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Maynard uses working-class upbringing as motivation

By: Nate Beck, [email protected]//September 13, 2018//

Maynard uses working-class upbringing as motivation

By: Nate Beck, [email protected]//September 13, 2018//

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Timothy Maynard - Hawks Quindel
Timothy Maynard – Hawks Quindel

Timothy Maynard always thought it would be fulfilling to work as an attorney.

But he didn’t broadcast it. And it would take years in another career before he made the leap.

After graduating from Marquette University with an English degree in 2006, he went to work for several years as a purchasing manager at a company in the Chicago area.

It was a good job, he said, but the idea of going to law school kept nagging him.

“I always had the idea that you could pursue something you were passionate about and do that,” he said.

Finally, Maynard and his wife moved to Milwaukee and he enrolled at Marquette University Law School. It didn’t really sink in that he would be a lawyer until just before he took his LSAT.

But earning a law degree still left another nagging question: What to do with it?

During law school, Maynard worked on a national class-action wage-and-hour lawsuit for the Milwaukee-based firm Hawks Quindel. It was an experience that influenced his choice to go into employment law, representing workers.

At the same time, he found himself drawn, after he had helped resolve disputes as a purchasing manager, to representing employees. His working-class upbringing was a motivator, as well. His dad worked in sales, and his mom was a nurse.

“I’ve seen all my life how seriously people take their jobs,” he said.

Although he initially thought he could help employers and employees resolve their differences amicably, he later learned he’d have to choose sides.

“I wasn’t expecting the area to be as politicized as it is,” Maynard said. “Most people see one way very clearly and there’s not a lot of wiggle room. This is an area of law where claims are hotly contested at the end of the day. That more or less solidified the direction I wanted to go.”

After starting with Hawks Quindel full-time after graduating from law school in 2013, Maynard has brought other class-action suits on behalf of workers and litigated workplace-discrimination cases.

He also specializes in representing clients with disabilities, helping them manage benefit cases and other disputes. It’s a particularly rewarding facet of his job, he said, because he’s able to help people who are faced with hardship find hope and provide for their families.

“When I go home at the end of the night I can feel good about the work I’ve done,” he said. “When you get a good result, it’s a really rewarding feeling. It covers a bill, helps them pay down their credit card. When you get a disability denial overturned, you know you’ve given them a good bit of hope.”

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