For more information contact:
Peggy Schicantek
(414) 978-5346
pschicantek@whdlaw.com
MILWAUKEE – August 20, 2014 – The law firm of Whyte Hirschboeck Dudek S.C. (WHD) is pleased to announce the addition of Erika S. Baurecht to its Real Estate Practice Group, and Frank W. DiCastri, William D. Gardner, Susan C. Minahan and Philip J. Miller to its Corporate & Finance Practice Group. All five attorneys practice out of the Milwaukee office.
Erika Baurecht is an experienced transactional attorney on the firm’s Commercial Real Estate, Construction Services and Commercial Finance teams. Baurecht has devoted the entirety of her 18-year legal career to the representation of corporations, construction professionals, banking institutions, developers, retailers, technology companies and restaurant owners that frequently develop, manage and finance commercial real estate both nationally and internationally. She is highly experienced in a wide variety of commercial real estate matters, including the acquisition, disposition and construction of operating assets for all types of property, such as multistate and offshore portfolios, and in all areas of leasing, including office, retail, manufacturing, such as industrial ground leases, sale-leaseback transactions, government-owned properties, and data center, communications and cellular site leasing. Baurecht also represents national and state banking associations, institutional lenders, life insurance companies and borrowers in connection with the origination, refinancing and servicing of construction loans, bridge loans, term loans, permanent loans, revolving lines of credit and other credit arrangements secured by office, retail, industrial, multi-family, hospitality, health care, seniors and affordable housing properties across the United States and Canada, and regularly participates in more complex transactions involving preferred equity, mezzanine debt, cross-collateralized properties, and multi-asset workouts.
Baurecht received her J.D., with distinction, from Marquette University Law School, and her B.A. in English and Geology, magna cum laude, from the University of New Mexico.
Frank DiCastri is a member of the firm’s Business Restructuring, Creditors’ Rights & Bankruptcy Team. His practice is concentrated in the areas of creditors’ rights, bankruptcy, and commercial litigation. For more than 15 years, DiCastri has represented debtors, financial institutions, creditors’ committees, trustees, secured creditors and unsecured creditors in reorganization cases, liquidations, workouts, Chapter 128 receiverships, and other insolvency proceedings. He has also focused on litigation and trial work in matters involving sophisticated commercial transactions. DiCastri regularly presents on bankruptcy and insolvency issues. Prior to joining WHD, DiCastri was a partner at an AmLaw 100 firm, and prior to that served as law clerk to the Hon. Jon P. Wilcox of the Supreme Court of Wisconsin.
DiCastri received his J.D. from the University of Wisconsin Law School where he was a senior editor of the Wisconsin Law Review. He received his B.S., with distinction, from the University of Wisconsin.
William Gardner is a member of the firm’s Commercial Finance and Business Restructuring, Creditors’ Rights & Bankruptcy teams. Gardner’s 17-year legal career includes a broad range of experience representing bank and non-bank lenders in commercial loan originations, corporate restructurings and bankruptcies. He has experience with syndicated loans, asset-based loans, leveraged loans, private investment in public equity (PIPE) investments, factoring facilities, leveraged leases and debtor-in-possession financings. Gardner has handled transactions with a variety of collateral, including personal property, life insurance policies and commercial aircraft. He has experience with a wide array of corporate borrowers, both public and private, including manufacturing companies, service companies, retail companies, internet companies, energy companies, start-ups and telecommunication companies. Gardner also has experience with distressed debt sales, public and private secured party (UCC Article 9) sales and bankruptcy (Section 363) sales. He regularly advises regarding UCC Article 9 questions and occasionally speaks on insolvency topics, including real estate workouts, foreclosures, bankruptcy sales and a variety of cutting-edge bankruptcy issues.
Most recently, Gardner served as a Senior Legal Counsel at a global hedge fund primarily representing the fund in its capacity as a secured lender. He also supervised external counsel in workouts, restructurings, bankruptcies, purchase and sale transactions, joint ventures and litigations.
Gardner received his J.D. from Brooklyn Law School, where he was awarded the Professor Philip K. Yonge Memorial Prize for Exceptional Achievement in Bankruptcy. He received his B.S. from the University of California Los Angeles.
Susan Minahan is a member of the firm’s Trusts & Estates Team. Minahan’s legal career has spanned 19 years. She focuses her practice in the areas of estate planning, business succession planning, probate and trust administration, charitable giving, asset protection, and prenuptial agreements. She advises individuals and businesses with a focus on wealth transfers between generations, achieving clients’ personal goals while minimizing wealth transfer taxes. She also represents fiduciaries and beneficiaries in will contests and trust disputes and is a member of the Trust, Estate and Fiduciary Litigation Team.
Minahan received her J.D. from Marquette University Law School, and her B.A., cum laude, from St. Mary’s College.
Philip Miller joins the firm as a member of the Trust & Estates Team with 27 years of legal experience. Miller represents individuals and businesses in a variety of legal areas and his practice includes estate and business succession planning, marital property, and probate and trust administration. He also focuses on tax planning for estate taxes, gift taxes, the generation-skipping transfer tax and income tax.
Miller received his J.D., cum laude, from Marquette University Law School, and his B.S. in accounting, cum laude, from Boston College. He is a former member of the adjunct faculty at Marquette University Law School.
“Welcoming Erika, Frank, Bill, Susie, and Phil to the firm demonstrates significant growth at WHD, as well as our continued commitment to meet the needs of our clients,” says Chief Executive Paul Eberle. “I am exceptionally confident that they will be outstanding additions to their already excellent practice groups and look forward to continued growth and success with them in the years to come.”
