Wisconsin legal expert dies at 52

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Nationally known legal technology expert Ross Kodner, of Cross Plains, died Tuesday from a heart attack. Kodner was 52 and had just celebrated his birthday Sunday.

A 1986 Marquette University Law School graduate, Kodner founded Milwaukee-based consulting firm Microlaw in 1985. The firm now serves more than 675 firms across the U.S., Canada and the Caribbean. He also, for many years, wrote a legal technology column for Wisconsin Law Journal titled Ross Ipsa Loquitur.

The State Bar of Wisconsin’s Law Practice Management Advisor Nerino Petro said Kodner’s death came as a shock.

“We’ve lost an icon, and our profession will be the poorer for it,” he said. “Ross was an absolute fountain of information for Wisconsin lawyers.

“When it came to legal technology, I think he was the finest presenter out there. I think he opened the eyes of not only Wisconsin lawyers, but lawyers all over, about how technology can help them in their practices.”

Though the two sometimes were competitors in providing consulting services, Petro said, Kodner also was a mentor and friend.

Legal technology experts from across the country expressed their condolences this week, including Robert Ambrogi, Craig Ball and Jim Callaway.

Funeral services will be held at 10 a.m. Friday in Madison, Petro said, at Cress Funeral Home, 3610 Speedway Road. Members of the State Bar’s Practice 411 listserv also are organizing an effort to honor his legacy, as Kodner was a frequent contributor.

“Ross would want us to remember the good times — the foibles, the fun,” Petro said. “He would want us to remember him in that way, and take what he did forward, and not sit around and mourn the fact that he’s gone.”