Christine M. Rice

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When she goes to CLE programs, an appellate decision Christine M. Rice often hears discussed is a case she helped take to the Wisconsin Court of Appeals. The court in Rosario v. Acuity found that the statute of repose barred a claim against a building owner for an injury due to a step that was built 40 years earlier in an unsafe manner.

“I hear that case talked about a lot when I go to CLEs and it’s kind of neat to think that you were a part of that,” Rice says.

In the five years since graduating law school and joining Simpson & Deardorff, Rice has worked on 12 appellate cases, including two state Supreme Court cases.

Prior to law school, Rice spent four years in nursing. Her interest in the law grew from an experience she had while working at Waukesha Memorial Hospital. She got to work with the risk management department and she watched as doctors were prepared for depositions.

“I was really fascinated by that,” Rice says. “So that was kind of my first introduction to how those two areas collided.”

Who is your favorite U.S. Supreme Court justice of all time?

Sandra Day O’Connor.

What was your most useful law school course?

Legal Writing and Research.

If heaven exists, what would you like to hear God say when you arrive?

You are too early … Go back.

If you could change one thing about yourself, what would it be?

I take things too personally, but who doesn’t?

What profession would you not like to participate in?

I am not a math person, so accounting, definitely.

What trait do you most like in others?

Patience.

Which words or phrases do you most overuse?

“Do you know what I mean?”; “There you go.”

What is your most treasured possession?

The photographs/videos of my family.

Who are your favorite writers?

The only “fun” reading I get to do these days is with my children, so I would have to say J.K. Rowling and Mo Willems.

How would your mother describe you in one word?

Thoughtful.

What is the first quote that comes to your mind?

“Treat others as you would want to be treated.”