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Personal injury attorney forges friendships with competitors

By: Jack Zemlicka, [email protected]//January 13, 2012//

Personal injury attorney forges friendships with competitors

By: Jack Zemlicka, [email protected]//January 13, 2012//

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Merrick Domnitz (Staff photo by Kevin Harnack)

Milwaukee attorney Merrick Domnitz competes with veteran personal injury plaintiffs’ lawyers Pat Dunphy and Don Prachthauser in the courtroom, but on the golf course, they’re old friends.

Domnitz, founding partner of Domnitz & Skemp SC, said he and the “gang” get together several times a year with wives and family to play golf or grab dinner.

Though competitors professionally, the attorneys became fast friends socially. Domintz, 63, said he didn’t anticipate befriending competitors when he graduated law school in 1977, but now encourages young lawyers, including his son Noah, to build friendships early in their careers.

After 35 years of practice, Domnitz said a career triumph has been getting satisfaction for clients in personal injury cases. He is quick to point out that the benefits he’s enjoyed both personally and professionally are because of his 38-year marriage to his wife, Anita.

In this week’s Asked & Answered, Domnitz reflects on his longevity, the confusing world of tax law and the importance of respect in the profession.

Wisconsin Law Journal: If you could develop one CLE course for credit, what would it be about?
Merrick Domnitz: It would be about civility in the law. An unfortunate number of lawyers these days need to attend such a course. I long for the days when lawyers trusted one another and could rely upon each other’s word.

WLJ: What was your least favorite course in law school and why?
Domnitz: Tax law, no doubt, for the simple reason that I never understood anything they were talking about. In fact, after my first tax class I called the State Bar of Wisconsin and asked if there was a tax question on the bar exam every year. When they said ‘yes’ I asked if I had to pass every component of the exam to gain admission. When they said ‘no’ I decided to complete law school.

WLJ: What do you consider your biggest achievement to date and why?
Domnitz: My greatest achievement to date is succeeding in my marriage with Anita and in raising two sons, Ari and Noah, of whom I am immensely proud.

WLJ: What is the one luxury item you cannot live without?
Domnitz: I simply cannot imagine how I could survive without the steering wheel warmer in my car. Quite frankly, I don’t know how I managed to live 60 years without one.

WLJ: What is one thing attorneys should know that they won’t learn in law school?
Domnitz: All attorneys should learn and respect that they are a part of a system that is essential to the fabric of our society. The justice system is so maligned these days in nearly every regard, that I fear even those who work within the system lose sight of its vital role in what we refer to as ‘the American way of life.’

WLJ: What is the first concert you went to?
Domnitz: The first real live and full blown concert I attended was a Rolling Stones concert at the Kinetic Playground in Chicago in the late 1960s. I can’t say I remember much of what occurred, but I distinctly remember attending.

WLJ: If you could trade places with someone for a day, who would it be and why?
Domnitz: I would trade places with Luke Donald, the professional golfer. Just for a day I would like to know what it feels like to be able do those things I have pursued with little or no success.

WLJ: What is your motto?
Domnitz: ‘You are what you do, not what you say.’

WLJ: What is your favorite movie about lawyers or the law and why?
Domnitz: My favorite law related movie is ‘Witness for the Prosecution.’ Superb acting by Charles Laughton, Tyrone Power, and Marlene Dietrich. A great story with a twist that withstands the test of time and nothing involving the civil law so that I don’t have to squirm in my seat to keep myself from attacking the screen

WLJ: If you hadn’t become a lawyer, what career would you have chosen?
Domnitz: I would have liked to be a teacher and an athletic coach. The cultivation of young minds and the development of athletic skills in the young always seemed to me to be a worthy pursuit of which one could be proud.

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