Four Attorneys Elected to Board Positions

MADISON , December 29, 2005 -- The State Bar of Wisconsin announces that four members were recently elected to serve one-year terms as officers for 2006 for the Wisconsin Association of Workers Compensation Attorneys, Inc. (WAWCA). Effective January 1, 2006, the elected attorneys and their board positions are: President Thomas W. Bertz of Stevens Point, President-Elect Charles E. Hanson of La Crosse, Secretary Barry Stern of Madison, and Treasurer John Griner of Milwaukee. Their terms begin January 1, 2006.

A 1962 graduate of Marquette University Law School, Stevens Point Attorney Thomas Bertz has been in practice in the Stevens Point area with the Anderson, O'Brien, Bertz, Skrenes and Golla law firm since 1973. He is a past president of the Portage County Bar and the Western District of Wisconsin Bar Associations. He is a member of the American Bar Association (ABA) and the State Bar of Wisconsin Litigation Section. He serves on the Board of Directors for the University of Wisconsin-Stevens Point Board of Visitors and as Chairperson of the Stevens Point Rotary/Community Foundation, Scholarship Committee. Currently, he is a member of the Wisconsin Supreme Court Preliminary Review Committee (Office of Lawyer Regulation) and a member of the Board of Governors, State Bar of Wisconsin.

A founding Board member of WAWCA, La Crosse Attorney Charles “Chuck” Hanson graduated in 1973 from the University of Wisconsin Law School. After serving four years as a lawyer in the United State Air Force, he returned to Wisconsin and has been in practice in La Crosse with Hale, Skemp, Hanson, Skemp & Sleik law firm since 1978. He is a past president of the La Crosse County Bar Association, member of the American Bar Association and the State Bar of Wisconsin Litigation Section, Wisconsin Bar Foundation fundraising committee, and member of the Wisconsin Academy of Trial Lawyers, Civil Trial Lawyers of Wisconsin and Association of Trial Lawyers of America. He concentrates his practice in the areas of personal injury and workers’ compensation law. He is president of the Riverside International Friendship Gardens, Inc, an organization responsible for developing a multi-cultural public park. He is a founding board member of the La Crosse International Committee. He established cultural exchanges globally as a founding co-chair of the U.S. China Council for Sister Cities International, and founding president of the La Crosse-Luoyang ( China), the La Crosse-Forde ( Norway), the La Crosse-Dubna ( Russia), and the La Crosse-Bantry ( Ireland) Friendship Associations. Locally, he is Chairman of the La Crosse Kids Committee, which created The Brain Game, a book for new parents on how to enhance early childhood development. He also served as co-chair of the Kids Coulee Project, which built a large children’s playground at Myrick Park in La Crosse.

Milwaukee-born Attorney Barry Stern graduated from John Marshall High School and has been secretary of WAWCA since 2004. He received a Bachelor of Science degree in Philosophy from the University of Wisconsin-Madison and graduated in 1980 from the UW Law School. He has practiced as a legislative attorney in the State of Oregon and for five years as a legislative attorney for the Wisconsin Legislative Reference Bureau. He has 10 years experience as a part-time hearing examiner/administrative law judge (ALJ) for the Wisconsin Retirement System (Department of Employee Trust Funds attached boards). He has worked as an Administrative Law Judge for the Department of Workforce Development (DWD) Unemployment Insurance Division and as an ALJ in the DWD Worker's Compensation Division. Since 2004 h e has been a private practice attorney in Madison concentrating on Worker's Compensation and Wisconsin Retirement System Appeals.

Brookfield Att orney John Griner IV of Nada K. Sizemore & Associates is a staff attorney for the St. Paul/Travelers Insurance Companies. He is a 1984 graduate of Drake University Law School, and received his undergraduate degree in Economics from Harvard College in 1981. The emphasis of his practice is defense of employers and carriers in the area of Worker's Compensation. He has been elected to his second term as Treasurer and he is also a Past President of the Association. He has written for and spoken frequently to the State Bar of Wisconsin and other local, state and national organizations, as well as individual manufacturers and employers, on various topics including worker's compensation, civil litigation, products liability, business and employment issues.

WAWCA , Inc., a non-profit membership organization, is comprised of attorneys who practice in Wisconsin and have a special interest in worker’s compensation law. WAWCA serves public interest by fostering and promoting educational opportunities for the general public as well as members of the Association itself on topics relating to Wisconsin worker’s compensation law.

The State Bar of Wisconsin is the mandatory professional association, created by the Wisconsin Supreme Court, for attorneys who hold a  Wisconsin law license. With more than 21,000 members, the State Bar aids the courts in improving the administration of justice, provides continuing legal education for its members to help them maintain their expertise, and assists Wisconsin lawyers in carrying out community service initiatives to educate the public about the legal system and the value of lawyers.

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