Pines Bach LLP Madison WI Lawyers | Pines Bach | Dane County2026-05-20T06:16:14Zhttps://www.pinesbach.com/feed/atom/WordPress/wp-content/uploads/sites/1404911/2021/08/cropped-pb-site-icon-32x32.jpgby Pines Bach LLP<![CDATA[Lester Pines, named a 2026 Fellow by the Wisconsin Academy of Sciences Arts and Letters]]>https://www.pinesbach.com/?p=591032026-03-27T21:29:52Z2026-03-27T20:03:14ZOn Behalf of Pines Bach LLP<![CDATA[Pines Bach Named in the 16th edition of Best Law Firms® in the United States]]>https://www.pinesbach.com/?p=588242025-11-18T01:07:07Z2025-11-18T01:07:07Z
Civil Rights Law
Employment Law – Individuals
Family Law
Family Law Mediation
Health Care law
Litigation – Healthcare
Litigation – Labor and Employment
Tier 1 firms received the highest overall scores in a specific practice area and metropolitan region, indicating exceptional performance, high-profile work, and top-of-mind awareness among clients and other attorneys in that market.
The firm’s Commercial Litigation, Land Use and Zoning Law, Litigation – Environmental, Real Estate, and Appellate practices also received regional recognition in Tiers 2 and 3.
The 2026 edition celebrates firms that represent the pinnacle of professional excellence in the United States. Grounded in comprehensive research and reinforced by peer and client recognition, these rankings honor practices distinguished by exceptional skill, unwavering integrity, and outstanding client services.”
The Best Law Firms methodology uses both qualitative and quantitative data to determine the rankings.
Established in 1979, Pines Bach is a multi-service law firm dedicated to achieving excellent results for clients through advice, negotiation, and courtroom advocacy.]]>by Diane Welsh<![CDATA[Diane Welsh Selected as a 2025 Wisconsin Law Journal Legal All-Star]]>https://www.pinesbach.com/?p=588282025-09-29T13:32:31Z2025-09-29T13:32:31Z
Pines Bach is pleased to announce the selection of Diane Welsh as a 2025 Wisconsin Law Journal Legal All-Star in the category of Woman in the Law.
The Wisconsin Law Journal Legal All-Stars awards celebrate Wisconsin’s legal professionals who demonstrate outstanding performance in leadership, mentorship, community service, and other areas.
Diane Welsh is a partner at the firm and a member of both the Litigation Practice Group and the Transactional Practice Group.]]>On Behalf of Pines Bach LLP<![CDATA[Eight Pines Bach Attorneys Recognized in The Best Lawyers in America® 2026 Edition]]>https://www.pinesbach.com/?p=569692025-10-22T10:19:16Z2025-08-25T09:15:39ZBest Lawyers in America® honorees and their identified areas of practice:
Steven Bach: Collaborative Law: Family Law, Family Law, and Family Law Mediation
Ann Davies: Family Law, Collaborative Law: Family Law, and Family Law Arbitration
Joshua Kindkeppel: Business Organizations (including LLCs and Partnerships), Commercial Litigation, and Real Estate Law
Tamara Packard: Civil Rights Law, Appellate Practice, Litigation - Labor and Employment, and Employment Law – Individual
Elise Clancy Ruoho: Collaborative Law: Family Law
Holly Slota: Family Law
Diane Welsh: Health Care Law, Litigation: Health Law
Christa Westerberg: Civil Rights Law, Land Use and Zoning, and Litigation - Environmental
Best Lawyers® honorees are nominated and selected by their peers for excellence in their chosen practice of law.]]>On Behalf of Pines Bach LLP<![CDATA[Eleven Pines Bach Attorneys Honored in 2024 Edition of The Best Lawyers in America®]]>https://www.pinesbach.com/?p=536502025-10-22T10:19:25Z2023-08-17T21:14:51ZThe Best Lawyers in America®, a highly regarded publication of top lawyers and law firms, lists ten Pines Bach LLP attorneys in the newly released 2024 Wisconsin edition. Compiled using a rigorous peer process, the list is designed to showcase those lawyers who are highly regarded in their field.
