CONTACT: Teresa Weidemann-Smith
State Bar of Wisconsin
(800) 444-9404, ext. 6025
twsmith@wisbar.org
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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