Balancing act not easy, but rewards outweigh costs

Listen to this article

It wasn’t easy, but Ann M. Maher found a way to make it all work.

She did it because she loves litigation and by seeking out an extensive support network — but not in the manner she suggested to a senior partner at the law firm where she clerked as a student. It was 1986, and her children were one and three.

“When he learned I had young children and was a law student, he asked me, ‘What do you do with your children all day while you’re working?’ I responded, ‘I lock them in the closet, of course.

What do you do with yours?’”

He laughed and they’ve been friends ever since.

Maher, the vice president of the Litigation Department and a member of the board of directors at Whyte Hirschboeck Dudek SC in Milwaukee, has successfully tried a wide variety of business cases — contracts, dealership and antitrust — in courtrooms across the nation.

She says the relationships she’s formed with clients have been the best part of the experience.

For example, she worked with the former vice-president of real estate of a major grocery store client in two different breach-of-contract cases, and obtained successful jury verdicts.

“He was such a brilliant man and great witness we didn’t even need an expert,” Maher said.

Other highlights include two favorable arbitration awards for a small manufacturing company “owned by two wonderful businessmen” against much larger companies.

Maher was drawn to the legal profession by her father, George Kosta, a St. Louis trial lawyer.

“Despite the long hours, he loved his job. Although he never pushed me, or any of his four daughters, into the legal profession, his enthusiasm for it inspired me to follow in his footsteps.”

Looking ahead, for herself, Maher foresees many productive representations that will take her into many familiar courtrooms, and the not-so-familiar, too.

As for the lawyers who come after her, she said, “Both men and women need to figure out how to balance careers in the law and having a life, including children if they choose. It’s challenging for everyone, especially in private practice, because clients expect 24/7 service and they deserve it.”

To read all of the Women in the Law profiles, click here