Justia Legal Services & Lawyers Directory

Tamara B. Packard is a Partner in the Madison, Wisconsin law firm Cullen Weston Pines & Bach LLP. Ms. Packard has been practicing law since 1994, primarily in the areas of litigation and appeals, emphasizing employment, labor and civil rights law. She was named a Wisconsin Rising Star in Employment and Labor Law for 2006 and 2007, as announced in Milwaukee Magazine. She also serves as an adjunct professor at the University of Wisconsin Law School.

Ms. Packard frequently represents people with gender, disability and sexual orientation discrimination claims, as well as claims under the wage and hours laws, the State and Federal Family Medical Leave Acts, and in other employment and civil rights disputes. Her litigation and appeals practice also encompasses commercial disputes and serving as local counsel in complex federal litigation.

She is admitted to practice in the state courts of Wisconsin and Michigan, the Federal District Courts for the Eastern and Western Districts of Wisconsin, the Eastern District of Michigan and before the Seventh Circuit Court of Appeals. She also regularly appears on behalf of clients at the Wisconsin Equal Rights Division, the Federal Equal Employment Opportunities Commission, and other administrative agencies.

Ms. Packard currently serves on the Executive Committee of the James E. Doyle Chapter of the American Inns of Court as Program Chair. She is also active in the Legal Association for Women, the National Employment Lawyers Association and the Wisconsin Employment Lawyers Association.

In a decision released on June 5, 2008, Ms. Packard prevailed on behalf of Fair Wisconsin before the Wisconsin Supreme Court in a case involving free speech, gay rights, allegations of defamation, and a frivolous lawsuit. Partner Lester Pines was co-counsel. Donohoo v. Action Wisconsin, 2008 WI 56.

In 2007, Ms. Packard and Mr. Pines defended, in an Original Action before the Wisconsin Supreme Court, the Wisconsin Ethics Board's right to discipline Judge Annette Ziegler for her violations of the State Ethics Code. The Supreme Court declined Judge Ziegler's request to take her case, and soon after Judge Ziegler admitted to the violations, agreed to pay a $5,000 forfeiture, and also paid the Board's attorney fees.

In 2003, Ms. Packard won her first case in the Wisconsin Supreme Court, In re Bar Admission of Vanderperren, 2003 WI 37. The Supreme Court found that the Board of Bar Examiners wrongfully denied her client the privilege of practicing law in Wisconsin.

In 2001, on behalf of Madison Teachers, Inc., Ms. Packard and Mr. Pines protected the teachers' union's ability to negotiate domestic partner health insurance for school district employees. This victory was achieved in the Wisconsin Court of Appeals in cooperation with attorneys for the Madison Metropolitan School District. Pritchard v. MMSD and Madison Teachers, Inc., 2001 WI App 62.

Ms. Packard is a past-President of the Board of Directors of Fair Wisconsin Education Fund. She continues to serve on the Board. She also writes a regular column for Madison magazine Our Lives. She offers information on legal topics of particular interest to lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgendered people.

By the appointment of the Honorable Shelley J. Gaylord, Dane County Judge, Ms. Packard is a Dane County Supplemental Court Commissioner. This appointment allows Ms. Packard to officiate at marriage ceremonies throughout Wisconsin.

Attorney Daniel A. Rottier has been with Habush Habush & Rottier since 1979. In his role as Chief Operating Officer, he monitors the twelve offices of the firm. His own work focuses on medical negligence, product liability and general liability matters.

Dan has been recognized by many legal organizations for the quality of his work. He is a Fellow of the International Academy of Trial Lawyers; a Fellow of the American College of Trial Lawyers; a Diplomat of the American Board of Trial Advocates and a Fellow of the Wisconsin Law Foundation. He has been named as one of the top ten attorneys in Wisconsin for the last three years by Super Lawyers, a Law & Politics publication. In 2008 he was named Trial Lawyer of the Year by the Wisconsin Association For Justice.

Dan has been listed in the Best Lawyers in America for over ten years and has been certified as a Civil Trial Advocate by the National Board of Trial Advocacy since 1982. He has been lead trial counsel on cases resulting in recovery of more than $200 million for the firm's clients. He is a past President of the Wisconsin Association for Justice.

His practice has involved cases in seventeen states and he had the honor of arguing before the United States Supreme Court in 1992, with a unanimous decision in favor of the firm's client.

Dan is a past president of the Wisconsin Academy of Trial Lawyers, a past chair of the Litigation Section of the Wisconsin State Bar and has served on the Board of Governors of both AAJ and the State Bar. He lectures widely on legal matters and serves on the Board of Visitors of the University of Wisconsin Law School.

John Starkweather practices commercial real estate and business law. His practice includes both transactions (such as purchases/sales, leases, easements, condominiums, and financing) and litigation (such as contract disputes, quiet title, partition, eviction, adverse possession, and title claims). John is licensed to practice in Illinois (having worked in Chicago for over 12 years) and Wisconsin.