The Wisconsin Law Journal honored 23 outstanding women lawyers Thursday night during its annual Women in the Law event at Discovery World in Milwaukee.

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The burden of student-loan debt continues to loom over thousands of students in Wisconsin. Yet, few attorneys are taking steps to deal with the situation.

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Kathy Charlton has always been drawn to fighting injustice. Case in point: She read books by Ralph Nader while growing up.

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When it comes to giving, JoAnn Eiring is a tough act to follow.

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Meghan Shannon has often walked into a corporate meeting to discover she’s the only woman present. Most men — for the simple fact they are men — will not be able to fully understand what that’s like.

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Kathy Pakes has made a career out of understanding the troubles and needs of the people she is working with at any given moment.

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Laura Crivello and her all-female team of assistant district attorneys have seen the worst of the worst over the years, dismantling drug-trafficking operations and prosecuting violent offenders in Milwaukee County.

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Working at a law firm was never part of Jennifer Hannon’s life plan, but she is grateful for going off course.

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Although Elizabeth Haas has shown her mettle time and time again, she’s not done making a difference.

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Long before Susan Tyndall began law school, she was destined to do appellate work.

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Although she secured a conviction and an eight-year prison sentence for a U.S. Marshall who had sexually assaulted women in Milwaukee County, Erin Karshen didn’t stop there — not when her investigation had uncovered evidence that linked the culprit to assaults in another county.

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Laura Sette went to law school to be a prosecutor. Instead, she became a public defender in Brooklyn after graduation before coming to Wisconsin.

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Elizabeth Orelup is known by her colleagues at Quarles & Brady as an “influential and deeply respected” leader who has helped the firm shape its diversity and women’s initiatives.

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Mindi Giftos hopes the success she’s had in the fields of intellectual property and technology law will give aspiring female lawyers a little bit of confidence that they can do the same.

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Melissa Schaller always thought she would be a writer one day.

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At first glance, the two parts of Susan Allen’s legal practice may seem as if they have little in common. But to Allen, a partner at Stafford Rosenbaum in Milwaukee, her litigation practice and work for municipalities are a natural combination.

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While working with a domestic-violence shelter, Michele Perreault spent a lot of time in court as an expert witness.

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The Wisconsin Law Journal honored 29 outstanding women lawyers Wednesday night during the annual Women in the Law event at Discovery World in Milwaukee. More than 300 people were in attendance for the 14th annual event.

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When Tanner Kilander was around the age of 5 or 6, a little girl in her class was put into foster care.

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At 9 years old, Carrie Sperling harked back to the words of U.S. Rep. Barbara Jordan during her address at the Democratic National Convention in 1976. Jordan’s speech inspired Sperling to set the wheels of her career in motion.

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For her tireless devotion to family law and her profound understanding of family relations and her thorough knowledge of the law, Sara Quirt-Sann is the Wisconsin Law Journal’s 2017 Woman of the Year.

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Betty Eberle is no ordinary Wisconsin lawyer. Beyond her assets as a practitioner — which include a Stanford law degree — Eberle brings to the law a perspective that was shaped by experiences from around the globe.

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How can someone tell if her advice is held in high regard by her colleagues?

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To say Gail Groy, a partner at Axley Brynelson, had some obstacles to overcome to get where she is today is an understatement.

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Laurie Petersen is in many respects a leader, and does what she can to teach younger lawyers all the lessons she has learned in her successful career.

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In nominating Kristin Sederholm for a Women in the Law award, David Krekeler, of Krekeler Strother, called the path that brought her to the legal profession the “epitome of the uncommon.”

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After listening to a lawyer speak about the legal profession at a career fair, DeVona Wright Cottrell decided in eighth grade that she would be a lawyer.

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No two days are ever the same for Holly Lutz. Some days she works out of a barn on her farm in Wausau; other days find her traveling the state meeting clients and practicing disability law.

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Playing college basketball for the University of Wisconsin-Green Bay taught Amy Bruchs how to perform well under pressure.

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Terese Halfmann has had a successful career as a personal-injury lawyer working on medical-malpractice and nursing-home abuse and neglect cases in no small part because of her extensive first-hand experience in health care.

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