Pines Bach’s 2024 “Best Lawyers,” and the practice areas in which they are listed, are as follows:
Steven A. Bach: Collaborative Law: Family Law, Family Law, and Family Law Mediation
Ann Davies: Collaborative Law: Family Law, Family Law, and Family Law Arbitration
Joshua J. Kindkeppel: Commercial Litigation and Real Estate Law
Jordan C. Loeb: Criminal Defense: General Practice
Tamara B. Packard: Appellate Practice, Civil Rights Law, Employment Law – Individuals, and Litigation – Labor and Employment
Lester A. Pines: Criminal Defense: General Practice, Criminal Defense: White-Collar, and Employment Law – Individuals
Elise Clancy Ruoho: Collaborative Law: Family Law and Family Law
Holly Slota: Family Law
Alison TenBruggencate: Collaborative Law: Family Law and Family Law
Diane Welsh – Health Care Law and Litigation – Health Care
Christa Westerberg: Civil Rights Law, Land Use and Zoning Law, and Litigation - Environmental
As an added honor, Pines Bach has two “Lawyer of the Year” recipients for Madison. Only a single attorney in each practice area in each community is honored as a “Lawyer of the Year.”
Elise Clancy Ruoho – Collaborative Law: Family Law
Jordan c. Loeb – Criminal Defense: General Practice
Pines Bach is proud to have had so many of our attorneys recognized by our peers for the ongoing commitment to superior client service and legal excellence.]]>On Behalf of Pines Bach LLP<![CDATA[Madison School District Violates Labor Law, Undermining Teachers’ Union]]>https://www.pinesbach.com/?p=519392025-10-22T10:19:34Z2022-01-27T19:59:50ZAttorney Tamara B. Packard of Pines Bach LLP, filed its complaint with the Commission and warned the District against doing this again. Nevertheless, the District sent the survey a second time to those same employees.
Even more disturbing is that the District engaged in this same kind of behavior in the lead-up to negotiations for the 2020-2021 school year. MTI filed a prohibited practice charge then, too, which the parties settled based, in part, on the District’s commitment to respect MTI as the certified representative of the teachers, educational support staff, and substitute teachers employed by the District. In that settlement, the District also committed to bargain with MTI in good faith in the future. That settlement was reached in December 2020, yet less than 6 months later, the District engaged in the exact same illegal behavior.
As the hearing examiner explained in the January 2022 decision, this kind of behavior “is bypassing and undermining the labor organization selected by the employees to collectively bargain over that subject. It is the labor organization’s role to seek any needed employee input on a mandatory subject of bargaining—not the employer’s.”
Said Packard: “It is unfortunate that the public school district in Madison Wisconsin has engaged in a pattern of bypassing and undermining employee unions. Wisconsin’s public sector labor unions and their members have suffered greatly under decade-old union busting laws. Our local institutions and elected officials should not attempt to further silence the collective voice of its employees.” Added Jeff Knight, MTI Executive Director, “Doubly disappointing is that MTI and MMSD were able to jointly create an Employee Handbook that honors a good faith working relationship built on collaboration and consensus building. We hope this ruling persuades MMSD to return to that model for the good of its employees and the students they serve.”]]>On Behalf of Pines Bach LLP<![CDATA[Pines Bach LLP Partner Christa Westerberg authored a chapter in the American Bar Association’s recent book, Ensuring an Informed Public: State Open Records and Meetings Laws.]]>https://www.pinesbach.com/?p=519012025-10-22T10:19:39Z2021-09-27T21:21:47ZThis book discusses and analyzes the features, concepts, and themes shared by state statutes, and it explores some of the variation among jurisdictions in both the statutes and the case law. Includes a breakdown of public records and open meetings requirements, plus a listing of statutes, constitutional provisions, and explanatory guides for each state’s public records and open meetings laws.
Attorney Westerberg contributed Chapter 3, on access to electronic and digital records. She has litigated numerous public records and open meetings cases, including one regarding access to native versions of email messages.
A link to information about the book is available here.]]>On Behalf of Pines Bach LLP<![CDATA[Lester Pines, Senior Partner, was chosen as Madison’s Best Attorney]]>https://www.pinesbach.com/?p=517532025-10-22T10:19:46Z2021-09-13T18:38:33Z]]>On Behalf of Pines Bach LLP<![CDATA[Best Of The Best: Social Media Meets Government Actors]]>https://www.pinesbach.com/?p=509962025-10-22T10:19:52Z2021-05-19T21:15:38Z
Attorneys Christa Westerberg and were recognized for their writing excellence by the State Bar of Wisconsin. Their article "Social Media, the First Amendment, and Government Actors" (Jan. 2020) received the top award for an article in Wisconsin Lawyer magazine, the Hon. Charles Dunn Author Award. Congratulations! Follow the link to read the judges' comments.
