Current Employment Position(s)

Partner

Lawyer Overview

CHRIS J. TREBATOSKI is a partner in our Milwaukee office. The main focus of his practice since graduating from law school has been in dispute resolution, primarily in the form of trial and appellate practice. He has also used the experiences obtained from his trial practice to help clients negotiate commercial contracts and form strategies for the investigation of both claims and potential claims to attempt to avoid litigation in the first instance.

Mr. Trebatoski is a graduate of the University of Wisconsin-Madison (J.B.A., with honors, 1981) and the University of Wisconsin School of Law (J.D., cum laude, 1984).

He has been lead counsel in more than fifty trials involving a wide range of matters, including banking industry fraud claims, computer software design and outsourcing disputes, business valuation and confidentiality claims arising from mergers and acquisitions gone wrong, professional negligence claims and real estate matters, including riparian rights. He has frequently been involved in representing clients in appellate proceedings. Nineteen opinions involving matters in which Mr. Trebatoski has represented clients have been published. He has presented arguments in the Sixth and Seventh Circuit Courts of Appeal, including the first case in the Sixth Circuit which limited the circumstances under which ERISA welfare benefits could be deemed vested in the collective bargaining setting. His skills as an appellate advocate have resulted in his selection as the principal author of amicus briefs ranging from whether a court should intervene in an administrative proceeding regarding the site for a power plant to whether enterprise liability should be extended to the lead paint industry.

Mr. Trebatoski has also presented several oral arguments before the Wisconsin Supreme Court. He successfully argued that the state's 105-year-old concealed weapons law was unconstitutional. This case and one other that he had argued were subsequently chosen as the most significant decisions of the Wisconsin Supreme Court in 2003 and 2001, respectively.

He has been a speaker at continuing education programs and conferences on topics such as evidence, effective trial advocacy, effective and necessary use of technology in trial presentation, preparation and presentation of expert witnesses, and not-for-profit governance.

Mr. Trebatoski is a member of the Wisconsin Advisory Board of the American Diabetes Association and has previously served on several community based not-for-profit organizations.

He is admitted to practice before the United States District Court for the Eastern and Western Districts of Wisconsin, the Sixth and Seventh Circuit Court of Appeals, the U.S. District Courts in Colorado and Nevada, the Wisconsin Supreme Court and the U.S. Supreme Court. Mr. Trebatoski is a member of the State Bar of Wisconsin.

Areas of Practice

• Litigation
• Non-Profit Organization Law
• Product Liability
• Real Estate and Riparian Rights

West Practice Categories

Administrative Law, Non-profit & Tax-exempt Organizations, Employment Law -- Employee, Employee Retirement Income Security Act (ERISA) -- Employee, Sports, Litigation & Appeals, Water & Riparian Rights, Products Liability Law, Professional Malpractice Law, Real Estate Law

Bar Admissions

• Wisconsin, 1984
• U.S. District Court Eastern District of Wisconsin
• U.S. District Court Western District of Wisconsin
• U.S. Court of Appeals 6th Circuit
• U.S. Court of Appeals 7th Circuit
• U.S. Supreme Court

Professional Associations and Memberships

• State Bar of Wisconsin
• American Bar Association
• Milwaukee Bar Association

Education

• University of Wisconsin, Madison, Wisconsin, 1984
  J.D., Doctor of Jurisprudence
  Honors: cum laude
• University of Wisconsin, Madison, Wisconsin, 1981
  J.B.A., Bachelor of Arts in Journalism
  Honors: With Honors

Address

700 North Water Street
Milwaukee, WI 53202

Phones

(414) 276-5800

Faxes

(414) 276-0458

Emails

Contact Us

Websites

http://www.wbb-law.com