Attorney Intel is pleased to announce The 25 Notable Attorneys of Wisconsin for 2023. Some may know Wisconsin as "The Badger State" or as “America’s Dairyland.” But since 2020, its legal industry has been experiencing post-pandemic changes. Larger law firms on the coasts have been targeting the Midwest and, in many cases, Wisconsin to make acquisitions and expand their footprints. The state provides a lot of competitive advantages, including many companies and businesses that firms want to have as their clients. This group of notable attorneys works across private and public sectors for noteworthy firms and companies, such as Perkins Coie LLP, Assurant, and GE Healthcare.
Among this year’s awardees is Tomislav Kuzmanovic, Partner at Hinshaw & Culbertson LLP, who’s a trial lawyer with more than 25 years of trial experience both domestically and internationally. Awardee Smitha Chintamaneni, Partner at Husch Blackwell, has acted as counsel for several Wisconsin-based government entities, including the Village of Mount Pleasant, Racine County, and Kenosha County. Also awarded is Emily Feinstein, Partner at Quarles & Brady LLP. Feinstein is a leader in helping survivors of domestic violence obtain protective injunctions to prevent their abusers from contacting them and created a network of attorneys in the Madison area to represent these clients.
Please join us in celebrating the accomplishments of The 25 Notable Attorneys of Wisconsin for 2023.
Miles Johnson
Partner, Kirkland & Ellis LLP
Miles Johnson is the Partner of Kirkland & Ellis LLP. Johnson is a tax partner in the firm’s Chicago office. He first joined the company in 2015. He was previously a Public Interest Law Initiative Fellow at the Chicago Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights Under Law and a Summer Associate at K&L Gates LLP. Before this, he was a Student Associate providing legal assistance to Institutionalized Persons Clinic, Frank J. Remington Center. Johnson earned a JD from the University of Chicago Law School and an undergraduate degree in English and philosophy from the University of Wisconsin-Madison.
Amrita Ringwala
Senior Counsel, GE Healthcare
Amrita Ringwala is the Senior Counsel of GE Healthcare. Her experience spans transactional law, more specifically negotiating complex and high-valued vendor contracts. This includes redlining, drafting, and negotiating software license and maintenance agreements, SaaS agreements, cloud services Agreements, nondisclosure and confidentiality agreements, and many other types of vendor commercial contracts.
Previously, Ringwala was at Zions Bancorporation as a Contracts Manager AVP. Before this, she was a Law Clerk at MehaffyWeber, P.C., and a Legal Intern at Amarchand & Mangaldas & Suresh A. Shroff. Earlier in her career, she was a Compliance & Audit Analyst at Shell Oil Company. Ringwala graduated from South Texas College of Law Houston with a JD and from The University of Texas at Austin with an undergraduate degree in economics.
Rachel Rabideau
Senior Counsel, Assurant
Rachel Rabideau is the Senior Counsel of Assurant, a health insurance provider. She first joined the company in 2004 as Associate Counsel. Her specialties include insurance rating practices, health savings accounts, and claims payment practices.
Previously, Rabideau was an Associate at the Law Office of Alan Eisenberg. Rabideau earned a JD from Full Stack Squad and an undergraduate degree in American studies from the University of Notre Dame.
Gustavo Grunbaum
Corporate Counsel, S.C. Johnson
Gustavo Grunbaum is the Corporate Counsel of S.C. Johnson. He first joined the company in 2005. Previously, Grunbaum was a Senior Counsel at Calpine Corporation. Before that, he was an Associate at Thelen Reid Brown Raysman and Steiner. Earlier in his career he worked at Dickstein Shapiro as an Associate. Grunbaum earned a JD from the University of California Berkeley Law School and an undergraduate degree in economics, business, and geography from the University of California, Los Angeles.
