Wisconsin Appellate Law monitors appellate law developments of interest to the business community in Wisconsin. We track the Wisconsin appellate courts — Supreme Court and Court of Appeals — the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit and, when relevant, the U.S. Supreme Court. We follow the court’s calendar throughout its term and report and comment on decisions, including how the decisions may impact Wisconsin businesses.
Our Editor
Thomas L. Shriner, Jr. 
Tom Shriner, Jr., a partner and member of Foley’s Appellate Practice, has an extensive appellate practice in both state and federal courts. Tom has been Peer Review Rated as AV® Preeminent™, the highest performance rating in Martindale-Hubbell’s peer review rating system and has been named the Best Lawyers® 2011 Milwaukee Bet-the-Company Litigator of the Year.
Tom was admitted to the Wisconsin Bar in 1972 and is also admitted before the U.S. Supreme Court, several U.S. Courts of Appeals, the U.S. District Courts in Wisconsin and Colorado, and the U.S. Tax Court. He is a past president of the Seventh Circuit Bar Association.
Our Contributors
Rachel M. Blise
Rachel M. Blise is an associate and member of Foley’s Business Litigation & Dispute Resolution Practice. Prior to joining Foley, Rachel was a judicial law clerk for the Honorable Carolyn Dineen King, U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit in Houston, Texas. She also served as a legal intern for the Office of the United States Trustee and a judicial intern for the Honorable Diane S. Sykes, U.S. Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit, and the Honorable Susan V. Kelley, U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the Eastern District of Wisconsin.
Rachel earned her law degree from Marquette University Law School (J.D., summa cum laude, 2010), and a bachelor’s degree in theater and communications from Carthage College (B.A., summa cum laude, 2003). She is admitted to practice in Wisconsin and before the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Wisconsin and the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit.
James F. Cirincione 
James Cirincione, an associate and member of Foley’s Business Litigation & Dispute Resolution Practice, served as a law clerk to the Hon. Stanley F. Birch Circuit Judge, U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit and the Hon. James C. Turk, Senior U.S. District Judge for the Western District of Virginia.
James graduated from Colgate University in 1998 with a B.A. in philosophy with honors. He received his J.D. from Vanderbilt University Law School in 2003, where he was an editor of the Vanderbilt Law Review and a member of the moot-court board. He is admitted to practice in Georgia, Illinois, and Wisconsin.
Kellen C. Kasper
Kellen C. Kasper is an associate and member of Foley’s Business Litigation & Dispute Resolution Practice.
Kellen earned his law degree from Harvard Law School (J.D., cum laude, 2010), where he served as an executive editor of the Harvard Journal of Law & Public Policy and as a supervising editor of the Harvard Journal on Legislation. During law school, he also worked as an intern in the legal department of the Milwaukee Brewers Baseball Club.
Kellen received his bachelor’s degree in accounting from the University of Wisconsin – Madison (B.B.A., with distinction, 2007), where he was elected to membership in the Beta Gamma Sigma honor society.
Kellen is admitted to practice in Wisconsin.
William J. Katt, Jr. 
William J. (Bill) Katt, Jr., an associate and member of Foley’s Appellate Practice, has represented clients in appellate litigation before state and federal courts and is a member of the bars of the U.S. Supreme Court and the U.S. Courts of Appeals for the Seventh and Eighth Circuits. He is a chapter co-author of a forthcoming Council of Appellate Lawyers book on civil appeals procedures in the 50 states.
Before joining Foley, Bill served as a law clerk to the Honorable Terence T. Evans on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit. He received his J.D. from Columbia Law School, where he was a Harlan Fiske Stone scholar and served as the executive articles editor of the Columbia Law Review, and he graduated with honors from the Edmund A. Walsh School of Foreign Service at Georgetown University. Bill is admitted to practice in the District of Columbia, Illinois, New York, and Wisconsin.
Eric G. Pearson
Eric Pearson is an associate in the Milwaukee office of Foley and a member of the firm’s Business Litigation & Dispute Resolution and Government Enforcement, Compliance & White Collar Defense Practices.
From 2007 to 2008, he served as a law clerk for Judge Sykes on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit. Eric graduated from Marquette University with degrees in law (J.D., summa cum laude, 2007) and economics (Honors B.S., summa cum laude, 2005).