Attorney Scott Smith authors post for State Bar of Wisconsin Business Law Section Blog
Attorney Scott Smith published a blog post with the State Bar of Wisconsin’s Business Law Section in December 2025. The post, “Five Terms Wisconsin Municipalities Should Revise Before Signing Construction Contracts,” discusses how cities, villages, school districts, and utilities across Wisconsin routinely rely on American Institute of Architects forms for public construction projects, but these documents are imbalanced—Scott’s blog post highlights some key
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Attorneys Egle & Manthe Present on Support Tools for New Small Businesses in Wisconsin
Attorneys James Egle and Rick Manthe present on support available to small business owners for Wisconsin Family Business Center
Attorneys James B. Egle and Rick A. Manthe will present to an audience of small business and family business owners during the Wisconsin Family Business Center’s Food for Thought program on Wednesday morning, November 19.
“Unlocking Economic Development Tools,” part of the two-presentation Food for Thought program, will help audience members to discover the range of economic development incentive programs
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Attorney Seep Paliwal Moderates State Bar of Wisconsin Panel on Cultural Competency in Family Law
Attorney Seep Paliwal moderates panel during State Bar’s Cultural Competency in Family Law Cases training
In January 2025, the Supreme Court of Wisconsin approved providing CLE credit for cultural competency training. Stafford Rosenbaum Attorney Seep Paliwal will moderate a presentation featuring a panel of experts during the State Bar of Wisconsin’s very first offering of cultural competency training in family law cases. Participants can view the Cultural Competency in Family Law Cases 2025 CLE in person at the State
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The End of the Textualist Era? Wisconsin Supreme Court Presented with Opportunity to Overturn Kalal
In a concurrence to one of the Wisconsin Supreme Court’s blockbuster opinions from the 2024-25 term, SEIU Healthcare Wis. v. WERC, 2025 WI 29, 416 Wis. 2d 688, 22 N.W.2d 876 (Dallet, J., concurring), Justice Dallet called on the Court to reevaluate Wisconsin’s current—and oft-cited—approach to statutory interpretation as set forth in State ex rel. Kalal v. Cir. Ct. Dane Cnty., 2004 WI 58, 271 Wis. 2d 633, 681 N.W.2d 110.
Kalal created a textualist, two-step methodology for interpreting
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Attorney Rick Manthe Presents on Municipal Zoning for Wisconsin Towns Association
Attorney Rick Manthe presents on municipal zoning during Town Law Conference
Attorney Rick Manthe will give a presentation on Friday, October 31, to a Wisconsin Towns Association audience as part of the organization’s annual, daylong 2025 Town Law Conference. The Wisconsin Towns Association collaborates with the UW-Extension Local Government Center and the University of Wisconsin Law School to offer high quality, low cost legal educational programming to lawyers and non-lawyer public officials. Attorneys participating in this conference are
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Attorney Tiffany Highstrom Presents on Finances and Taxes in Family Law
Attorney Tiffany Highstrom presents on 2025 tax and finance changes for the Collaborative Family Law Council of Wisconsin
Attorney Tiffany Highstrom will present on Thursday, October 30, during the Collaborative Family Law Council of Wisconsin‘s 2025 Tax Webinar. The seminar will be presented by a panel of experts focusing on changes in taxes, finances, donations, estate taxes, and social security that affect family and divorce law following 2025 state law changes and the “One Big Beautiful Bill” in
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Attorney Brian Sajdak Presents for Wisconsin Municipal Clerks Association
Attorney Brian Sajdak discusses records retention during Wisconsin Municipal Clerks Association Meeting
Stafford Rosenbaum Attorney Brian Sajdak will present on records retention during the District 5 Meeting of the Wisconsin Municipal Clerks Association on October 23, 2025. Brian’s presentation is part of a daylong meeting on a variety of topics prepared by the Wisconsin Municipal Clerks Association and aimed at professional development for municipal clerks.
Attorney Brian Sajdak is a partner in Stafford Rosenbaum’s Milwaukee office, practicing municipal, zoning
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Attorney Paul Kent Earns Wisconsin Law Journal Powerlist Honor
Stafford Rosenbaum Attorney Paul Kent recognized by Wisconsin Law Journal on Environmental Law Attorney Powerlist
Originally published on wislawjournal.com on September 29, 2025.
Paul Kent has experienced firsthand the ebb and flows of environmental law and not only a practicing attorney but as an educator.