Daniel Shapiro
Senior Counsel, Komatsu Mining
Daniel Shapiro is the Senior Counsel of Komatsu Mining. He first joined the company in 2021. Previously, Shapiro was Senior Counsel at Briggs and Stratton. Before that, he was a Commercial Contracts Attorney at GE Healthcare and Associate Attorney at Kohner, Mann & KailasKohner. Earlier in his career, he worked as an Assistant State's Attorney with McHenry County State's Attorney's Office. Shapiro earned a JD from Marquette University Law School and an undergraduate degree in history from the University of Wisconsin-Madison.
Jason Kelroy
General Counsel & Corporate Secretary, Kohls
Jason Kelroy is the General Counsel and Corporate Secretary for Kohl’s. In his role, Kelroy is responsible for all legal matters for the business and also serves as corporate secretary for the Kohl’s Board of Directors.
Kelroy joined Kohl's in 2004 as legal counsel and has since held a number of progressive leadership roles, serving as general counsel since 2015. Kelroy has more than 20 years of legal experience. Prior to joining Kohl’s, he served as an associate at the law firm of Vorys, Sater, Seymour and Pease LLP.
Sean Drury
Senior Counsel, Thrivent
Sean Drury is the Senior Counsel of Thrivent, a Fortune 500 diversified financial services organization. He first joined the company in 2016 as Counsel. Before joining Thrivent, Drury was an Attorney at Tracey Wood and Associates and an Attorney at Wisconsin State Public Defender. Drury graduated from the University of Wisconsin Madison with a JD and from the University of Minnesota with an undergraduate degree in political science and American studies.
James Hegarty
Senior Counsel, GE Healthcare
James Hegarty is the Senior Counsel of GE Healthcare. His specialties include healthcare fraud and abuse, healthcare marketing and sales, medical devices, pharmaceuticals, corporate compliance, antitrust, and litigation.
Hegarty first got his start in 1999 as an Attorney at the Federal Trade Commission. From there, he went on to McDermott Will and Emery before eventually rising to Senior Corporate Counsel at Pfizer, his most recent position prior to joining GE Healthcare. Hegarty graduated from the University of Chicago Law School with a JD and an undergraduate degree in public policy studies and economics from Duke University.
James Herriott
General Counsel, Exact Sciences
James Herriott is the Senior Vice President, General Counsel, and Secretary of Exact Sciences. He first joined the company in 2018 as Senior Counsel overseeing Corporate and M&A.
Previously, Herriott was at the global law firm K&L Gates LLP, where he practiced corporate and securities law. Prior to his tenure at K&L Gates, he practiced corporate and securities law at Paul Hastings LLP. Herriott has a JD from Vanderbilt University Law School and a bachelor’s degree in economics from Duke University.
Alec Smyczek
General Counsel, Milwaukee Tool
Alec Smyczek is the General Counsel of Milwaukee Tool. He joined Milwaukee Tool in 2015 as a Senior Patent Attorney before going on to become the Director of Intellectual Property.
Before joining Milwaukee Tool, Smyczek was an Associate at Reinhart Boerner Van Deuren, where he was for over six years. He is admitted to practice in the state of Wisconsin and before the U.S. Patent & Trademark Office. Smyczek graduated from Marquette University Law with a JD and from the University of Notre Dame with an undergraduate degree in electrical engineering economics.
Theresa Meiners
Environmental, Social and Governance Leader, Baker Tilly Virchow Krause, LLP
Theresa Meiners is the Environmental, Social and Governance Leader at Baker Tilly Virchow Krause, LLP. She’s responsible for organizing and formalizing all the firm's ESG work and is tasked with developing a focused, unified ESG strategy. She first joined the firm in 2016 as General Counsel. As General Counsel, she supervised the firm’s work with outside counsel, oversaw firm compliance, conducted subpoena and discovery activities, and managed engagement contract approvals.
Previously, Meiners was a Partner at Foley & Lardner LLP, where she oversaw distribution and franchise counseling and litigation, commercial litigation, insurance, and reinsurance counseling and litigation. She graduated with a JD from the University of Wisconsin-Madison and St. Norbert College with a bachelor's degree in English.
