Gegios finds international law fascinating, frustrating

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When attorney Bob Gegios started practicing law 30 years ago, the Milwaukee native said he never dreamed of a legal career that would allow him to travel around the world.

The thought of globe trotting for clients was an exotic concept in 1981, said Gegios, of Kohner, Mann & Kailas SC, in Milwaukee.

But today, he said, business clients, even those in Wisconsin, are more likely to be vested in international commerce, which has allowed Gegios to travel to Europe, South America and Australia for work.

While he relishes the ability to negotiate with lawyers from different parts of the world, Gegios, 57, said the cultural clashes can present as much of a challenge as the legal issues of a case. His mastery of foreign languages is limited to introductory conversation. He also is mastering a critical understanding of cultural tendencies when doing business, he said.

On one occasion, he traveled overseas for a meeting and after a three-hour dinner was told to come back in a few weeks because the individual wasn’t ready to talk business.

While that type of conclusion would irritate him in the states, Gegios said, patience and understanding of other cultural customs are part of reaching beneficial resolutions overseas.

In between travel, Gegios sat down with the Wisconsin Law Journal to chat about everything from The Beatles to being president for a day.

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

Bob Gegios: Mastering statutory construction. Few lawyers know how to do it well, even though that skill is key to effective advocacy in so many situations.

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

Gegios: Trusts and estates, probably because it started around 7:30 a.m. Although my professor was great.

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

Gegios: I’ve had a few rare experiences, where a jury awarded more than a million dollars above what my client, a small northern Wisconsin company, sought at trial from the world’s largest company in its industry; and where a national investment firm paid $10 million above what my investor clients lost. Those were pretty dramatic events.

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

Gegios: If you consider it a luxury, probably the performing arts: theater, concerts and opera. They enrich and inspire me.

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

Gegios: Understanding the business aspects of practicing law and the skills a lawyer must develop in that area in order to succeed.

WLJ: What is the first concert you went to?

Gegios: More important to me is the first concert that I desperately wanted to attend, but couldn’t: The Beatles concert in Milwaukee in 1964. I was 10 years old and was told I was too young to be with such a wild crowd; basically out-of-control teeny-boppers.

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

Gegios: Hands down, the president of the United States. The confluence of important constitutional, political, legal, social and moral forces that the president must address each day is incredible.

WLJ: What is your motto?

Gegios: Being a proud native of Wisconsin, it can be only one: Forward!

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

Gegios: Actually, two TV series based on pilots: ‘The Bold Ones: The Lawyers,’ and ‘Owen Marshall: Counselor at Law.’

Both explored ethical and moral controversies that found their way into the expert hands of lawyers whose consummate professionalism garnered deep confidence and respect. They certainly suggested that law might be a wonderful and exciting profession to pursue.

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

Gegios: Probably an economist or maybe public service in some form.