Thomas L. Shriner Jr. concentrates his practice in commercial, corporate, and public law litigation and has an extensive appellate practice in state and federal courts. He also has substantial experience in the bankruptcy courts. Tom is a partner in the firm’s Business Litigation & Dispute Resolution, Appellate, and Bankruptcy & Business Reorganizations Practices.
Tom has litigated cases involving business acquisitions and shareholder disputes. He represents banks in lender liability and loan participation cases. He has litigated agreements not to compete; pension, insurance, and dealership disputes; real estate and water rights cases; and a variety of claims under the UCC. Tom’s public law experience includes defendants’ and plaintiffs’ cases under the major civil rights statutes, including defending large class actions, and several plaintiffs’ cases under the Fair Housing Act.
Tom Shriner is a fellow of the American College of Trial Lawyers and has tried scores of cases in a long litigation career. He has handled about every conceivable type of either business-related or public law civil litigation. Tom has specialized in closely held business disputes, often between family members and family trusts, as well as shareholder derivative litigation, and he has defended RICO and other business tort cases, many of them with control or survival of the company on the line. Tom has also tried many constitutional and civil rights cases, representing both sides in cases under the Fair Housing Act, the Voting Rights Act, and various Equal Protection Clause cases, including an inter-district school desegregation case and several congressional redistricting cases. Most of the significant cases that Tom has tried have been referred either from his business-law colleagues, knowing how quickly he gets to the heart of significant legal issues and sets up opportunities for summary disposition without having to take the case to trial, or from lawyers outside of the firm — including non-litigators — who have heard about his work from judges and other lawyers, including former opponents. While Tom loves to try cases, he knows that clients are less interested in getting to trial than in disposing of a big case and reducing or eliminating risk as early and inexpensively as possible. Thus, Tom is always alert to the chances, both within the judicial system and outside of it, to make the case go away.
Representative Experience
- Smykla v. Molinaroli, aff’d 85 F.4th 1228 (7th Cir. 2023)
Awards and Recognition
- Peer review rated as AV Preeminent®, the highest performance rating in the Martindale-Hubbell® Peer Review Ratings™ system
- The Best Lawyers in America©
- Bankruptcy and Creditor-Debtor Rights law (1993-2011, 2023), Bet-the-Company Litigation (2009-2024), Commercial Litigation (1993-2024), Litigation – Banking and Finance (2011-2024), Litigation – Bankruptcy (2011-2024), Litigation – Real Estate (2011-2024), Litigation – Antitrust (2015-2024), Litigation – Mergers and Acquisitions (2016-2024), and Litigation – Securities (2015-2024)
- Named the Best Lawyers® 2011, 2013, 2015 and 2019 Bet-the-Company Litigation “Lawyer of the Year” and the 2012 Litigation – Banking & Finance “Lawyer of the Year” in Milwaukee
- Attained the top ranking in general commercial litigation from Chambers USA: America’s Leading Lawyers for Business (2003-2024)
- Selected for Inclusion in the 2005-2016, 2021, and 2023 Wisconsin Super Lawyers® lists
- Recognized as a “Local Litigation Star” in Benchmark Litigation (2018)
- Named as a Leader in the Law by the Wisconsin Law Journal (2010)
- Received the Myron L. Gordon Lifetime Achievement Award from the Eastern District of Wisconsin Bar Association and the Walter J. Cummings Award from the Chicago Chapter of the Federal Bar Association, for his pro bono work in the Seventh Circuit (2009)
- Received the John Paul Stevens Pro Bono and Public Service Award from the Seventh Circuit Bar Association (2011)
- Given the American Inns of Court Foundation Professionalism Award for the Seventh Circuit (2015)
Affiliations
- Member, American Bar Association
- Past president, Seventh Circuit Bar Association
- Fellow of the American College of Trial Lawyers
- Fellow of the American Bar Foundation
- Fellow of the Wisconsin Law Foundation
Community Involvement
- Member of the board of curators of the Wisconsin Historical Society
- Adjunct professor of law at Marquette University Law School, where he has co-taught advanced civil procedure, federal courts, and a Supreme Court seminar with Dean Joseph D. Kearney
- Member of the Wisconsin Judicial Council, a statutorily authorized body that seeks to advance law reform in areas that affect the courts and judicial process
- Chair of the Evidence and Civil Procedure committee