]]>On Behalf of Pines Bach LLP<![CDATA[Pines Bach LLP Attorneys Win Victory Blocking Unlawful GOP Redistricting Counsel Contracts]]>https://www.pinesbach.com/?p=506642025-10-22T10:20:01Z2021-04-29T21:51:58Zab initio and to permanently enjoin them from spending any more public funds on the contracts. The court granted summary judgment in Pines Bach LLP’s favor and awarded their clients all of the relief they had requested.
Like all states, Wisconsin is required to redraw its congressional and legislative districts every 10 years based on population changes reported by the U.S. Census Bureau. Sometimes states have skewed their redrawn districts so as give one or more groups of people a built-in advantage in representation at the expense of others, an anti-democratic practice known as “gerrymandering.” In 2011, the Republican majorities in the Legislature and then-Governor Scott Walker enacted a gerrymandered map so hyper-partisan in the advantage it gave Republicans that the Harvard Electoral Integrity Project scored Wisconsin’s boundaries as a 3 out of 100—the single lowest rating in the entire nation. In this cycle, Governor Tony Evers has proposed to have the redistricting process directed by a non-partisan commission. In addition, the legislature’s own full-time service agencies historically have provided the legal advice and technical work to translate policymaker directions into legal maps, and they remain capable of that work, whether in conjunction with a non-partisan commission or not.
However, Republican legislative leaders not only refused a non-partisan commission, but instead signed contracts with two private law firms to work with them to replicate their 2011 gerrymandering work in secret. The requisite data from the Census Bureau will not be delivered for months, with the genuine work of redistricting beginning only then, and any potential litigation about the new maps commencing only after that work is completed. Even so, the Republican leaders have already been paying $30,000 per month since January on one of their outside contracts alone, for pre-litigation “consulting” to enable their gerrymandering efforts.
Pines Bach LLP attorneys Lester Pines, Tamara Packard, and sued after acquiring copies of these contracts. They argued that statute specifically allows the Legislature to retain counsel at public expense in limited circumstances in which its interests are affected in a lawsuit. By contrast, the law clearly does not allow individual, partisan legislative leaders to spend taxpayer funds on outside attorneys for their own secret consulting purposes when there is not yet even a lawsuit for those attorneys to work on.
The defendants, state Assembly Speaker Robin Vos and Senate Majority Leader Devin LeMahieu, claimed that both the Wisconsin Constitution and each of three separate statutes, Wis. Stat. §§ 13.124, 16.74, and 20.765, independently authorized the contracts. However, Judge Stephen Ehlke ruled that none of the laws the defendants cited supported the contracts. He noted that one of the statutes was passed in 2018 and that the Legislature could have enacted it then with the meaning they want it to have now, but that they chose not to do so. And at any rate, he ruled, their proffered interpretations “impermissibly infringe” on the separation of powers provided for in Wisconsin’s constitution.
“Vos and LeMahieu have already lawlessly spent tens of thousands of taxpayer dollars on private lawyers for secret legal advice for a non-existent action, all to enable their gerrymandering,” Pines said. “This misuse of taxpayer funds had to be stopped. Hopefully they will learn their lesson and come to the redistricting process in an open, honest, and democratic way.”]]>
Pines Bach is pleased to announce the selection of Diane Welsh as a 2025 Wisconsin Law Journal Legal All-Star in the category of Woman in the Law.
The Wisconsin Law Journal Legal All-Stars awards celebrate Wisconsin’s legal professionals who demonstrate outstanding performance in leadership, mentorship, community service, and other areas.
Diane Welsh is a partner at the firm and a member of both the Litigation Practice Group and the Transactional Practice Group.]]>
Steven Bach: Collaborative Law: Family Law, Family Law, and Family Law Mediation
Ann Davies: Family Law, Collaborative Law: Family Law, and Family Law Arbitration
Joshua Kindkeppel: Business Organizations (including LLCs and Partnerships), Commercial Litigation, and Real Estate Law
Tamara Packard: Civil Rights Law, Appellate Practice, Litigation - Labor and Employment, and Employment Law – Individual
Elise Clancy Ruoho: Collaborative Law: Family Law
Holly Slota: Family Law
Diane Welsh: Health Care Law, Litigation: Health Law
Christa Westerberg: Civil Rights Law, Land Use and Zoning, and Litigation - Environmental
Best Lawyers® honorees are nominated and selected by their peers for excellence in their chosen practice of law.]]>