“I started teaching in 1989 and it was the first wave of interest in environmental law. We had a huge attendance, and people were focused on pollution,” Kent said. “In the early 2000s, interest
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Wisconsin Supreme Court Strikes Down Legislative Committee’s Veto of Administrative Rules
Wisconsin Supreme Court Strikes Down Legislative Committee’s Veto of Administrative Rules, Dramatically Reshaping Agency Rulemaking
Introduction
On July 8, 2025, the Wisconsin Supreme Court struck down five statutes that, since 2018, have empowered four members of a ten-member legislative committee, the Joint Committee for Review of Administrative Rules (“JCRAR”), to effectively veto an agency’s proposed and promulgated rules. See Evers v. Marklein (“Marklein II”), 2025 WI 36. In reaching this conclusion, the Court adopted a new interpretation of the
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Attorney Tiffany Highstrom Presents on Preparation of Financial Statements in Family Law Cases
Attorney Tiffany Highstrom to present “The Preparation of Financial Statements in Family Law Cases 2025” for the State Bar of Wisconsin
Attorney Tiffany Highstrom will present on best practices for preparing financial statements for family court cases on Thursday, July 24, 2025, during the State Bar of Wisconsin’s CLE seminar, “The Preparation of Financial Statements in Family Law Cases 2025,” which will also be available via recorded webcast after July 24. Tiffany will discuss when financial disclosures
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Attorney Nikki Yang Leads & Presents Legal Education Series at Madison Chinese Chamber of Commerce
Attorney Nikki Yang leads legal education series for Madison Chinese Chamber of Commerce, presents on criminal law
Stafford Rosenbaum Attorney Nikki Yang will give a presentation to an audience at the Greater Madison Chinese Chamber of Commerce. Attorney Yang leads a regular legal education series at the Chamber, providing introductory overviews of various aspects of the U.S. legal system—including contract law, corporate liability, criminal law, estate planning, and family law. The presentations are conducted in Mandarin Chinese and are
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Attorney Douglas M. Poland Earns Wisconsin Law Journal Powerlist Honor
Stafford Rosenbaum Attorney Doug Poland recognized on Appellate Law Powerlist by Wisconsin Law Journal
Originally published by Wisconsin Law Journal on June 23, 2025.
The power of collaboration is what Douglas Poland believes is the foundation for his numerous wins, believing there’s no such thing as a self-made, super-star lawyer.
Poland is a partner at Stafford Rosenbaum, with a focus on business, environmental, election and constitutional law, and a wealth of experience handling high-stakes cases in state and federal courts across
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DNR Authorized to Address PFAS Contamination without First Identifying ‘Hazardous Substances’ per Wisconsin Supreme Court
Wisconsin Supreme Court holds that DNR has authority to address PFAS contamination without first promulgating rules identifying each contaminant as a “hazardous substance”
Introduction
On June 24, 2025, the Wisconsin Supreme Court issued a landmark environmental decision in Wisconsin Manufacturers & Commerce, Inc. v. DNR. The Court concluded that the Department of Natural Resources (“DNR”) has the authority to require the cleanup of “emerging contaminants,” like PFAS, without first promulgating rules identifying each substance qualifying as a “hazardous substance”
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Wisconsin Supreme Court Unanimously Concludes Legislature’s Lame-Duck Settlement Statute Is Unconstitutional
Since 2018, Wis. Stat. § 165.08(1), or the “Settlement Statute,” has forbidden the Wisconsin Department of Justice (“DOJ”) from settling or discontinuing any civil action without the approval of the Wisconsin State Legislature. On June 17, 2025, in a decisive win for the DOJ, Governor, and executive branch agencies (the “Petitioners”), a unanimous Wisconsin Supreme Court significantly limited the Settlement Statute’s reach. See Kaul v. Wis. State Legislature, 2025 WI 23. In Kaul, the Court concluded that the Settlement
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Attorney Brian Sajdak Presents at League of Wisconsin Municipalities Conference
Attorney Brian Sajdak discusses Wisconsin levy limits with Municipal Attorneys Institute audience members
Stafford Rosenbaum Attorney Brian Sajdak will give a presentation, “When the Levy Breaks: Navigating the Murky Floodwaters of Wisconsin’s Levy Limit,” to an audience of municipal and government lawyers during the 2025 League of Wisconsin Municipalities Municipal Attorneys Institute on June 11. The three-day annual Conference brings together municipal attorneys and leaders for continuing legal education (CLE) opportunities on a wide range of topics. Stafford Rosenbaum
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After Wave of Environmental Regulation Rollbacks, Trump Administration Announces PFAS-Combatting Initiatives
Initiatives to Combat PFAS Announced After Environmental Regulation Rollbacks
The second Trump term has already been marked by significant environmental deregulation, including targeting major climate change, energy efficiency, environmental justice, and air pollution policies established over the decades since the first wave of environmental regulatory schemes began in the 1970s.[1] These rollbacks have been compounded by reductions in the EPA workforce and budget, including the agency’s scientific research division.[2] The reduction of per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS),
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