Ebbens keeps Ahern’s contracts in line as in-house counsel

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Krista Ebbens will not be pigeonholed.

After earning her law degree and working in private practice, she left for a manufacturing company, then an accounting firm.

But it was the appeal of working for a family company that led her to construction. Last year, Ebbens joined J.F. Ahern Co., a fifth-generation mechanical contracting firm in Fond du Lac, as the company’s first ever in-house counsel.

“I like to learn about things,” she said, “My work has an element of teaching yourself and researching things.”

Her path has certainly led her miles from where she started in 2005, as a real estate and title insurance defense attorney.

When Milwaukee-based Brady Corp. offered her a position as its first-ever in-house counsel, Ebbens embraced the opportunity. Nearly three years later, she joined Madison-based accounting firm Baker Tilly Virchow Krause, as general counsel, before taking on that same title at Ahern.

“I don’t know if everyone thinks the life of an in-house counsel is exciting,” she said, “but it is exciting in that I handle a little bit of everything: contracts, litigation, insurance, workers comp claims, corporate governance.

“A large part of my job is I handle whatever walks in the door that day. I’m what they call a corporate generalist, a jack of all trades.”

And that, Ebbens said, is just the way she likes it, even if she could live without all the paper.

“Construction is a very paper-intensive industry. You have bids and you have RFPs and you have specs and then you have lien waivers and certified payroll; it goes on and on, all of this paper,” she said. “And that certainly is a challenge to keep track of all that, keep in compliance with all of that, what’s been signed, what’s the final version.”

Paper aside, Ebbens said she’s excited to be with a company that not only has endured 135 years, but has done so as a family.

“It’s been a good experience, and I’m really happy I got into it,” she said. “It’s been a great fit for me.”

Wisconsin Law Journal: What other job(s) did you consider trying?
Krista Ebbens: Well, let’s see, doctor was one of them. My bachelor degree is actually in anthropology, so anthropology was something I considered.

WLJ: What profession would you not like to explore?
Ebbens: I would not like to be an accountant. Numbers are not my first love. I enjoyed working for accountants, but I would not want to be an accountant.

WLJ: What surprises you most about your work?
Ebbens: The level of paper. The amount of paper that goes into construction contracts, you can purchase $3,000 of construction services on 300 pages and $3 million on two pages.

WLJ: What would you change about the construction industry?
Ebbens: Probably the amount of paper. There’s been lots of attempts to create some level of standard documents. Lots of industry groups have tried to come up with their own set of documents. And no one ever seems to adopt those in their entirety, so every person has their own terms and conditions and that creates the paper.

WLJ: What’s the last movie you saw?
Ebbens: The last movie I saw? I have a 7-month-old baby, so it’s been a while. The last movie I saw was ‘Argo.’

WLJ: What would you never wear?
Ebbens: Sequins.

WLJ: If you could change one thing about yourself, what would it be?
Ebbens: Let’s see, um, I think I’m good. I’m almost 40. I’ve come to grips. It’s just who I am. I’ve come to accept myself; good, bad and otherwise.

WLJ: What would your colleagues be surprised to find out about you?
Ebbens: I was a big listener of rap music in the ’90s. Not only rap, but some bad rap in the ’90s into the early 2000s. I’ve reformed. I now listen to country.