That’s a Fine Idea! State Bar Reveals 2018 Top Legal Innovators

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
NOV. 9, 2018
Contact:
Kristen Durst
(608) 250-6025
kdurst@wisbar.org
That’s a Fine Idea! State Bar Reveals 2018 Top Legal Innovators
Madison, WI – For the fifth year, the State Bar of Wisconsin is honoring the state’s top legal innovators through the organization’s “That’s a Fine Idea: Legal Innovation Wisconsin” initiative. This year the State Bar honors six legal innovator big ideas, including one lifetime-award winner.
–Lifetime Innovator Emerly Harlan: Champion of Diversity
Diversity in the legal profession is a challenge that might never be solved outright, but Milwaukee attorney Emery K. Harlan, a partner with MWH Law Group LLP, is doing his part to help. Harlan’s current firm has 16 attorneys, including eight African Americans, one Hispanic, and 10 females. Harlan was a founder of the National Association of Women and Minority Owned Law Firms, created in 2001 to promote diversity by fostering successful relationships between diverse attorneys and both private and public legal clients. During the past couple years at MWH and for many years before that at his previous firm, Gonzalez, Saggio & Harlan, Harlan worked to hire and promote minority and female attorneys.
–Sheila Sullivan and Team: Standing Up for Crime Victims
The state’s Legal Services Corporation-funded civil legal aid providers, Legal Action of Wisconsin and Wisconsin Judicare, have established a victim rights project aimed at helping those who have survived crimes, particularly domestic violence and sexual assault. The pilot project began in fall 2017 with funding and support from the Wisconsin Department of Justice’s Office of Crime Victim Services, and thanks to a partnership with Wisconsin Judicare, the services are available statewide. The team includes project supervisor Sheila Sullivan and project attorneys Ann Rufo, Becca Donaldson, Kori Ashley, Susan Lund, and Rachel Sattler of Legal Action Wisconsin as well as attorneys William Baynard and Amanda Rabe and supervising attorney Beth Ann Richlen of Judicare. More than 200 people from nearly half of Wisconsin’s 72 counties have received information, advice, or full legal representation since last December, and 91 cases were open as of mid-September.
–Abby Churchill: Helping Transgender Clients
Transgender people face unique legal challenges, and Abby Churchill founded the nonprofit law center Trans Law Help Wisconsin to assist. The Trans Law Help Team has held six clinics to provide general legal information about the name and gender change process, which is more complicated than most clients think. The Trans Law Help team also is developing a statewide attorney referral network, with an eye toward developing resources outside of Madison and Milwaukee. The issue of inaccurate documents such as birth certificates, driver’s licenses, and passports can affect transgender people in any number of realms, from obtaining employment, to securing a loan, to providing proof of identity to law enforcement.
–Heidi Wegleitner, Rebeka Pritchett, Raphael Ramos, Don Tolbert, Maggie Niebler-Brown, and Sofia Ascorbe: Eviction Defense for Low-Income Tenants
Tenants facing eviction, most of whom typically self-represent and lose their cases, have a better chance of gaining legal help in the Milwaukee and Madison areas thanks to the efforts of the respective local offices of Legal Action of Wisconsin, which have launched twin Eviction Defense Projects during the past couple of years. The Milwaukee County effort, staffed by project director Raphael Ramos, staff attorney Sofia Ascorbe, and paralegal Don Tolbert, has served 966 clients since early 2017 with help from 73 volunteer attorneys and 25 Marquette University Law School students. The Dane County project, begun in early 2018 and run by attorney Heidi Wegleitner and paralegal Rebeka Pritchett, has served 210 clients with 361 hours from 16 active pro bono attorneys and more than 100 hours of student help. Attorney Maggie Niebler-Brown coordinates the organization’s overall Volunteer Lawyers Project, while Deedee Peterson supervises its development.
–Collin Schaefer, Anne Smith, Eric Englund, and Louis Condon: Seeding Success for Startups
Entrepreneurs starting companies often focus on their product or service ideas and the funding they need to birth those ideas. But they’re sometimes less mindful of careful planning around corporate governance, such as formation of necessary advisory and governance boards and the completion of proper legal forms. Madison-area attorneys Anne Smith, Eric Englund, and Louis Condon and angel investor and entrepreneur Terry Sivesind founded an organization called Madison Seed Accelerator, Inc. (aka Madworks) in 2014 that has evolved to tackle this set of governance challenges, prompted by the need they saw and encouragement from the entrepreneurial community. Madworks has since worked with several dozen startup companies to ensure they build a solid foundation. Program manager Collin Schaefer, who is also an attorney, says the goal of the pro bono program is to build companies that last.
–Karen Renee: Creating a One-stop Shop for Finding Court Reporters
Karen Renee has been a court reporter in the Milwaukee area for about a decade and has owned Milwaukee Court Reporters for the past five years. She created eCourtReporters.com to provide a platform where attorneys and paralegals can, with the click of a few buttons, choose court reporters and videographers based on their qualifications, certifications, years of experience, pricing, availability, and customer ratings. The database now has nearly 7,000 entries in almost all 50 states.
More information about our 2018 Wisconsin Legal Innovators and their work is available here.
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The State Bar of Wisconsin is the mandatory professional association, created by the Wisconsin Supreme Court, for attorneys who hold a Wisconsin law license. With more than 25,000 members, the State Bar aids the courts in improving the administration of justice, provides continuing legal education for its members to help them maintain their expertise, and assists Wisconsin lawyers in carrying out community service initiatives to educate the public about the legal system and the value of lawyers. For more information, visit www.wisbar.org.

