Wisconsin Defense Counsel Defending Individuals And Businesses In Civil Litigation 2015 Winter Conference December 4, 2015 Hilton Milwaukee City Center 509 W. Wisconsin Ave. Milwaukee, WI 53203 Program Chair: Ariella Schreiber Rural Mutual Insurance 5.5 CLE Credits approved, including 3.5 Ethics Credits. Independent Medical Evaluations Independent Medical Evaluations (IMEs) are sometimes required to answer specific medical questions, including relationships of diagnosis to specific injury, accident or illness, further treatment recommendations, extent of permanent impairment or disability, and other information as needed. You can be assured patients are receiving the most appropriate and timely care with CorVel’s IME program. CorVel’s Independent Medical Evaluations provide fast, accurate reports for the workers’ compensation, auto and group health markets. 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CorVel Corporation | 888.587.0977 | www.corvel.com Wisconsin Defense Counsel Defending Individuals And Businesses In Civil Litigation Table of Contents Program Agenda ......................................................................................................4 Speaker Biographies ................................................................................................6 Sponsors ....................................................................................................................9 Anatomy of a Statute of Repose Defense Gina Meierbachtol, Corneille Law Group, LLC ............................................................10 ADR Ethics Pinwheel: Mediating Within the SCR Marie Stanton, Hurley, Burish & Stanton, S.C. and Michael Crooks, Peterson, Johnson & Murray, S.C. ..............................................................................................17 Wisconsin’s Disciplinary Process - An Overview Elizabeth Estes, Deputy Director, Supreme Court of Wisconsin Office of Lawyer Regulation ...................................................................................................................34 Office of Lawyer Regulation System 2015-16 Report ............................................46 A General Overview of Wisconsin’s Lawyer Discipline System Monte Weiss, Weiss Law Offices, S.C. ...........................................................................100 Using the ACA to Recalibrate Claims for Future Medical Damages Thomas Geroulo, Weber Gallagher ................................................................................111 3 Program Agenda – December 4, 2015 8:15 a.m. Registration and Continental Breakfast 8:55 a.m. Opening Remarks 9:00 a.m. – 9:50 a.m. Anatomy of a Statute of Repose Defense Gina Meierbachtol, Corneille Law Group, LLC 9:50 a.m. – 10:00 a.m. Break 10:00 a.m. – 10:50 a.m. ADR Ethics Pinwheel: Mediating Within the SCR Marie Stanton, Hurley, Burish & Stanton, S.C. and Michael Crooks, Peterson, Johnson & Murray, S.C. 10:50 a.m. – 11:00 a.m. Break 11:00 a.m. – 11:10 a.m. Talk with Wisconsin Supreme Court Candidate, Judge JoAnne Kloppenburg 11:10 a.m. – 12:40 p.m. Wisconsin’s Disciplinary Process - An Overview Elizabeth Estes, Deputy Director, Supreme Court of Wisconsin Office of Lawyer Regulation and Monte Weiss, Weiss Law Offices, S.C. 12:40 p.m. – 1:40 p.m. Lunch Talk with Wisconsin Supreme Court Candidate, Attorney Claude Covelli 1:40 p.m. – 2:30 p.m. Using the ACA to Recalibrate Claims for Future Medical Damages Thomas Geroulo, Weber Gallagher 2:30 p.m. – 2:40 p.m. Break 2:40 p.m. – 3:30 p.m. Technical Quandaries: New Challenges Imposed by Legal Technology and the Rules of Professional Conduct Todd Scott, Minnesota Lawyers Mutual Insurance Company 4 Your First Affirmative Defense Madison, WI Milwaukee, WI Oakdale, MN Brian W. Baird Brian D. Baird Forrest G. Hopper Kathleen E. Grant Maile E. Beres Kevin J. Kennedy Patryk W. Silver Aaron R. Berndt Robert C. Burrell J. Patrick Condon Joshua B. Cronin Joseph P. Danas, Jr. James M. Fredericks Linda D. Kiemele Patrick D. McNally Steven L. Miracle Barbara A. O’Brien Alan W. Ray Julia B. Semenak Jacob A. Sosnay Frederick J. Strampe Karl A. VanDeHey Attorneys & Counselors Since 1881 Licensed in Wisconsin, Minnesota and South Dakota 131 West Wilson Street Madison, WI 53701 • (608) 258-1711 735 