Daughety makes diversity in the profession a priority

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In just two years as a lawyer, Devon Daughety has already won the admiration of her peers and promoted diversity in the profession.

A member of Kohner, Mann & Kailas’s finance department, Daughety counsels the firm’s national clientele in matters related to business and banking, mortgage-default services, bankruptcy, secured transactions, commercial collections, construction lien and bond law.

Matthew Gerdisch, KMK president, said Daughety has also shown an ability to negotiate and draft settlement agreements, which have “considerable monetary consequences resulting in substantial value for the firm’s clients.”

Her accomplishments include prosecuting a case that helped a vendor client recover $1 million, which was loaned to a Vermont ski resort.

Daughety said she derives fulfilment from helping clients. Much of what they bring to her forces her to try to look at common difficulties in new ways and come up with clever solutions.

Daughety started her career in the financial-services industry. For more than eight years, she worked at Wells Fargo in Milwaukee, managing compliance projects for foreclosure and bankruptcy procedures. She continued working for the financial institution while attending law school at the University of Arkansas.

After earning her law degree in 2016, she served as a law clerk to two judges in the 2nd Judicial Circuit of Arkansas. Daughety returned to Milwaukee, where she was a clerk for Judge Michael Halfenger of the U.S. Bankruptcy Court in the Eastern District of Wisconsin, before joining KMK.

“In the two years since she earned her law degree she has developed the capabilities and expertise most lawyers would require many more years to attain,” Gerdisch said. “She continually demonstrates tremendous maturity, sound judgment and a dynamic work ethic that raises the level of the work of those around her.”

Another responsibility Daughety has taken on is increasing diversity in the legal profession, particularly in Milwaukee.

“Even by doing simple things, such as showing up to attorney-networking events, makes a significant difference,” she said. “I am very thankful that my firm recognizes a commitment to diversity and has given me many leadership opportunities.”

Daughety also helps young adult students through the Judge Clevert internship and mentoring programs of the Eastern District of Wisconsin’s Bar Association. The programs offer Milwaukee youth a closer look inside the legal world.

“Many of these students are students of color that do not know any lawyers,” Daughety said. “This program introduces them to the practice of law and shows them that law can be a career option.”