Variety is Patteson’s specialty in work, life

Listen to this article

When she is at work, attorney Ann Patteson avoids selecting one area as her specialty.

She does the same thing when she is out of the office.

“I have interests in a lot of areas,” said Patteson, who works at Davis & Kuelthau SC, Green Bay. “I thrive on challenges and educating myself.”

For the law firm, she handles a variety of cases in business, real estate, creditors’ rights and litigation.

But she also holds ownership interests in commercial real estate investments and a radio station, and developed a residential subdivision for which she sold the lots. She also is the chairwoman of the Green Bay/Brown County Stadium District, which is the landlord for Lambeau Field and manager of the 0.5 percent Brown County sales tax that helped pay for renovations to the stadium.

“I am the only one of the original district board members left,” Patteson said. “It has been an amazing experience to serve the community in this way.

“I’ve always had a strong interest in economic development, and my work with the district fits well with that.”

It also fits well with her work at Davis & Kuelthau.

“The work I’ve done with the Stadium District has been high profile,” Patteson said, “and I’ve taken that and used it to help my clients deal with their own high-profile situations and the sensitivity that’s required.”

Patteson acknowledged it takes creativity to balance her calendar, but she has help.

“I constantly reorder my priorities,” she said, “and I have a lot of support from my family and the law firm to get it all done.”

Wisconsin Law Journal: What was your least-favorite class in law school?
Ann Patteson: Contracts. It was hard to accept the concept that someone could make a promise, put it in writing and sign their name, and then it could be unenforceable because there was no consideration.

WLJ: What was your most difficult case?
Patteson: Some of the divorces I used to handle because you see the worst side of some otherwise decent people, and the cases tend to never end.

WLJ: If you hadn’t become a lawyer, what career path would you have chosen?
Patteson: An engineer. I like to design and create systems and enjoy working with details.

WLJ: What song is on heavy rotation on your iPod?
Patteson: Hmm. I don’t own an iPod, but I have been listening to Victoria Vox, a local ukulele player.

WLJ: What app can’t you live without?
Patteson: Wunderlist, although lately it hasn’t been working on either my computer or phone, so I have been, hopefully temporarily, forced to go back to listing things to do on paper.

WLJ: If you could have drinks with anyone, who would it be?
Patteson: Benjamin Franklin. I would ask him about the development of his chart of virtues, 13 virtues to be worked on at the rate of one per week, repeating the process each quarter. Although seeing as how one of the virtues was temperance, we might have to limit the number of drinks, depending upon the timing of the event.

WLJ: What is your favorite thing to do in Wisconsin?
Patteson: Enjoying summertime with the excellent weather and local fresh produce.

WLJ: Finish this sentence. Happiness is …
Patteson: A choice.

WLJ: If you could change one thing about yourself, what would it be?
Patteson: That I need to switch back and forth from reading glasses to bifocals in order to work

WLJ: What was your favorite childhood toy?
Patteson: Growing Up Skipper. You twist her arm around one way and she goes through puberty, and then twist it the other way for her to revert back to childhood.