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
‘The Most Empowering Thing I’ve Ever Done’
Scott Tillett’s battle with substance abuseIn high school, I got a DUI a couple of hours before the Northridge earthquake hit. My dad and stepfather came to pick me up at the Calabasas substation. I think I got home around 2 a.m., put my head down on the pillow, and by 4 a.m. the world was shaking. The epicenter was probably 15 minutes from where I lived. It was a weird experience because it was the strongest earthquake that’s hit in my lifetime, and it kind of refocused my family. The timing felt uncanny. I was ready for severe …
Washington Cannabis Business: Operational Laws To Follow
Since Washington and Colorado legalized the recreational use of marijuana in 2012, six other states have joined and it led to more than $257 million in sales for Washington in 2015. But while it’s increasingly becoming decriminalized under state laws, marijuana remains a Schedule I drug (alongside heroin) in the Controlled Substances Act of federal law. This has several implications for growers, processors, and retailers, according to the Washington attorneys who advise them. A federal agent …
The Council Counselor
Opportunity or obstacle? David Hyman helps clients deal with the government either wayFor nearly 30 years, David Hyman’s focus has been government relations. Jury trials are few and far between, but the practice offers its own unique sort of tension. “I can think of one or two times where I’ve been sitting in city council late at night on a vote when we knew it was close and didn’t know which way it was going to go,” he says. “But frequently you know long before. The tea leaves are there for everyone to read. There’s still some suspense, but it’s more of a …
Suing for Retaliation, If You Whistleblow While You Work
Whistleblower laws provide legal protections against retaliation when workers report illegal activity. Workplace retaliation laws prohibit adverse employment action or wrongful termination with a causal connection to protected activity. Employer liability gives workers a legal cause of action to recover lost wages, back pay, compensatory damages, and reinstatement in a retaliation lawsuit. Workers have the burden of proof to show a hostile work environment with evidence of retaliation. Talk to …
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 …
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