Legal Services & Lawyers

Attorney Johansen graduated from the University of Wisconsin-Superior in 1999 with a B.A. in History, cum laude. He graduated from California Western School of Law in San Diego, California in 2001. In 2002, he obtained his law license to practice in the State of Wisconsin. He is admitted to the United States District Court for the Western District of Wisconsin and the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Wisconsin. Additionally, he is the President of Johansen Law Office, S.C. Attorney Johansen is also a member of the American Bar Association and the Wisconsin Bar Association. He is the President of the Douglas County Bar Association.

Chuck Palmer is the Managing Partner of Michael, Best & Friedrich's Waukesha, Wisconsin office. His primary practice areas are Labor and Employment Law, OSHA defense, fire, explosion and safety related litigation, and construction law. He is co-chair of the firms construction practice group. He is the author of Wisconsin Workers Compensation Law, a Handbook for Employers. He is on the Board of Directors for the following organizations: Wisconsin Underground Contractors Assn., Wisconsin Council of Safety, Make A Wish Foundation. An example of one of his published opinions can be found at:

http://www.wicourts.gov/sc/opinion/DisplayDocument.html?content=html&seqNo=33223

Attorney Craig Vance founded Wisconsin Lemon Aid, LLC in Novmeber of 2008 to continue the fight for the rights of consumers. He practices in many areas of consumer law, including lemon law, warranty litigation, and fraud, in addition to handling other civil litigation matters. Craig handles consumer cases throughout the State of Wisconsin and will be practicing from the Wisconsin Lemon Aid, LLC offices in Pewaukee, Wisconsin. He can be reached by e-mail at cvance@wisconsinlemonaid.com. Attorney Vance has successfully handled hundreds of lemon law and waranty litigation cases and is looking forward to continuing his assistance of consumers in enforcing their rights.

Attorney Vance is a 2001 graduate of Marquette University Law School and a member of the State Bar of Wisconsin, the Washington, Waukesha and Milwaukee County Bar Associations. Craig resides in Germantown, Wisconsin with his wife and two children and is active in the community coaching youth sports and volunteering and his church and his childrens' school.

Practice limited to Wisconsin and Federal Criminal Appeals, habeas corpus, and post-conviction litigation

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.

PATRICIA L. GROVE was admitted to the State Bar of Wisconsin in 1981 after graduating from Tulsa University Law School where she was an editor of the Tulsa Law Journal, a member of the International Moot Court Team, and the recipient of the 1981 Rogers Inn Graduate of the Year Award. Pat has a B.A. degree from the University of Wisconsin-Madison, and an M.S.W. from Washington University.

Pat served from 1981 to 1982 as law clerk to Justice William Callow of the Wisconsin Supreme Court. She is the author of numerous articles and is the co-author of Appellate Practice and Procedure in Wisconsin (1986), the standard work on appellate procedure in the State of Wisconsin. She is a member of the Milwaukee and American Bar Associations, the State Bar of Wisconsin, the Society of Family Attorneys and the Collaborative Family Law Council of Wisconsin, Inc. She has been recognized as one of Milwaukee's top family law attorneys by Milwaukee Magazine, and in the 2006 Super Lawyers edition. Pat's practice is principally devoted to family law and appellate practice. Pat is also a court commissioner.