About Trevor Kupfer
Trevor Kupfer is a senior editor on Super Lawyers’ staff. He is editor of the Illinois, South Carolina, Michigan, and Wisconsin magazines, in addition to being a writer and fact-checker of Super Lawyers’ other projects. He has a degree in journalism from an accredited program (University of Wisconsin-Eau Claire) and has written for such newspapers and magazines as Eau Claire Leader-Telegram, Volume One, Wisconsin State Journal, The Capital Times, Global Food Forums, and various publications under the groups Tribune Media Services, Capital Newspapers, and Conley Media. He has served on crime and courts beats and, in college, he aided an investigation through the Wisconsin Innocence Project.
Articles written by Trevor Kupfer
In the Lymelight
IP lawyer and biotech company co-founder Thomas Dunlap helped create a test for Lyme diseaseThomas Dunlap has been known to do some Burmese kickboxing, fly airplanes and scuba dive. In college, he wrote a few plays—which eventually led to a script-editor credit for Assault on Wall Street. Then he was a banker and an Army officer before landing at Dunlap Bennett & Ludwig. But it was his interest in biotech that helped revolutionize Lyme disease testing. “We are the only company right now, as far as I know, that if you pee in a cup, I can tell you with a high degree of certainty …
What Happens to the House, the Car, the Dog in a Divorce?
Minnesota’s laws on asset division are usually straightforward. That’s the good news. The bad news is that you may not agree with how they’re applied to your personal property. “People have visions of how they think things should be — like, ‘I should get my pension’ or ‘I should get the house’ — but it’s often not how it goes,” says Tom Tuft, a family attorney and mediator with Tuft, Lach, Jerabek & O’Connell in Maplewood. “Ninety-nine percent of the time it’s …
Post No Billable Hours
FisherBroyles replaces administrative equity decisions with a transparent formulaPartners at FisherBroyles are used to seeing looks of disbelief. A firm without a physical location? Without billable hours? How can this be? “I always say, ‘It’s exactly as described,’” says Bates Lovett, a civil litigator and FisherBroyles partner out of Savannah. In 2014, Lovett joined as the firm’s 67th attorney. By the end of 2016, they hit 170. Kevin Broyles and James Fisher started the firm about 15 years ago in Atlanta with a simple vision: less overhead and more …
Diagnosis: Life
Alan Gurvey was given a second chance, and it’s been carpe diem ever sinceAlan Gurvey’s life changed forever after a three-week period in 2011. I played softball that night, got home, and started experiencing some incredible pain. I’m pretty good at pain—I was an athlete and played football, so my tolerance is pretty good—but this was overwhelming. It became so excruciating I went to my neighbor, DJ Ashba, who was in Guns N’ Roses, and he and his buddy called an ambulance. I got to the hospital expecting a diagnosis of kidney stones. They put me on pain …
One Foot in the Future
Why Edelson PC takes its cues from tech startupsWhen Jay Edelson was toying with the idea of opening his own firm, he kept thinking back on his early days in practice, working for large defense firms. “They were difficult places for attorneys to progress and enjoy practicing law,” Edelson says. “I thought a lot about why that was so. You have a lot of really smart, energetic kids coming in, and they’d have the life kicked out of them within 18 months. I just thought, ‘How depressing is that?’” Then came the epiphany. “At …
State of Emergency
Mark C. Surprenant rallies fellow Louisiana bar members to improve access to justiceLouisiana’s justice system is in crisis. It’s filled with self-represented litigants and so low on money and indigent defense attorneys that not long ago judges were assigning lawyers from private firms to high-stakes criminal matters—regardless of their practice area. “We’re one of four states that provides zero funding for civil legal aid,” says Mark C. Surprenant. “Zero. We have people sitting in jail for months at a time waiting to have a lawyer assigned to them just …
Tribulations About Trials
Whereby Judge Dodd gives young lawyers advice about ‘Wherebys’I see law schools turning out terrific candidates, terrific lawyers, who are in a position to do really well, but can’t reach their potential because of the way the profession is drifting. They just don’t have courtroom experience. After five or seven years in practice, litigators rarely have courtroom experience and have only occasionally questioned witnesses in depositions. Their partners have an obligation to make opportunities for these lawyers to get out and learn their trade. …
Tech Support
How an early fascination with programming led Michael Oliver to computer lawYears ago, Michael Oliver attended what was to be the first live, over-the-internet, video-streaming event in Baltimore. The anticipation in the room was palpable. “And it didn’t go smoothly,” Oliver says, laughing. “But the people who were up there working on it were very excited, and I think that was probably the time I realized that—I’m going to be a lawyer, and that’s not the most exciting thing in the world, but those people are excited and clearly see [the potential of …
Cleveland Calling
Zashin & Rich works to the beat of its own drumWhen you hear the word “punk,” a law firm probably doesn’t spring to mind, but Zashin & Rich hopes to change that. As Stephen Zashin says, “We’re not your father’s law firm.” Except in the literal sense. Stephen and Andrew Zashin’s father co-founded the firm with Lawrence Rich in 1981. In June 2014, the firm took over the fourth floor of the Ernst & Young Tower in Cleveland’s Flats. “It was a blank space and a blank canvas, basically,” Stephen says. They worked …
A Game of Millimeters
In a past life, Nate Olson worked drug intelligence and served in IraqWhen I went to UW-Oshkosh, I worked for the Boys & Girls Club and had another job, too. Between work and school, I thought, "I'm going to do this for four years? No way." I wanted an easy A and someone said, "Take a military science course.” I sat next to a guy and he was telling me, "Oh man, the military pays for all my school. This is the best thing ever." And I'm like, "You know, I always kind of wanted to be in the military and this sounds so good.” So I signed up in December of …
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