations. It’s a position he has held for the last 20 years as Quarles has expanded to six offices nationwide.
Milwaukee Office Administrator Bob Isacson notes that “through the many mergers, office build-outs and moves, Ed has been a key ‘go-to’ member of the administrative management team.”
Thompson originally applied to the firm when he was 18 years old, after seeing an advertisement in the newspaper. He laughingly recalls that when talking with his parents after interviewing for the job, he couldn’t recall the law firm’s name.
His favorite part of overseeing the physical operation is watching it “stay on balance.” And the biggest challenge is keeping the lawyers happy.
“You try to give them what they want, and stay out of the way when that’s the right thing to do,” he jokes.
“Ed’s willingness to do what it takes year-in and year-out has shaped his reputation into somewhat of a legend at Quarles & Brady. While he spends much of this time in the Milwaukee office, I think that it is safe to say that everyone in the firm knows Ed and is aware of his penchant for going the extra mile any time day or night. Ed works tirelessly at Quarles & Brady often putting in more than 70 hours a week making sure facilities-related details are addressed in a timely basis,” writes Bob Isacson, Milwaukee Office Administrator, Quarles & Brady LLP.