N. Water Street Milwaukee, WI 53202 • (414) 276-3600 7825 3rd Street North Oakdale, MN 55128 • (651) 256-5000 Speaker Biographies Mike Crooks is a shareholder with the Milwaukee firm of Peterson, Johnson & Murray, S.C., where he runs the Madison office. His main areas of practice are commercial litigation, legal malpractice, medical mal- practice, accounting malpractice, insurance defense and coverage issues, bad faith litigation, products liability work, premises liability, defamation suits, breach of contract, personal injury defense and third-party recovery. He also spends about 35% of his time mediating cases. Mike received his B.A. degree, cum laude, from the University of Notre Dame and his J.D. degree, cum laude, from the University of Wisconsin. Since law school, he has lectured for the State Bar’s “Building Your Practice” series, for the Wisconsin Judicial College, for the Wisconsin Defense Counsel on litigation issues and municipal immunity, for the Wisconsin Law School on mediation, discovery practices, and various other litigation related topics for many other groups. In 2011, he taught Pre-Trial Practice for the University of Wisconsin Law School. In 2002-2015, he was named to the list of Dane County’s Top Lawyers. He became a Board Certified Trial Lawyer in 2004. In 2005-2006, he served as President of the Wisconsin Defense Counsel, and was a long time member of the Board of Directors for WDC. Additionally, he was formerly the Treasurer of the James E. Doyle Inn of Courts. He serves as a Special Investigator for the Office of Lawyer Regulation. He was listed in the 2006- 2015 Super Lawyers. He was inducted into the American Board of Trial Advocacy (ABOTA) in 2007 and became Treasurer in 2015. He was named to the Best Lawyers in America in 2007-2015. In 2008, he was appointed by Judge John Markson as a Court Commissioner. In 2009-2015, he was named to the Super Lawyers Top 50 in Wisconsin, and Top 25 in Dane County. He is admitted to practice in the State Courts of Wisconsin, Federal Courts of Wisconsin, and the Seventh Circuit Court of Appeals. He is AV rated by Martindale Hubbell. Attorney Elizabeth M. Estes has been a Deputy Director since 2004 at the Supreme Court of Wisconsin Office of Lawyer Regulation, where she previously worked as an investigator. She supervises Central Intake, which received 2,300 inquiries and grievances during FY 2014-15. She began her legal career as a law clerk at the Wisconsin Court of Appeals, District II, in Waukesha County before working for five years at a large Milwaukee law firm. She is admitted to practice before the U. S. District Court for the Eastern and Western Districts of Wisconsin, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit and the U. S. Supreme Court. She served on former U.S. Senator Herb Kohl’s Service Academy Selection Board and is a former appointee to the Supreme Court of Wisconsin Appointment Selection Committee. She has served as a past president of the Marquette University Law Alumni Association Board and as an alumni volunteer for Boston University. Liz previously served on the State Bar of Wisconsin’s Legal Assistance Committee and the Communications Committee as vice chair. She also served on the boards of Literacy Services of Wisconsin and Transitional Living Services, Inc. and on the local advisory committees of the Thurgood Marshall Scholarship Fund and the Children’s Service Society of Wisconsin. Tom Geroulo provides defense in general liability matters for healthcare providers, retailers, construction and commercial transportation companies, property managers and in cases of serious automobile accidents. He has crafted a portion of his practice to assist in nationwide coordination with local counsel, carriers, third party administrators and self insureds, on the applicability of the Affordable Care Act to claims of future medical damages in all types and disciplines of catastrophic loss matters across the country. The cost of future care has been altered by the ability for those with pre-existing conditions to obtain insurance. Tom is able to show the true cost of lifetime care in cases of catastrophic injuries. Tom has frequently presented on this topic and is consistently refining strategies to assist clients in all jurisdictions on