Awards and Recognition

• Recognized by Chambers USA: America’s Leading Lawyers for Business in Private Wealth Law (2020).
• Peer review rated as AV Preeminent®, the highest performance rating in the Martindale-Hubbell® Peer Review Ratings™ system.
• Selected by his peers for inclusion in The Best Lawyers in America© in the field of Trusts and Estates (1995-2024).
• Named the Best Lawyers® 2010 and 2015 Trusts and Estates “Lawyer of the Year” in Madison (Based on exhaustive peer-review surveys, attorneys honored as “Lawyers of the Year” have received particularly high ratings for their abilities, professionalism and integrity).
• Named to The Best Estate Planning Attorneys in America.®
• Included in Who’s Who in American Law.
• Selected for inclusion in the 2005 – 2016 and 2021 Wisconsin Super Lawyers®
• Recognized in the Legal 500 for his work in domestic tax: central.
• Recipient of the 2014 Lynford Lardner Community Service Award in recognition of his volunteer work and civic involvement.

Affiliations

• Adjunct professor of law at the University of Wisconsin – Madison Law School
• Past president of the Real Property, Probate and Trust Law Section of the Wisconsin State Bar
• Fellow of the American College of Trust and Estate Counsel (ACTEC), where he served for ten years as the state chair
• Past chair of ACTEC’s Wisconsin Membership Selection Committee and currently serves on its Estate and Gift Tax Committee
• Served as the chairperson for the Wisconsin Probate Code Committee, which recently completed a rewrite of Wisconsin’s Probate Code
• Member of the Madison Estate Planning Council and the Madison Planned Charitable Giving Council

Community Involvement

• Past chair for the board of governors for the Madison Community Foundation
• Past chair for the board of directors of St. Mary’s Foundation
• Serves on numerous other boards, for both non-profit and for-profit entities

Presentations and Publications

• Lectures extensively all over the country and has published two books and numerous articles on estate planning and taxation in several national publications. One of his most recent publications is a book entitled Maximizing the Value of Trusts & Estates.
• Coauthored the article, “Time Runs Out on Wisconsin’s Estate Tax,” featured in the December 2007 issue of Wisconsin Lawyer.