James Walrath Brings Extensive Litigation and Criminal Law Experience to Local Firm
Milwaukee – Zetley Law Offices, S.C. announced that Attorney James A. Walrath has joined the firm as Of Counsel. Walrath brings more than 40 years of litigation and appellate experience in the federal courts of Wisconsin, Illinois, Missouri, Florida and Nevada, as well as state courts in Wisconsin, Illinois, Michigan, New Jersey, Pennsylvania and Missouri. His trial practice involves a full range of pretrial motions, jury selection, and trial advocacy in criminal and civil cases reaching verdicts and settlements.
Walrath’s experience also includes representation for consumers pursuing class action litigation against major national companies, reaching settlements in excess of $20 million. He has appeared as counsel in nearly 100 reported federal and state decisions around the country, and has presented oral arguments before the United States Supreme Court (in Washington, D.C.), the United States Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit (in Chicago), the Wisconsin Supreme Court (in Madison), and the Wisconsin Court of Appeals (in Milwaukee and Madison).
“Jim’s insights from practicing criminal law and trying numbers of jury trials give him a unique ability to see cases from the litigator’s point of view. We are thrilled to have him join us,” said Craig Zetley, founder and managing partner of Zetley Law Offices. Zetley Law Offices looks forward to bringing Walrath on board, as he will further contribute to the advanced civil and criminal tax services Zetley already provides.
In 2005, Walrath was appointed Federal Defender in Wisconsin, overseeing a staff of criminal defense attorneys, investigators, and appointed counsel for indigent defendants in all federal courts in Wisconsin. Prior to his work as Federal Defender, Walrath served as Litigation Director and Executive Director of the Legal Aid Society of Milwaukee, a role that led him to found the first low-income taxpayer law clinic in Wisconsin funded by the Internal Revenue Service in 1991.
Walrath gained 15 years of experience specializing in criminal defense representation with the firm Shellow, Shellow & Glynn, S.C. After receiving his J.D. degree from the University of Michigan Law School, Walrath earned the University of Pennsylvania Reginald Heber Smith Fellowship, an academic achievement that resulted in the directorship of the first federal law reform program in Wisconsin.
