Business Law Section | State Bar of Wisconsin

The Business Law Section brings together members who work in the fields of corporation, banking, partnership, securities, antitrust, trade regulation, commercial law, employer-employee relations, insurance, intellectual property and other areas of business law. Members are focused on developing and improving the law in their areas of expertise.

The State Bar of Wisconsin offers its members the opportunity to network with other lawyers who share a common interest through its 24 sections. Learn more at http://www.wisbar.org/groups.

Website: https://www.wisbar.org/forMembers/Groups/Sections/BusinessLawSection/pages/home.aspx
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Latest from Business Law Section | State Bar of Wisconsin

I was talking to an experienced farmer a few years ago about my little farm. I had a few goats, hogs, and chickens. I told him, “I hate goats!” In truth, I do not actually hate goats, but I had developed a dislike of those on my farm.

Peter S. Trotter, Illinois 2000, is vice president, general counsel, and secretary of Mason Companies, Inc., in Chippewa Falls. After making this strong statement, I felt the need for further…
Continue Reading On Tolerance and the Practice of Law. And Goats.

Burdensome consumer-like disclosures are making their way into the commercial realm as nine states have enacted legislation mandating that specific disclosures be made to financing recipients in certain commercial financing transactions at (or, in some cases, before) the consummation of the financing transaction.


Patricia Lane, Chicago 1986, is a partner with FisherBroyles, Milwaukee, where she is chair of the firm’s Banking and Financial Services Practice Group.

To date California, Connecticut, Florida, Georgia, Kansas, Missouri, New York, Utah,…
Continue Reading Nine States Now Require Commercial Financing Providers to Provide Consumer-Like Disclosures

Business attorneys should proactively reassess their clients’ contracts in response to recent tariffs and the possibility of future tariff increases. These changes can significantly impact clients’ supply chains, pricing structures, and contractual obligations across various industries, and clients must be prepared for the effects this can have on their agreements.

By reviewing and revising contracts now, attorneys can help clients mitigate risks, maintain compliance, and ensure financial stability.

While one could argue that tariff increases have at least some…
Continue Reading Amid New Tariffs, Review Client Contracts

The Delaware legislature has been moving quickly to ensure that Delaware remains the preeminent home of choice for many corporations by amending the Delaware General Corporation Law (DGCL). The comprehensive changes, known as SB 21, became law on March 25, 2025, when the Delaware House of Representatives passed the bill, and Delaware Gov. Matt Meyer signed it into law. A copy of SB 21 as finally adopted is available on the Delaware Legislature website. Delaware’s legislature and governor…
Continue Reading Delaware Enacts Significant Changes to its General Corporation Law

The legal profession, steeped in tradition and precedent, is undergoing a transformation. Generative AI, particularly large language models (LLMs), have made remarkable strides in understanding and generating human-like text.1 Whether through advanced legal research tools or e-discovery software, it is apparent that AI has a role to play in the legal system. Billable Hour Dilemma For decades, law firms have operated on a simple premise: time equals money. Associates and partners typically track their work in six-minute increments,…
Continue Reading Beyond the Billable Hour: Generative AI is Already Reshaping Law Firm Economics

Cultural competency refers to the ability to understand, communicate, and interact effectively with people from different cultural backgrounds.1 For attorneys, this means recognizing and respecting clients’ values, traditions, and perspectives while tailoring their approach to meet specific needs. This skill requires more than just awareness; it requires understanding different perspectives, reflecting on biases, expanding cultural knowledge, and building cross-cultural competencies. ​

Nancy Martinez Ramirez, is a member of the Marquette University Law School Class of 2026, in…
Continue Reading Cultural Competency Is an Essential Attorney Skill

The current legal landscape might be comparable to an alien world in a sci-fi movie, exceedingly complex and constantly changing. Myriad statutes, regulations, rules, ordinances, case law, and other sources of law create a legal multivariate calculus problem. Due to practical necessity and ethical requirements, attorneys are required to understand applicable law in order to provide guidance to their clients.

Regardless of the preparation that law school provided, that preparation will be insufficient for legal problems that attorneys eventually…
Continue Reading Tips for Lawyers: Keeping Pace with the Law

Our firm has been actively communicating with clients regarding – and monitoring multiple lawsuits challenging – the federal Corporate Transparency Act (CTA) ahead of its upcoming Jan. 1, 2025, reporting deadline for entities formed before Jan. 1, 2024.

