Honors & Awards

2010 Top Workplace
Our firm has been recognized by the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel as a Top Workplace for 2010. The survey recognizes organizations located in Southeastern Wisconsin with exemplary work places.

Godfrey & Kahn makes significant efforts to maintain an enjoyable and rewarding workplace for its employees. Our firm's leadership works closely with our people to identify opportunities for education, networking and client development and to provide multiple roads to success for its employees. We encourage employees to find a balance between work and home and offer many employee appreciation activities. Additionally, we offer competitive wages and benefits and have a strong professional development tracking path, including mentoring programs, new associate retreats, business development training, and others. Other programs that make us a Top Workplace include a green committee, diversity initiatives, health and wellness programs and women's initiatives.

Attorneys, Practice Areas Earn Top Rankings in State
The firm's corporate/M&A, real estate, general commercial litigation, intellectual property and environmental/natural resources practices are ranked among the top statewide, according to a listing of "America's Leading Business Lawyers 2010," compiled by Chambers & Partners. Additionally, a number of the firm's attorneys have been recognized individually, as noted below.

Corporate/M&A group:
Peter M. Sommerhauser, John A. Dickens, Christopher B. Noyes, Patricia L. Falb and Mark C. Witt.

Real Estate group:
Stephen L. Chernof, Michael J. Dwyer and Kristine S. Cherek.

General Commercial Litigation group:
William H. Levit, Brady C. Williamson and Daniel T. Flaherty.

Intellectual Property

Environmental/Natural Resources group:
Arthur J. Harrington

2010 The Best Lawyers in America
Forty-five lawyers from Godfrey & Kahn, S.C. have been selected by their peers for inclusion in The Best Lawyers in America® 2010 (Copyright 2009 by Woodward/White, Inc., of Aiken, S.C.). 

Since its inception in 1983, Best Lawyers has become universally regarded as the definitive guide to legal excellence in the United States. The current, 16th edition of Best Lawyers (2010), is based on more than 1.8 million detailed evaluations of lawyers by other lawyers. Because lawyers are not required or allowed to pay a fee to be listed, inclusion in Best Lawyers is considered a singular honor.

Lawyers: Jon E. Anderson, Richard J. Bliss, Stephen L. Chernof, John L. Clancy, Robert E. Chritton, John A. Dickens, Paul J. Dombrowski, John E. Donahue, William E. Duffin, Michael J. Dwyer, Patricia L. Falb, Daniel J. Finerty, Daniel T. Flaherty, James A. Friedman, Carol A. Gehl, J. Gardner Govan, Arthur J. Harrington, Thomas A. Hoffner, John L. Kirtley, Joan D. Klimpel, Debra S. Koenig, Andrew R. Lauritzen, Helge K. Lee, Kristi E. Leswing, William H. Levit, Jr., Diane M. Marchik, Christopher B. Noyes, Timothy F. Nixon, Kevin J. O'Connor, Winston A. Ostrow, Douglas J. Patch, James N. Phillips, William J. Plummer, Douglas M. Poland, Howard A. Pollack, Jeffrey D. Riester, James A. Sheriff, Mark A. Shiller, Thomas N. Shorter, Michael E. Skindrud, Peter M. Sommerhauser, Charles G. Vogel, Nicholas P. Wahl, Brady C. Williamson, Mark C. Witt.

Harrington has appeared in The Best Lawyers in America® for the last 20 consecutive years or more. Bliss, Dombrowski, Donahue, Hoffner, Koenig, Levit, Phillips, Sommerhauser and Willamson have been listed for the last 10 consecutive years or more.

Previous Best Lawyers in America

Top Milwaukee Workplaces 
Our firm has been recognized by the Milwaukee Business Journal as one of the 2008 Top Milwaukee Workplaces. The annual awards recognize area firms for taking the lead in creating exemplary workplaces. 

