Drabiszczak is Godfrey & Kahn’s ‘IT’ guy

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IT employees’ contributions can go largely unnoticed — that is, until there’s some sort of technological glitch that interrupts work at a busy office.

At Godfrey & Kahn in Milwaukee, James Drabiszczak helps ensure that employees can go about their day-to-day work smoothly.

Drabiszczak, an applications analyst, joined the firm 20 years ago and has since been deemed instrumental in helping it adopt various document- and case-management systems.

He monitors software systems to identify possible threats to projects, thereby protecting the firm’s important legal work. When there’s a cause for concern, he helps with troubleshooting “regardless of the time of day or day of the week,” said Chuck Allenstein, Godfrey & Kahn director of information technology.

Drabiszczak also recommends new ways to improve the firm’s output.

“In an industry where downtime and delays are unacceptable, and documents number into the tens of thousands, James rises to the top,” Allenstein said.

Drabiszczak said Godfrey & Kahn makes it a point to ensure employees know they are appreciated.

It’s “one of the top reasons why this is a great place to work,” Drabiszczak said.

His path to IT work started while he was in the U.S. Air Force in the early ’80s and was enrolled in a year-long electronics course. He went on to teach basic electronics for the Air Force for a couple of years.

Aside from attending an occasional IT seminar or one-week class, Drabiszczak is mostly self-taught. The need to keep up with rapid changes in technology is the hardest part of his job, he said.

As a senior member of Godfrey & Kahn’s IT team, Drabiszczak trains younger colleagues.

Reliable technology systems are essential to the firm’s employees and clients, Allenstein said, “and all benefit by having James working tirelessly behind the scenes to ensure that things are running smoothly and without issue.”