The CTA requires most entities to report their beneficial ownership information to the Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN).

Kelly Gorman, U.W. 2023, is an associate attorney with Fox, O’Neill, & Shannon, S.C., in Milwaukee, where she focuses her practice…
Continue Reading Federal Court Blocks Corporate Transparency Act Enforcement Nationwide

In April 2017, the Wisconsin Supreme Court, acting in response to a request of the Business Court Advisory Committee, established a pilot large claim commercial case docket for the assignment of commercial cases. The purposes of the pilot commercial court (which some refer to as the business court) were
to ensure that large claim cases involving Wisconsin employers or businesses, or which involve complicated disputes, are resolved expeditiously and with the least amount of cost so as to (a)…
Continue Reading Contracting for Dispute Resolution After the End of Wisconsin Commercial Courts

The economic loss doctrine is a judicially created rule that prevents parties from pursuing tort claims, such as negligence or misrepresentation, when the only damages they have suffered are financial in nature and stem from a breach of contract.

The doctrine aims to maintain the distinct boundaries between contract law and tort law, ensuring that contractual remedies are used to address economic losses arising from agreements between parties.
Development Through Case Law
Wisconsin’s economic loss doctrine is among the…
Continue Reading A Deep Dive into Wisconsin’s Economic Loss Doctrine

Transaction practice lawyers constantly face a barrage of choices for their legal documentation when trying to provide quality, fast, and efficient legal services to their clients.

Most do not have the luxury of unlimited time and resources to provide these services. Often, practitioners look for existing materials to use as samples for documenting agreements between their clients and opposing parties.

One possible tempting option to address this predicament is to use the so-called real estate practitioner preprinted form agreements…
Continue Reading Wisconsin Real Estate Board Business Purchase Agreements: Traps for the Unwary

As a result of key cases decided in recent years by the Delaware Chancery Court, the Delaware legislature adopted new statutes, which were signed into law by the Governor of Delaware. A Foley & Lardner article in its corporate governance blog details the adoption and considerations related to the cases and the new law. Summary of Cases and Statutes in Delaware Clyde Tinnen, Columbia 2006, is a partner in the Milwaukee office of Foley & Lardner LLP.
Continue Reading Changes to Delaware Law for Mergers and Acquisitions – Will Wisconsin Follow Suit?

Just about every business lawyer will negotiate commercial contracts on behalf of their clients. This can be daunting for a new lawyer, particularly because the client will frequently know more about what needs to be in these contracts than they do.

This article aims to demystify the process, providing practical tips and insights to empower new lawyers and attorneys new to business law to negotiate and counsel on commercial contracts with confidence and competence.
What is a Commercial Contract?
Continue Reading 101: How to Negotiate a Commercial Contract for Your Client

Certainties of life include birth, death, and taxes, and for attorneys, continuing legal education (CLE) reporting requirements.​

CLE credits are a critical constant for attorneys, not just a duty as part of being a professional, but essential for maintaining a professional edge and upholding standards of competence and responsibility.

Previous articles, like this one from Nov. 15, 2023, InsideTrack, discuss various methods for earning CLE credit that you may not know about, such as: Whether you are a…
Continue Reading Paths to CLE Opportunities

As the U.S. economy transitions to slower growth, I observed as a Wisconsin corporate attorney that most businesses, including Wisconsin law firms, are concerned about three factors for the rest of 2024:

  • whether the Federal Reserve would be able to bring the inflation rate to the 2% generally acceptable level;
  • whether the U.S. would be able to avoid a recession; and
  • whether businesses can reduce costs and increase productivity by incorporating artificial intelligence (AI) into their workflows.

Certainly, while…
Continue Reading Business Law and 2024-25 Economic Trends

Intellectual property (IP) is commonly thought to confront technical matters that require a certain amount of scientific or engineering background in order to wrap one’s head around them. In actuality, IP is a diverse ecosystem of intangible property rights that offer extreme value.

Virtually all businesses have some type of IP at play, but they may fail to recognize it if they have a misunderstanding of what IP exactly is. Furthermore, they may fail to take the steps necessary…
Continue Reading The Business Practitioner’s Quick Guide to Intellectual Property