Mead & Hunt announces change in top leadership: Marconnet and Mason named Group Leaders

Greg Marconnet and Jeff Mason, PE, were promoted to Group Leaders on October 1st. These corporate vice president roles will lead the marketing, sales and operations teams of these two high growth markets for Mead & Hunt.
Marconnet was selected to be the Group Leader for the newly created Food & Beverage Group. Mason will be taking the helm as Group Leader for the Architecture & Building Engineering Group.
“The time was ripe to transition our Food & Beverage team into a stand-alone group. They are bringing in new clients and projects at an ever-increasing rate. The addition of the Fenton, MO, engineering team last year has pushed the growth even faster,” said Andy Platz, CEO/President of Mead & Hunt. “Greg brings a wealth of industry knowledge after a long career with Kraft Foods and his current role as Business Unit Leader for our Food & Beverage team.”
Prior to his promotion to Group Leader, Mason was the Western Business Unit Leader within the Architecture & Building Engineering Group. He has been with Mead & Hunt for more than 20 years. The Architecture & Building Engineering Group focuses on aviation, military and other public and government facilities.
“Jeff is client-focused and strategic making him the perfect fit for the large and diverse Architecture & Building Engineering Group. The breadth of this group’s capabilities is increasing more and more. We need a leader who embraces the Mead & Hunt culture and will help this group continue to evolve and grow,” said Platz. “We anticipate continued growth and expansion of these markets under the new leadership.”
Platz continued that Jeff and Greg are a united front, prepared to deliver what our clients want and support our employees’ careers, adding that Mead & Hunt is wrapping up a very successful 2018 and looking forward to a promising 2019.

Marconnet

Mason

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Media Contacts:
Andy Platz, CEO and President, andy.platz@meadhunt.com 608-443-0600
Greg Marconnet, Vice President and Food & Beverage Group Leader, greg.marconnet@meadhunt.com 608-443-0550
Jeff Mason, Vice President and Architecture & Building Engineering Group Leader, jeff.mason@meadhunt.com 971-717-6504
Kary Beck, Corporate Communications, kary.beck@meadhunt.com 608-443-0370

Capitol Bank Announces New Hires

Madison, WI: Ken Thompson, President and CEO of Capitol Bank, is pleased to announce three new hires: Heather Flood (Assistant Vice President of Deposit Operations), Natalie (Braun) Gregerson (Director of Marketing) and Briel Kohl (Portfolio Manager).

Heather Flood has 24 years of banking experience in Dane County making her well-respected in the industry. Her experience ranges from relationship banking and customer service, to branch management and deposit operations management. She is a native of Whitewater, Wisconsin and currently resides in Evansville. She earned a Bachelor of Letters & Science/English literature from the University of Wisconsin – Madison. Heather spends time with her family at school functions and sports activities, as well as attending various events in the local and greater Madison communities.

Natalie Gregerson brings five years of experience from the technology and construction sectors, where she worked for national and international companies. Natalie’s broad skillset includes a commercial drone pilot license. She is a native of northern Iowa and now resides in Southwest Wisconsin. She earned a Bachelor of Business Administration in Marketing from the University of Wisconsin-Platteville and a Bachelor of Communications/Public Relations with a minor in social media. Relatively new to the Madison market, Natalie is eager to become an active member of the community and has already supported local events, such as The Alzheimer’s Association Walk to End Alzheimer’s®.

Briel Kohl adds four years of commercial and retail banking knowledge to the already talented and diverse Commercial Lending Group at Capitol Bank. Briel’s banking experience includes credit analysis, treasury management marketing and portfolio management. She is a native of Wisconsin and currently resides in Baraboo. She has degrees in International Business, Accounting and Management from Upper Iowa University, where she also played soccer and spent time studying abroad. Briel is active in the local area, including organizations such as Baraboo Young Professionals and Baraboo Kiwanis.

About Capitol Bank: Capitol Bank, locally-owned and operated, is committed to serving the communities in which we live, work and do business. We are proud of the partnerships we have established with organizations, businesses and individuals in the Madison and Verona communities. Our philosophy of community support is demonstrated at the corporate level, as well as in the time and energy our employees devote to our community each year.

Jesse Roberts Promoted to Business Development Executive at M3

Madison, WI – Jesse Roberts has been promoted to the position of Business Development Executive at M3 Insurance. Based in the Madison office, Jesse educates the business community about M3 offerings including insurance and risk management, employee benefits, and employer-sponsored retirement plans. He further assists customers and prospects during the sales process, presenting solutions and matching them with the appropriate service team to address their unique business insurance needs.

Jesse joined M3 as part of the pilot group of the M3YOU program in 2016 and, demonstrating strengths aligning with the business development team, moved into the role of a Business Development Specialist in January of 2017. From that role, Jesse quickly grew into the capacity of his newly appointed position as a Business Development Executive.

M3 Insurance offers insight, advice and strategies to help clients manage risk, purchase insurance and provide employee benefits. We are committed to being experts in both the products we represent and the industries we serve. Our people advance M3’s competitive advantage in the marketplace, and our focus on community builds better places to live and work. M3 is consistently ranked a top 100 broker in America and celebrates its 50th anniversary in 2018.

Nancy Maloy joins NGL as Senior Vice President and Chief Actuary

Madison, Wis. (September 10, 2018) – National Guardian Life Insurance Company (NGL), a mutual insurance company located in Madison, Wis., announced the appointment of Nancy Maloy as Senior Vice President and Chief Actuary. Maloy will oversee all actuarial activities for NGL, including business development, pricing, valuation, forecasting and liability management.

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