The WBA Legal department is comprised of three attorneys and one administrative support person.  WBA’s attorneys are experts in banking law, specializing in Wisconsin banking law, and have almost 30 years of combined legal experience.  All of the attorneys have additional years of prior experience working in financial institutions as bankers. 

WBA’s attorneys serve as both your advocate and your resource.  We lobby on your behalf with the state legislature, and regularly write comment letters to federal and state regulators and other bodies on proposals affecting the industry.  In addition, we file friend-of-the-court briefs at the request of WBA members, with approval from the WBA Board of Directors, on legal issues affecting our industry in the courts.

We offer several compliance informational resources for WBA members only.  The most notable resource is our legal call program where we respond to general compliance inquiries from WBA members.  We also publish the monthly WBA Compliance Journal and the HR and Compliance Q&A columns quarterly and monthly for Wisconsin Banker. In addition, the department publishes monthly the SBA Regulatory Spotlight which is sold to several other state banker associations for their members. 

WBA’s attorneys are often featured speakers at various WBA and FIPCO education programs, and are involved with the Graduate School of Banking at the University of Wisconsin – Madison.