DiTullio trades management for days in the courtroom

By: Jack Zemlicka, [email protected]//November 21, 2011//

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asked — Steve DiTullio (Photo by Kevin Harnack)

After serving for nearly a decade as the managing partner of Madison-based DeWitt Ross & Stevens SC, attorney Steve DiTullio in July stepped down to focus on his employment defense practice.

The move let the Boston native keep closer tabs on his beloved Red Sox, he said, and gave him time to appreciate another team close to his heart: the Milwaukee Brewers. DiTullio, 49, has been a fan of the Brewers since coming to Wisconsin for law school in 1989, he said.

He joined DeWitt Ross in 1994 and became managing partner in 2001.

During his time leading the firm, DiTullio said, his two most satisfying endeavors were opening a Brookfield office and helping to more than double the number of DeWitt Ross attorneys.

Though still chairman of the firm’s executive committee, DiTullio now spends most of his time practicing law, something he previously was only able to do part time as managing partner.

He said he relishes being in courtrooms more often, litigating employment and consumer protection cases, and counseling businesses on wage and hour problems and unemployment compensation.

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

Steve DiTullio: Professional etiquette on the use of technology in the legal profession. The final exam would require a detailed explanation of the many reasons that attorneys should focus on the person with whom they are meeting, rather than checking their smart phones every few minutes and responding to text messages during such meetings.

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

DiTullio: Criminal law. I knew one thing going into law school, that I had no interest in criminal law. While it is a very important area of law, it just was not in my area of interest.

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

DiTullio: Raising three great children and having a wonderful marriage. While professional achievements are incredibly rewarding, having grown up in a very close Italian family, I was taught that family always comes first.

WLJ: What is the one luxury item you cannot live without?

DiTullio: I am not sure that I own any luxury items, but I love to travel and would not want to live without the opportunities and experiences that traveling brings.

WLJ: What is one thing attorneys should know that they won’t learn in law school?

DiTullio: That most attorneys spend far more of their time on the telephone than in court.

WLJ: What is the first concert you went to?

DiTullio: The Cars in the old Boston Garden in 1980. A good Boston band in an old Boston institution. Very memorable.

WLJ: If you could trade places with someone for a day, who would it be and why?

DiTullio: For current times, the director of the CIA because there is so much that I would like to know about our intelligence operations that I would never otherwise be able to learn. For historical purposes, Abraham Lincoln because it is unfathomable to me what he went through during even one day of his presidency.

WLJ: What is your motto?

DiTullio: Think big thoughts, but relish small pleasures.

WLJ: What is your favorite movie about lawyers or the law and why?

DiTullio: ‘To Kill a Mockingbird.’ The decency with which Atticus Finch presents himself personally and professionally, as well as the manner in which he demonstrates his sincere caring about his client, serves as a tribute to lawyers and how we should practice law.

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

DiTullio: If I had the talent, a baseball pitcher for the Boston Red Sox, but having been blessed with no such talent — a landscape architect.

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