Randall D. Crocker, President and CEO of von Briesen & Roper, s.c., announced today that the firm has opened offices in Appleton and Green Bay and added attorneys Frank W. Kowalkowski, Benjamin D. LaFrombois and William S. Woodward as Shareholders of the firm. LaFrombois will practice out of the downtown Appleton location at 100 West Lawrence Street. Kowalkowski and Woodward will practice out of the downtown Green Bay location at 414 East Walnut Street.
In March of this year, von Briesen opened an Oshkosh office with six attorneys: James R. Macy, Robert A. Mathers, Steven R. Sorenson, William E. Fischer, Thomas W. Moniz and Courtney A. Hollander.
“We at von Briesen believe that our commitment to client service, recognized expertise and cost-effective, value-added, practical and effective legal advice and representation coupled with our investment in the finest tools to meet the legal needs of our clients and to support the entrepreneurial work of our lawyers, will resonate with the expanding business, commercial, governmental and not-for-profit organizations and institutions in the Fox Valley. I look forward to working with these outstanding lawyers as we strive to achieve absolute partnership with our clients and to secure game-changing advantages on their behalf,” Crocker said.
Frank W. Kowalkowski is a Shareholder in the Green Bay office. Kowalkowski represents contractors, material suppliers, architects, engineers, municipalities and owners in both commercial and residential real estate projects, including real estate acquisition and development, contracts, construction claims, insurance coverage disputes and the establishment and foreclosure of liens. He has represented clients throughout the country in Wisconsin-based construction disputes and was featured in the Wisconsin Law Journal as one of the Top Construction Lawyers in Wisconsin in 2008. He developed the curriculum for the Construction Law and Builder Qualifier courses at Northeast Wisconsin Technical College, which he also teaches.
Kowalkowski also has an extensive Federal Indian Law practice representing municipalities, counties, state governments, businesses and individuals in several areas including fee to trust applications, reservation boundary disputes, and tribal permitting, taxation and business licenses. He has handled cases in state, federal and tribal court, as well as the Interior Board of Indian Appeals in Washington, D.C.
Kowalkowski is active in the community and serves as a member of the Executive Committee of the Board of Directors for Neville Public Museum Foundation Inc. where he also chairs the Governance Committee. He is a member of the Green Bay Area Chamber of Commerce, the Brown County and National Home Builders Associations, the Brown County and American Bar Associations, and the State Bar of Wisconsin. He received a J.D. (magna cum laude, 1992) from Marquette University and a B.S. (1987) from the University of Wisconsin-Green Bay. He resides in De Pere, Wisconsin.
Benjamin D. LaFrombois is a Shareholder in the Appleton office. He focuses his practice on mergers and acquisitions, corporate governance, commercial finance, commercial real estate development, and business succession planning. LaFrombois has a particular interest in the management of private and public strategic initiatives, such as convention center development and regional distribution centers. He has significant experience in the food industry at the retail, distribution and production levels including food marketing and labeling, logistics (warehousing and transportation), and inventory management and financing with an emphasis on the dairy industry. LaFrombois previously served as Vice President and General Counsel of WOW Logistics Company in Appleton after serving as In-House Counsel at Ingles Markets, Inc. in Asheville, North Carolina. He received a J.D. (1996) from the Chicago-Kent College of Law and a B.S. (1993) from Liberty University. He resides in Greenville, Wisconsin.
William S. Woodward is a Shareholder in the Green Bay office. He serves as general counsel for business clients in a wide range of corporate and business matters throughout Wisconsin, including business planning and successor leadership issues; organizing, acquiring or selling businesses; contract review and drafting; risk analysis and planning; and, general business advice. Woodward has represented both buyers and sellers in connection with the purchase or sale of businesses with issues ranging from transfers resulting from family succession to multi-million dollar deals. Woodward also represents several automobile dealers in all corporate matters, but with particular emphasis on those matters specific to the automotive industry.
