O’Neil Cannon has been ranked in the 2018 U.S. News – Best Lawyers® “Best Law Firms” list in 13 practice areas:

• Bankruptcy and Creditor Debtor Rights / Insolvency and Reorganization Law
• Commercial Litigation
• Construction Law
• Corporate Law
• Family Law
• Litigation – Bankruptcy
• Mergers and Acquisitions Law
• Personal Injury Litigation – Plaintiffs
• Product Liability Litigation – Defendants
• Real Estate Law
• Securities / Capital Markets Law
• Tax Law
• Trusts and Estates Law

Firms included in the 2018 “Best Law Firms” list are recognized for professional excellence with persistently impressive ratings from clients and peers. Achieving a tiered ranking signals a unique combination of quality law practice and breadth of legal expertise.

Each year, Super Lawyers surveys the State’s attorneys and judges, seeking the State’s top attorneys. The lists for 2017 were recently published and, once again, a large number of our attorneys are included thereon.

Dean Laing was named one of the Top 10 attorneys in Wisconsin for the third time. He was also named one of the Top 50 attorneys in Wisconsin for the twelfth straight year. In doing so, he is one of only six attorneys out of over 15,000 attorneys in Wisconsin—and the only commercial litigator in Wisconsin—to make the list all twelve years. Dean was also named one of the Top 25 attorneys in Milwaukee.

Seth Dizard and Patrick McBride were also named among the Top 50 attorneys in Wisconsin. This is the fifth time that Seth has made the list. Seth was also named one of the Top 25 attorneys in Milwaukee.

Doug Dehler, Jim DeJong, Pete Faust, Bob Gagan, John Gehringer, Joe Gumina, Greg Lyons, Greg Mager, Joe Newbold, Chad Richter, John Schreiber, Jason Scoby, and Steve Slawinski were also named Super Lawyers, a recognition given to the top 5% of attorneys in Wisconsin. Jim DeJong, Pete Faust, John Gehringer, and Greg Lyons have made the list for the past 10 or more years.

Erica Reib was also named Rising Stars, which is limited to 2.5% of the young attorneys in Wisconsin.

We are extremely proud of these recognitions, but even more proud of the quality of service we provide to our clients.

Effective January 1, 2018, Attorney Steve Slawinski was elected to the Board of Directors for the Associated Builders and Contractors (ABC) of Wisconsin. Throughout the country, the ABC is an effective force in business development, education, labor relations, and legislation. The ABC actively promotes merit, or performance-based construction.

For 30 years, Steve has represented his clients in complex construction, business, and real estate litigation. His practice emphasizes the areas of construction litigation and construction law—representing general contractors, subcontractors, owners, design professionals, lenders, and title insurers in construction disputes, both in court and in arbitration.

Steve is pleased to be elected for a three-year term and looks forward to adding his expertise to the board.

The spirit of the holiday season is upon us once again and the attorneys and staff at O’Neil, Cannon, Hollman, DeJong and Laing wanted to do something special for our community. For our annual holiday donation OCHDL collected 521 pounds of food for the Hunger Task Force.

The Hunger Task Force provides a safety net of emergency food to a network of local food pantries and meal programs. They are the only food bank in Milwaukee that does not charge for food, delivery, or network membership. We are honored to support them and their mission to end hunger.

From all of us at O’Neil, Cannon, Hollman, DeJong and Laing:

“Best wishes for a wonderful holiday and a very Happy New Year!”  

Attorney Kelly M. Spott, a graduate of Marquette University Law School, has recently joined the Milwaukee law firm O’Neil Cannon Previously Kelly was an Advanced Planning Attorney at Northwestern Mutual. Kelly is a member of the Business Law and Tax and Succession Planning Groups. She assists clients with estate planning, probate, trust administration and inheritance litigation.

O’Neil Cannon, founded in Milwaukee in 1973, is a full-service legal practice that primarily focuses on providing business law and civil litigation services to closely-held businesses and their owners. The firm represents corporations, institutions, and partnerships at all stages of the business life cycle, helping them start, grow and transition from one generation to the next. We also assist business owners with their personal legal needs including tax and estate planning, family law and litigation—including personal injury litigation.

In a recent article previewed in the InsideTrack, a bi-weekly newsletter by the State Bar of Wisconsin, Seth E. Dizard was featured as a 2017 Wisconsin Legal Innovator. The article will be featured as the cover story of the November Edition of the Wisconsin Lawyer.  Read the full article here to learn more about this prestigious recognition.

Attorney Dizard is the head of the firm’s Banking and Creditors’ Rights Practice Group. He has extensive experience serving as a court-appointed receiver throughout the State of Wisconsin for businesses, construction projects, real estate developments, marital and family estates, rental income properties, and high net worth individuals.