Jane Blake
Senior Counsel, Fujifilm Planar Solutions LLC
Jane Blake is the Senior Counsel of Fujifilm Planar Solutions LLC. Before joining Fujifilm, Blake was a Senior Corporate Counsel at Arcus Bioscience. She drafted and negotiated corporate and clinical contracts, including clinical trial agreements, investigator-initiated research agreements, software license agreements, master service agreements, and consulting agreements. Previously, she was a Senior Corporate Counsel of the Legal Department at Cerus. Earlier in her career, she worked with Fenwick and West as an Associate. Blake graduated from Northwestern University Pritzker School of Law with a JD and from Somerville College, Oxford University, with an undergraduate degree in history.
Jenna Walker
General Counsel, ThedaCare
Jenna Walker is the General Counsel of ThedaCare. She leads the risk and compliance areas of ThedaCare’s legal department. Walker also develops and influences the development of the corporate legal strategy and executes the strategy to promote and protect the assets of the organization.
Previously, Walker was an Attorney at Sorenson Law Office. Her specialty areas included municipal and land use law, tax assessment appeals, medical assistance, elder law, estate planning, guardian ad litem, collections, and bankruptcy. Walker graduated from Marquette University Law School with a JD and from the University of Wisconsin Madison with an undergraduate degree in journalism and communications.
Andrew Hanson
Partner, Perkins Coie LLP
Andrew Hanson is a Partner at Perkins Coie LLP. He is in the firm’s Environmental & Natural Resources practice, where he has been involved in negotiating contracts and seeking regulatory approvals for hundreds of millions of dollars of investments in renewable energy projects, energy efficiency, and demand response programs. This includes electric vehicle infrastructure, advanced metering infrastructure, grid modernization, and other emerging technologies in the energy sector.
Prior to joining Perkins Coie, Hanson served as a Senior Attorney with Alliant Energy. Before this, Hanson held several positions in public service, including seven years as a Trial Attorney with the Environment and Natural Resources Division of the U.S. Department of Justice in Washington, D.C. Prior to that, he was with the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) in its Office of Civil Enforcement and in EPA’s Office of Groundwater and Drinking Water. Hanson graduated from the Lewis & Clark Law School with a JD and the University of Michigan with a bachelor’s degree in environmental policy and behavior.
Jeff Kowieski
Partner & General Counsel, Wipfli LLP
Jeff Kowieski is a Partner and General Counsel at Wipfli LLP. He is a member of the firm’s senior leadership team and is responsible for the firm’s legal and risk management functions. Kowieski has previously served as Wipfli’s Chief Operating Officer and as a member of the firm’s board of directors. His practice background is in tax law. He has focused on high-value transactional structuring matters, including M&A transaction structuring, entity planning, and estate and business succession planning.
Prior to joining Wipfli, Kowieski was an Attorney at Ruder Ware, a prominent Wisconsin law firm. Kowieski graduated from the University of Wisconsin-Madison with a JD and a bachelor’s degree in accounting from the University of Wisconsin-Eau Claire.
Joe Meara
Partner, Foley & Lardner LLP
Joseph Meara is a Partner and intellectual property lawyer at Foley & Lardner LLP. Meara counsels chemical, pharmaceutical, and biotechnology clients on domestic and international intellectual property strategies. He is a member of the firm's Chemical, Biotechnology, and Pharmaceutical Practice and the Life Sciences, Food & Beverage, and Energy Industry Teams. Meara’s practice extends to all aspects of IP portfolio management, patent procurement, non-infringement, freedom to operate, invalidity opinions, due diligence, and licensing. In addition, Meara has been actively involved in appeals to the Board of the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office as well as ex parte reexaminations and patent office trials, serving as lead counsel for inter partes review proceedings both opposing and defending patents.
Prior to joining Foley & Lardner, he was a Judicial Extern for the Honorable Barbara J. Rothstein, Federal District Court of Western Washington. Meara received a doctorate in medicinal chemistry from the University of Wisconsin-Madison, a JD from the University of Washington School of Law, and a bachelor's degree in chemistry from Washington University.
