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
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 …
Clean Water Runs Deep
Mike Turco helps provide potable water to the communities that need it mostIn 2006, Mike Turco was working on a business litigation case for retired nuclear physicist, Dr. Robert McDonald. While getting to know one another, Turco mentioned his interest in aquaculture, the cultivation of aquatic plants and animals for food. Little did he know that McDonald was one of the engineers behind Aqua Clara International, a then-new nonprofit that develops technological solutions to purify unsafe drinking water for populations around the world. The duo discussed the possibility …
Walking in Their Shoes
How Barone Defense Firm uses psychodrama to help clients cope with traumatic eventsHad Patrick Barone looked up psychodrama, he probably never would have gone to Gerry Spence Trial Lawyers College. “On the third evening and fourth morning, they did full-blown, three-hour psychodramas,” Barone recalls. “The first one involved a [fellow student] whose family member had recently died, and so they recreated, essentially, his death bed in the hospital. It was an amazingly emotional event, and the next day was an equally emotionally charged issue. Just before we left, they …
Telling Their Stories
Lisa Lamm Bachman gives a voice to children and victims of domestic abuseJane wanted to leave but couldn’t risk losing her son. Her husband was threatening to take custody of him should she ever try. He controlled her income, giving her a meager monthly allowance that restricted her options. Then there was the escalating physical abuse. To avoid him, Jane mostly kept to a small room in the back of the house, sometimes securing the door with a board lodged under the knob and sleeping on a mattress on the floor. She’d been married for more than 10 years. When the …
The Next Evolution in Gaming Law
Dan Reaser’s legislation ushers in the era of skill-based gamingSlot machine wagering and revenue totals have been steadily dwindling since their peaks in the mid-’00s, and the demographics of their typical players are aging. The Nevada gaming industry has noticed, and is now imagining a future in which casino floors have options like trivia, touch-screen tablet games, third-person combat games and more. This future is now a reality, and the aforementioned games may already appear on casino floors in Nevada, thanks in part to skill-based gaming …
Giving Back by Paying It Forward
Juan Enjamio helps fund a scholarship program for first-generation law studentsIt was 1970. Fidel Castro was more than a decade into his tenure, Cold War tensions between the U.S. and Cuba were high, and the new political landscape was prompting hundreds of thousands of Cubans to flee their homeland. One of those was Juan Enjamio, who was 10 years old and spoke no English. “We left as part of what were called the ‘freedom flights,’ where you were allowed to leave after applying and being sponsored by someone in the U.S.,” says Enjamio, an employment defense …
Oil and Water
The many routes McClellanville’s Lionel S. Lofton took before lawThere aren’t really service stations anymore, where you can go in and actually get your oil changed and a grease job and that sort of thing. You have to go to one of these specialized places. But when I was young, my stepfather owned an oil company, so we ran a service station and I worked there. I also drove the oil truck in the summer to deliver gas to other stations and, on weekends in the winter, I would do routes where you had to deliver kerosene or fuel oil to households. In the …
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