For the second consecutive year, OCHDL proudly sponsored the Catholic Relief Services (CRS) reception at the Wisconsin Club. This was a very special year, as the humanitarian group celebrated its 10th year here in Milwaukee. As always, a very well received event and powerful message was presented.

The Milwaukee chapter of CRS, which includes OCHDL Shareholder Carl Holborn, brought about a great deal of awareness this year–reaching out to radio stations, publications, and even appeared on TMJ4’s The Morning Blend to help spread the word about CRS and their charitable mission. The Milwaukee committee is grateful for all the support the Milwaukee community has shown to them over the years and are very proud to be celebrating this ten-year milestone.

CRS is one of the largest international aid organizations in the world. They are also one of the most efficient and effective: Ninety-seven percent of their expenditures go directly to programs that benefit individuals overseas. As part of the universal mission of the Catholic Church, they work with local, national and international Catholic institutions and structures, and other organizations, to assist people on the basis of need, without regard to race, religion or nationality. They alleviate suffering and provide assistance to more than 100 million people in need who live in some of the most impoverished places in over 100 countries.

O’Neil Cannon is honored to have been a part of such a meaningful event.
Read more about CRS >>

Attorney Nicholas G. Chmurski, a graduate of Marquette University, has recently joined the Milwaukee law firm O’Neil Cannon Nick is a member of the Business Law and Real Estate and Construction Groups.  His business background and clerkship experience make Nick a valuable resource, as he is able to contribute across practice groups to help solve a wide range of legal issues.

O’Neil Cannon, founded in Milwaukee in 1973, is a full-service legal practice that primarily focuses on providing business law and civil litigation services to closely-held businesses and their owners. The firm represents corporations, institutions, and partnerships at all stages of the business life cycle, helping them start, grow and transition from one generation to the next. We also assist business owners with their personal legal needs including tax and estate planning, family law and litigation—including personal injury litigation.

O’Neil, Cannon, Hollman, DeJong and Laing S.C. is pleased to announce that 18 lawyers have been named to the 2018 Edition of Best Lawyers, the oldest and most respected peer-review publication in the legal profession.

Best Lawyers has published their list for over three decades, earning the respect of the profession, the media, and the public as the most reliable, unbiased source of legal referrals. Its first international list was published in 2006 and since then has grown to provide lists in over 75 countries.

“For more than a third of the century,” says CEO Steven Naifeh, “Best Lawyers has been the gold standard of excellence in the legal profession.” President Phil Greer adds, “We are extremely proud of that record and equally proud to acknowledge the accomplishments of these exceptional legal professionals.”

Lawyers on The Best Lawyers in America list are divided by geographic region and practice areas. They are reviewed by their peers on the basis of professional expertise, and undergo an authentication process to make sure they are in current practice and in good standing.

O’Neil, Cannon, Hollman, DeJong and Laing S.C. would like to congratulate the following attorneys named to the 2018 Best Lawyers in America list:

• Douglas P. Dehler – Litigation-Insurance
• James G. DeJong – Corporate Law, Mergers and Acquisitions Law, Securities/Capital Markets Law
• Seth E. Dizard – Bankruptcy and Creditor Debtor Rights/Insolvency and Reorganization Law, Litigation-Bankruptcy
• Peter J. Faust – Corporate Law, Mergers and Acquisitions Law
• Robert R. Gagan – Municipal Law
• John G. Gehringer – Commercial Litigation, Construction Law, Corporate Law, Real Estate Law
• Joseph E. Gumina – Litigation-Labor and Employment
• Dennis W. Hollman –  Corporate Law, Trusts and Estates
• Grant C. Killoran – Litigation-Health Care
• Dean P. Laing – Commercial Litigation, Personal Injury Litigation-Plaintiffs, Product Liability Litigation-Defendants
• Gregory W. Lyons – Commercial Litigation, Litigation-Insurance
• Gregory S. Mager – Family Law
• Patrick G. McBride – Commercial Litigation
• Thomas A. Merkle – Family Law
• Steven J. Slawinski – Construction Law

Since it was first published in 1983, Best Lawyers has become universally regarded as the definitive guide to legal excellence. Best Lawyers is based on an exhaustive peer-review survey. Over 54,000 leading attorneys cast more than 7.3 million votes on the legal abilities of other lawyers in their practice areas. Lawyers are not required or allowed to pay a fee to be listed; therefore inclusion in Best Lawyers is considered a singular honor. Corporate Counsel magazine has called Best Lawyers “the most respected referral list of attorneys in practice.”

The prestigious Chambers USA Directory has included O’Neil, Cannon, Hollman, DeJong and Laing S.C. as one of the notable firms in the category of Corporate/M&A.  Additionally, Chambers has included Jim DeJong and Pete Faust among their Recognised Practitioners.

The Chambers directories, published by London-based Chambers and Partners, rank attorneys and law firms based on a year-long objective research process. The process includes interviews with outside attorneys and feedback from clients.  Learn more at www.chambersandpartners.com.