Bankruptcy attorney finds balance in adjusted priorities

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After 27 years practicing law in downtown Milwaukee, bankruptcy attorney Bruce Lanser opted to move three years ago to a more family friendly location.

The switch took him farther from the bankruptcy court, but has provided faster access home to his wife and three daughters. With daughters ages 11, 13 and 16, Lanser, 55, said he wanted to spend more time attending their dance recitals or sporting events and less time fighting traffic to and from the office.

“Some nights I would get home and everyone was done with dinner,” he said. “The girls would be off at an activity and I just didn’t want to miss them growing up.”

The three-attorney firm of Lanser Law Office now is in Waukesha, closer to Lanser’s Hartland home.

The relationships he established during his many years downtown still net him referrals, he said, for business and consumer bankruptcies. But now it’s much easier to make it home for dinner.

Lanser, who also serves as a Chapter 7 bankruptcy trustee in the Eastern District of Wisconsin, took a break from his daily duties to participate in this week’s Asked & Answered.

Wisconsin Law Journal: If you could develop one CLE course for credit, what would it be about?
Bruce Lanser: Each year, the bankruptcy section of the State Bar puts on a two-day conference at the American Club in Kohler. In conjunction with that conference, although not in any way sponsored or sanctioned by the section or the State Bar, I organize what I call an Interfaith Breakfast for the purpose of meeting and discussing how lawyers and judges live their faith in their daily law practices. Now, because of the religious implications of such a program, I suspect such a course will never happen, but it would be one that I would like to develop if given the chance.

WLJ: What was your least favorite course in law school and why?
Lanser: Tax. I did not have any sort of accounting background from undergrad and none of it seemed to make much sense to me. It also seemed like most of the other students came into the class with at least some understanding of the basics. I was glad it was a mandatory class, though, since almost immediately after graduation I realized that virtually all advice given to a client must take into account the potential tax implications.

WLJ: What do you consider your biggest achievement to date and why?
Lanser: Being happily married to the same woman for 22 years and together, parenting our three daughters.

WLJ: What is the one luxury item you cannot live without?
Lanser: I’m not sure if it qualifies as a luxury, but I have a better-than-average bicycle that I spend a lot of time on in the summertime. It’s great way for me to detach and de-stress.

WLJ: What is one thing attorneys should know that they won’t learn in law school?
Lanser: Being a good lawyer is less about how smart you are and more about how conscientious you are. Recognize that you don’t know everything and that you don’t have to know everything to be a good lawyer. Then, either learn what you need to learn in order to provide effective representation or refer the client to someone who can.

WLJ: What is the first concert you went to?
Lanser: Three Dog Night; 1972 at the Arena in Milwaukee

WLJ: If you could trade places with someone for a day, who would it be and why?
Lanser: If it weren’t for the fact that I get motion sickness, I think I would enjoy being an astronaut on a space flight just to see and experience the vastness of the universe.

WLJ: What is your motto?
Lanser: I don’t really think of them as mottoes, but I would probably have one for at home and one for at the office. I frequently tell my kids, ‘Be grateful for what you have and not ungrateful for what you don’t have.’ In my practice, and when I speak to new lawyers about doing bankruptcy work, I frequently say that ‘there is no substitute for doing a thorough job on the front end.’

WLJ: What is your favorite movie about lawyers or the law and why?
Lanser: I liked the movie ‘And Justice for All.’ There were lots of parts that were not at all realistic, but the main character, played by Al Pacino, was a lawyer who showed true compassion for his clients and who cared deeply about fairness.

WLJ: If you hadn’t become a lawyer, what career would you have chosen?
Lanser: I enjoy teaching and I enjoy mentoring, so if I hadn’t become a lawyer I would have liked to be a teacher; probably at the high school level. So that in addition to teaching, I could do some coaching or get involved with other extracurricular activities that would permit me to interact with the kids.