Karnes’ practical guidance helps clients with pandemic recovery

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When COVID-19 turned into a pandemic, Russell Karnes helped his law firm — GRGB Law in Milwaukee — and his clients get used to a new way of life.

“Everyone’s kind of rethinking the world right now,” Karnes said. “It’s important that we’re providing a broad legal practice that our clients can rely on.”

Karnes is an associate with a diverse civil-litigation practice. He helps clients with real-estate matters, property-tax-assessment appeals, contract and business disputes, foreclosure and title-insurance litigation, municipal law and more. Before joining GRGB in 2016, he was the managing attorney of a real estate and creditor’s rights firm.

His deep background in real estate is an asset to the firm, said Christopher Strohbehn, partner at GRGB. Strohbehn and his colleagues rely on Karnes’ ability to offer a different perspective on legal matters and to find resolutions.

“He’s got a great dry sense of humor,” Strohbehn said. “When you can translate that into dealing with legal problems and personalities, it can be pretty entertaining.”

Karnes has been providing his knowledge to small businesses and other organizations to help them recover from the pandemic. He said many clients just need someone to hear them out.

“There isn’t always a legal sword we can use,” Karnes said. “Sometimes it’s just better to be patient and wait for things to fall into place.”

Strohbehn said clients appreciate Karnes’ straightforward, practical guidance.

For Karnes, those kinds of conversations lead to some of the proudest moments of his career.

“Proud moments really come when the client is satisfied,” Karnes said. “That’s what I look forward to.”