Charles Facktor
Senior Attorney, Alliant Energy
Charles Facktor is a Senior Attorney at Alliant Energy, an energy holding company. He began his career as an Assistant District Attorney for Milwaukee County, where he was assigned to prosecute street crimes. Facktor then went on to become a U.S. Navy Judge Advocate General for the U.S. Navy. Later, he expanded his legal experience in the private sector with stints at Wisconsin Energy and Mirant Energy. Facktor graduated from Harvard Law School with a JD and from the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign with an undergraduate degree in political science.
Smitha Chintamaneni
Partner, Husch Blackwell
Smitha Chintamaneni is a Partner at Husch Blackwell. Chintamaneni deals with complex real estate projects and contested tax matters. In the course of her twenty years of practice, her clients have included businesses, healthcare entities, landowners, governmental entities, nonprofit organizations, and high-net-worth individuals. Chintamaneni has acted as counsel for several Wisconsin-based government entities, including the Village of Mount Pleasant, Racine County, and Kenosha County, in matters related to development, eminent domain and tax disputes.
Prior to Husch Blackwell, Chintamaneni was a partner with the Milwaukee-based law firm of Von Briesen & Roper, S.C. and was the Co-Chair of that firm’s real estate group. She was listed by Milwaukee Biz Times as a 2020 “Notable Women in Law” and has been consistently named among industry leaders by The Best Lawyers in America in the areas of Construction Law, Real Estate, and Real Estate Litigation. Chintamaneni is a frequent author and speaker on eminent domain, condemnation, and takings, and she is a past co-chair of the Milwaukee Bar Association’s Real Property Section. She graduated from Washington University with a JD and a bachelor’s degree in psychology, English, and legal studies.
Kristin Wickler
Partner, Winston & Strawn LLP
Kristin Wickler is a Partner at Winston & Strawn LLP. Her practice focuses on mergers and acquisitions and private equity transactions. She has represented companies in both public and private acquisitions, cross-border transactions, renewable energy portfolio sale transactions, joint ventures, and equity investments. Wickler regularly advises clients on corporate and LLC governance matters and complex commercial engagements.
She was previously a Law Clerk for Disability Rights California. Wickler received a master’s degree in clinical psychology from the University of Wisconsin-Madison, a JD from Stanford Law School, and a bachelor’s degree in psychology from DePaul University.
Emily Feinstein
Partner, Quarles & Brady LLP
Emily Feinstein is a Partner at Quarles & Brady LLP. She’s been with the firm for over 21 years. Building on extensive knowledge of her client’s businesses, industries, and business practices, she works efficiently to resolve disputes related to healthcare. This includes disputes for and against providers, billing disputes between providers and payers, consumer law, trade secrets, and commercial transactions. In addition, Feinstein is a leader in helping survivors of domestic violence obtain protective injunctions to prevent their abusers from contacting them. Seeing a greater need than she could meet, Feinstein created a network of attorneys in the Madison area to represent these clients. She regularly trains attorneys on how to represent clients in these situations.
Feinstein graduated from the University of Wisconsin Law School with a JD and the University of Illinois with a bachelor’s degree in sociology, women's studies, and African American studies.
Tom Kuzmanovic
Partner, Hinshaw & Culbertson LLP
Tomislav Kuzmanovic is a Partner at Hinshaw & Culbertson LLP. He’s a trial lawyer with more than 25 years of trial experience both domestically and internationally. He has tried cases to verdict in state and federal courts in Wisconsin and handled appellate matters in the 7th, 9th, and 11th Circuit Courts of Appeal. Kuzmanovic handles a wide variety of business and commercial litigation and has extensive experience in class action and appellate matters. Cases he has handled have involved complex business litigation, transportation, toxic torts, health, life, and long-term disability, long-term care, construction, litigation, and international and human rights law. Kuzmanovic joined Hinshaw & Culbertson LLP in 1988. He is a former member of the firm's Executive Committee.
Previously, Kuzmanovic was Defense Counsel at ICTY, the United Nations court of law dealing with war crimes during conflicts in the Balkans in the 1990s. Kuzmanovic graduated from the University of Wisconsin-Madison with a JD and a bachelor’s degree in political science.
