Attorney Dennis Hollman presented a seminar at the Society of Financial Service Professionals (“SFSP”) on January 13, 2010 in Tampa, Florida. Some of the key issues in the presentation were preparing buy/sell agreements, structuring deferred compensation plans, minimizing income and other taxes, and uses of life insurance in the family business setting. SFSP is a network of over 17,000 financial service professionals that are committed to helping individuals, families, and businesses achieve financial security.

On January 20, 2010, the Wisconsin Court of Appeals overturned a lower court ruling and held that, as Attorney Dean Laing had argued, an educational training reimbursement provision of an employment contract was divisible from unreasonable restrictive covenants in the contract and therefore enforceable. Attorney Laing’s argument enabled the appellate court to carefully avoid opining as to whether the Wisconsin Supreme Court has established a new divisibility test under Star Direct, Inc. v. Dal Pra, because the provisions were best viewed to be divisible under either that standard or the previously-established test set forth in Streiff v. American Family Mut. Ins. Co.

While the appellate court noted that the respective reimbursement and restrictive covenant provisions “share a common backdrop” as requirements of payment under the contract, in recognizing the enforceability of the reimbursement provision, the court specifically cited Attorney Laing’s argument that either provision could be stricken and the other could still be independently understood. As a result, that portion of the contract, which was not drafted by O’Neil Cannon, should and will remain in full force and effect.

A full copy of the opinion, which the appellate court recommended for publication in the official reports, can be found here.

See Article The Daily Reporter – Friday, January 22, 2010

Attorney Grant Killoran of O’Neil Cannon has been chosen by the Milwaukee Bar Association to serve on its newly formed Milwaukee Justice Center Committee. He will serve alongside the current and a former Chief Judge of the Milwaukee County Circuit Court, the Clerk of Milwaukee County Circuit Court and Milwaukee Bar Association executives.

The Milwaukee Justice Center opened in October, 2009 and is located in the Milwaukee County Courthouse. The Center uses transformative collaborative partnerships to provide free legal assistance to Milwaukee County’s unrepresented litigants through court-based self help desks and legal resources.

Grant concentrates his practice on complex business and health care disputes and devotes a portion of his practice to arts and entertainment law, with an emphasis on the music and film industries. He has served as one of the State Bar of Wisconsin’s Delegates to the American Bar Association’s House Delegates and as Co-Chair of the ABA Section of Litigation Health Law Litigation Committee.

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. It also assists business owners with their personal legal needs including tax and estate planning, family law and litigation, including personal injury litigation.

Attorney Tom Merkle has been reappointed by the Wisconsin Supreme Court to the District 2 Committee of the Office of Lawyer Regulation. He will serve a three-year term from January 1, 2010 through December 31, 2012. The Committee consists of twenty-five attorney and 17 public members, and is responsible for investigating and recommending disciplinary actions for complaints against lawyers in the greater Milwaukee area.

Tom is one of the initial members of the Firm. He counsels his clients with general corporate and business law matters, including transactions such as acquisitions, sales, contracts, and financing. He also litigates cases involving shareholder disputes as well as family law cases involving closely-held businesses, partnerships, and professional associations.

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

Listen to expert Clare Zempel about the current economic outlook.

Learn from various professionals about what they do to make sure a deal crosses the finish line. Learn about the pitfalls and opportunities in distressed company acquisitions.

Conference Topics Include:

• Economic Outlook
• Deal Momentum: How to Get it, How to Maintain it – OCHD’s attorney Peter J. Faust is one of three panelists who will discuss how to ensure a deal crosses the finish line.
• Deal Mart
• Distressed and Bankrupt Company Acquisitions

Register Here

Business owners, Mr. and Mrs. Jones, return ready to sell. Tune in as they learn what they need to do to ensure they get top dollar from their business. Attorney Jim DeJong is one of three advisers that will address the planning the owners need to do to:

• Maximize the value of the transaction;
• Create a sustainable business beyond the current owners;
• Develop transferable business relationships; and
• Employ effective tax and accounting strategies.

Sixteen attorneys from O’Neil Cannon have been selected for inclusion on the Wisconsin Super Lawyers 2009 list.

Super Lawyers is a peer-nominated award that recognizes the top 5% of outstanding attorneys across the state of Wisconsin. The Super Lawyers are selected using a rigorous, multiphase rating process. Peer nominations and evaluations are combined with third party research, and each candidate is evaluated based on 12 indicators of peer recognition and professional achievement.

Super Lawyers:

• James G. DeJong
• Peter J. Faust
• John G. Gehringer
• Grant C. Killoran
• Dean P. Laing*
• Gregory W. Lyons
• Patrick G. McBride
• Steven J. Slawinski

Rising Stars:

• Timothy C. Caprez
• Seth E. Dizard
• Gregory S. Mager
• Chad J. Richter
• John R. Schreiber
• Robert J. Tess

*Top 50 Super Lawyers Recipient

Be The Wolf

O’Neil Cannon offers an unexpected departure in a forest full of “me too” legal advertising. OCHD’s reputation for superior Mergers and Acquisitions counsel is well known within the legal and financial community, but less so amongst business owners throughout Wisconsin. With the assistance of the marketing firm JacksonSpencer, an unusually bold step was taken to attract attention within the business community via the most recent issue of the Milwaukee Business Journal.

Mike Farley, President of JacksonSpencer stated, “Over the years, OCHD attorneys have been involved in many very sophisticated deals that have taken place… why shouldn’t their marketing match their expertise? We wanted to move beyond a shot of lawyers in front of a library of law books. That type of marketing is supposed to mean you’re trustworthy… we believe OCHD is already on everyone’s A-list.”

Jim DeJong, the Firm’s president and member of its M&A practice group added, “What JacksonSpencer has given us is a very strong voice… and we’d like to think that business executives will consider us more carefully when complex business transactions are on the line.”

The image of a wolf’s menacing glare has tremendous stopping power and the headline, “What do you see?” forces the reader to choose between being predator or prey. Farley commented, “All too often, business owners feel that they’re on the wrong side of the deal. In the case of this ad… the ‘wrong side’ could be very dangerous, indeed.”
Body copy reads: “Our experience in negotiating the deal is matched by our reputation for improving the deal. If you’re unsure where you fall in the M&A food chain, you’d be wise to run with a stronger pack.”

O’Neil Cannon was ranked as Milwaukee’s 12th largest law firm by The Book of Lists and has been known for their strong corporate and litigation work since its founding in 1973.

Attorney Jason Scoby, a recent graduate of Marquette University Law School, cum laude, has joined the Corporate Practice Group of the Milwaukee law firm O’Neil Cannon He advises clients on a wide range of corporate and business-related issues, including commercial transactions governed by the Uniform Commercial Code, mergers and acquisitions, new business formation, and franchising.

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 recently added Attorney Timothy Caprez as part of the law firm’s expansion of its litigation and corporate law practices. Mr. Caprez brings to OCHD significant experience in counseling and representing clients with respect to compliance and dispute resolution efforts in heavily-regulated industries and occupations, with a particular emphasis in complex healthcare and labor and employment issues. Licensed in Wisconsin and Illinois, Mr. Caprez advises and litigates on behalf of entities and individuals in relation to a wide variety of corporate governance, transactional and employment and personnel management matters.

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.