The expanding business community at the Riverwood Corporate Center along Highway J just north of I-94 in Waukesha County is an appropriate place for the new offices of the Michael Best & Friedrich law firm.
A drive through the corporate park and nearby properties reveals some impressive names: Microsoft, Compaq Computer, MRA-The Management Association, Ameritech, Roundy’s, Cobalt, GE Medical Systems, and Cisco Systems, and the American Cancer Society, among others.
And more building continues – further evidence of the westward expansion of the metropolitan Milwaukee business community.
Michael Best & Friedrich has completed a big leap into that expansion, recently opening its Waukesha County office in the Two Riverwood Place building of the corporate park. The downtown Milwaukee-based firm now has 22 attorneys (soon to be 23) at the Waukesha office, making it the largest law office in the county.
The firm had earlier brought the Waukesha law firm of Palmer & Finerty, acquiring a Waukesha County presence through acquisition. But the firm saw the demand for a much larger presence in the county.
The new location will allow the firm to better serve its clients in the western part of the metro area and, hopefully, attract new clients, says Chuck Graupner, Waukesha office managing partner.
“This is an important day for the firm and for our new neighbors in Waukesha County,” said Graupner, who has been with Michael Best & Friedrich for 25 years. “We continue to add to our client base in this area and are dedicated to being friends in which this community can take pride.”
The full-service practice offers a broad range of personal and commercial legal services.
A good number of the attorneys at the Waukesha County office live in the western area, although Graupner notes Milwaukee County residents, including himself, are among the staff.
Last December the firm signed a five-year lease for 20,600 square feet in the Two Riverwood Place office building, developed by Capstone Quadrangle.
Michael Best & Friedrich, founded in 1848, has 180 attorneys at its home office at 100 E. Wisconsin Ave. in downtown Milwaukee. Overall, it has more than 340 attorneys in six locations, including Madison, and Manitowoc in Wisconsin; Lehigh Valley, Pa.; and Chicago.
June 7, 2002 Small Business Times, Milwaukee
