Supreme Court appoints special investigators from Dane, Grant, and Milwaukee counties

Madison, Wisconsin - Dec. 6, 2002

The Wisconsin Supreme Court has appointed six lawyers from Fennimore, Madison, Milwaukee, and Sun Prairie as special investigators for the lawyer regulation system. The special investigators - 18 in all - are responsible for looking into complaints against lawyers working for the Office of Lawyer Regulation (OLR).

The Supreme Court created the investigator positions to help ensure the integrity of the OLR. The investigators are completely separate from the lawyer regulation system. They investigate allegations of misconduct against any lawyer who is working for the OLR and send a report, along with information from the person who has complained and a response (if any) from the subject of the complaint, to the Special Preliminary Review Panel to determine whether there is cause to proceed. If four members of the panel vote yes, the special investigator may decide on the type of discipline to recommend ranging from a private reprimand to prosecution in the Supreme Court.

The new special investigators are:

Atty. Eileen Brownlee , Fennimore, a senior partner with Kramer, Brownlee & Infield LLC. She specializes in municipal law. She represents cities, villages, school districts, sanitary districts, and other municipal corporations.

Atty. Michael P. Crooks , Sun Prairie, an attorney with Peterson, Johnson & Murray S.C. in Madison. He specializes in defense work in legal and medical malpractice, worker's compensation, and insurance cases.

Atty. Julie Genovese , Madison, a labor and employment specialist and a former partner with Foley & Lardner in Madison. She is a mediator/arbitrator and lectures at the UW Law School.

Atty. Maria S. Lazar , Milwaukee, a partner with Galanis, Pollack & Jacobs S.C. She specializes in business and commercial litigation in both the state and federal courts.

Atty. Scott K. Petersen , Madison, a partner with DeWitt Ross & Stevens S.C. He also lectures at the UW Law School and is a former deputy district attorney for Orange County, Calif.

Atty. John D. Varda , Madison, a partner with DeWitt Ross & Stevens S.C. He has served for 24 years as a managing partner or the equivalent at DeWitt, with primary responsibility for handling conflict of interest issues and other ethics concerns.

For more information contact:
Amanda Todd
Court Information Officer
(608) 264-6256

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