Randall D. Crocker, President and CEO of von Briesen & Roper, s.c., has announced that Joseph M. Russell joined the Firm as a Shareholder. Russell is a member of the trial team representing BP in the Deepwater Horizon oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico. He was formerly a Partner in the Chicago office of Kirkland & Ellis LLP.

Russell is a Shareholder in the firm’s Litigation and Risk Management Practice Group. He has litigated a wide variety of cases in state and federal courts throughout the country, including commercial, franchise and distribution, mass tort, product liability, corporate, environment, consumer fraud, bankruptcy and trade secret cases.

Russell is active in both pro bono and charitable endeavors. He has briefed and argued criminal appeals in the U.S. Court of Appeals (7th Circuit) and served as class counsel for over 4,000 individuals who resided in state-funded institutions for mental disease who now have the opportunity to move into and receive services in community-based housing (Williams v. Quinn, N.D. Illinois). He was the recipient of the Access Living 2012 “Lead On!” award for representing individuals with mental illness.

Russell is a member of the State Bar of Wisconsin (Member, Ethics Committee), the Illinois State Bar Association, and the Milwaukee and Chicago Bar Associations. He received a J.D. (2003) from Northwestern University School of Law; a M.A. (1997) from the University of Wisconsin; a M. Phil. (1996) from Trinity College, University of Dublin; and, a B.A., magna cum laude, (1993) from Georgetown University. Born and raised in Milwaukee, he now resides in Mequon, Wisconsin with his family.

About von Briesen & Roper, s.c.: von Briesen & Roper, s.c. is a 109-year-old Milwaukee-based law firm with over 100 attorneys in offices in Milwaukee and Madison. The firm provides legal services to businesses, institutions and individuals, with an emphasis on matters involving banking, bankruptcy, business restructuring, construction law, corporate law, employee benefits, health law, labor, litigation, risk management, real estate, and wealth management. For more information, please visit the firm’s web site at http://www.vonbriesen.com.