Linda Moroney
Partner, Manatt, Phelps, & Phillips
Linda Moroney is a Partner in Manatt, Phelps & Phillips’ Chicago office. She represents nonprofit healthcare systems, foundations, and other tax-exempt organizations nationwide. Moroney advises clients on the formation and exemption of nonprofit organizations, including charitable foundations. She provides tax counsel on healthcare restructurings, affiliations, and mergers, as well as the conversion of taxable medical groups to tax-exempt subsidiaries of exempt healthcare systems. She also negotiates affiliation agreements, merger and purchase agreements, joint ventures, joint operating agreements, and faculty practice plan arrangements.
Before joining Manatt, Moroney was a Partner at Drinker Biddle & Reath LLP. Earlier in her career, she served as Chief Legal Officer at ProHealth Care. She’s an active American Health Lawyers Association (AHLA) member. Moroney was appointed to the AHLA Board of Directors in 2018. During her tenure, she has served as a member of the Board’s Finance Committee, Programs Committee, Governance Committee, and Membership-IDEA Committee. Moroney graduated from the University of Iowa College of Law with a JD and Buena Vista University with a bachelor’s degree in accounting.
David Price
Partner, Michael Best & Friedrich LLP
David Price is the Partner of Michael Best & Friedrich LLP. He serves as an advisor to those seeking to develop and protect intellectual property. He was previously the Chair of the firm’s Intellectual Property Practice Group. Price focuses on U.S. and foreign patent and trademark prosecution and licensing, as well as product design and development counseling. Price has been consecutively named one of the nation’s “IP Stars” by Managing Intellectual Property magazine since 2015.
Price graduated from the University of Michigan Law School with a JD and from Northwestern University with an undergraduate degree in mechanical engineering.
Kevin O'Connor
Owner & Partner, Godfrey & Kahn S.C.
Kevin O’Connor is the Owner and Partner at Godfrey & Kahn S.C. He is the Chair of the Antitrust and Trade Regulation Practice Group. O’Connor has over twenty years of experience in antitrust, trade regulation, consumer litigation, and counseling.
Before Godfrey & Kahn S.C., he served as the Assistant Attorney General in charge of antitrust enforcement and head of the Office of Consumer Protection and Antitrust in the Wisconsin Department of Justice. During his tenure in government, O’Connor chaired the National Association of Attorneys General's (NAAG) Multistate Antitrust Task Force. He led multistate working groups litigating cases involving resale price maintenance, insurance boycotts, mergers, price-fixing, complex indirect purchaser litigation, and exclusionary practices. He was also lead state counsel in the case brought by 19 states and the US-DOJ against Microsoft. O’Connor has spoken and written extensively on various areas of antitrust law. He has commented extensively on merger guidelines promulgated by federal agencies, written chapters of books and articles for various ABA section publications. He is a regular speaker at national antitrust seminars. O’Connor earned his JD from Harvard Law School and a Ph.D. in economics from the University of Wisconsin.
Brian Randall
Attorney & Partner, SmithAmundsen LLC
Brian Randall is an Attorney and Partner at SmithAmundsen LLC. As a member of the firm’s Real Estate, Zoning & Public Finance Service Group, Randall represents commercial, industrial, and residential developments. His experience includes zoning, entitlement, permitting, occupancy, variances, historic preservation, and tax Increment finance work for owners, developers, and end users. Randall works with food and beverage clients and other license holders on applications, license renewals, quasi-judicial hearings, and regulatory compliance. He also works with clients affected by municipal ordinances and regulations and manages lobbying and legislative matters where proposed ordinance changes and new regulations will affect clients.
Previously, Randall was an Attorney and Shareholder at Davis and Kuelthau, S.C. Before this, he spent two decades at Friebert, Finerty & St. John S.C. as an Attorney and Shareholder. Randall graduated from the Marquette University Law School with a JD and the University of Wisconsin-Madison with a bachelor's degree in political science and communication arts.