Godfrey & Kahn takes significant strides to make the workplace an enjoyable and rewarding place for its employees. The Firm's leadership works closely with our people to identify opportunities for education, networking and client development to raise awareness and provide multiple roads to success for its employees. Godfrey & Kahn encourages employees to find a balance between work and home, offers many employee appreciation activities, competitive wages and benefits and has a strong professional development tracking path, including mentoring programs, new associate retreats, business development training, and others. 

ABA Eco-Challenge Partner
The American Bar Association recognized Godfrey & Kahn's strides to become a more "green" organization by naming the firm an "Eco-Challenge Partner" on January 31, 2008. As of that date, Godfrey & Kahn was one of only 38 firms across the country and the only firm in Wisconsin honored with this designation. The firm is currently certified in the "Best Paper Practices" category and is working toward other certifications. The ABA Section of Environment, Energy, and Resources (SEER) together with the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency designed the program to encourage firms to take simple, practical steps to become better environmental and energy stewards.

Godfrey & Kahn's Green Office Task Force, led by Art Harrington, chair of the Environmental & Energy Team, works to develop practical steps the Firm can take to further reduce its carbon footprint and to otherwise benefit the environment. In the past year, the task force took several significant steps beyond traditional recycling efforts to reduce our environmental impact:

• Purchasing only ENERGY STAR rated computers, printers, and copiers, saving an average of 65% on energy usage and significantly reducing CO2 emissions from older equipment such as CRT monitors.
• Activating "sleep mode" on computers and printers, thereby using 70% less energy.
• Introducing an initiative to produce fewer printed interoffice communications and materials. The typical 180-lawyer firm uses over 90 tons of paper per year. Instead, the Firm has instituted a policy of encouraging electronic communication as much as possible.
• Setting printers and copiers to print double-sided, reducing the amount of paper used for printing drafts and internal communications.
• Going "paperless." More teams are saving and filing their work electronically, thus eliminating the need for paper files or copies.

For more information on Godfrey & Kahn's Green Office Task Force, please contact Art Harrington (414-287-9414 or ajharrin@gklaw.com).

2009 Wisconsin SuperLawyers & Rising Stars
Godfrey & Kahn, S.C. is pleased to announce that 32 of its lawyers have been named 2009Wisconsin Super Laywers® by Law & Politics. They are among the top five percent of lawyers in the state based on extensive research conducted by Law & Politics, peer recognition and professional achievement criteria. Brady C. Williamson and Timothy F. Nixon have also been named among the top 50 Super Lawyers in Wisconsin.

Additionally, 11 Godfrey & Kahn lawyers have been recognized as 2009 Wisconsin Rising Stars® by Law & Politics. Rising Stars are lawyers who are age 40 or under or who have been practicing for 10 or fewer years. They are among the top 2.5 percent of the best up-and-coming attorneys in the state based on the results of a survey completed by the most recent group of Super Lawyers.

2009 Wisconsin Super Lawyers: Jon E. Anderson, Michael B. Apfeld, Stephen L. Chernof, John A. Dickens, Paul J. Dombrowski, William E. Duffin, Michael J. Dwyer, Daniel T. Flaherty, James A. Friedman, J. Gardner Govan, Arthur J. Harrington, Kendall W. Harrison, Thomas A. Hoffner, John L. Kirtley, William H. Levit, Jr., Diane M. Marchik, Timothy F. Nixon, Christopher B. Noyes, Kevin J. O'Connor, Winston A. Ostrow, David G. Peterson, James N. Phillips, Brian L. Pierson, Howard A. Pollack, James A. Sheriff, Mark A. Shiller, Michael E. Skindrud, Peter M. Sommerhauser, Charles G. Vogel, Nicholas P. Wahl, Brady C. Williamson.

2009 Wisconsin Rising Stars: Jeffrey S. Billings, Jessica L. Braeger, Heather L. Cain, Sherry D. Coley, Thomas R. Homberg, Lecia D. Johnson, Danielle M. Machata, Sarah E. McNally, Jennifer M. Olk, Hannah L. Renfro, C.J. Wauters.

Previous Wisconsin Super Lawyers & Rising Stars