Politics & Government

Whitefish Bay Village Attorney Receives High Honors

Village Attorney Chris Jaekels has been named Municipal Lawyer of the Year by a national legal publication.

Whitefish Bay Village Attorney Chris Jaekels has been named Municipal Lawyer of the Year by The Best Lawyers in America 2013.

Jaekles, a lifelong Bayside resident, has served as Whitefish Bay's village attorney since 1999 and Bayside's village attorney since 2000. Jaekels joined Davis & Kuelthau, S.C. in 1992. Today, he and Tom Drought are partners at the downtown law firm.

"I think this award is really a reflection on the quality of Village staff, the Board of Trustees, and the residents who serve on Boards and Commissions," Jaekels said. "I've been able to do my job well thanks to the dedication, hard work, and civic concern of those folks. When you have a great client like that it tends to bring out your best work."

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Only a single lawyer in each practice area in each community is honored as the “Lawyer of the Year". These are selected based on particularly high peer review ratings received during Best Lawyers' peer-review assessments conducted with thousands of leading lawyers each year, according to a news release.

Nationally, Best Lawyers surveys 36,000 leading attorneys regarding the legal abilities of other lawyers in their practice areas. Lawyers are not required or allowed to pay a fee to be listed, according to a news release.

Find out what's happening in Whitefish Baywith free, real-time updates from Patch.

Jaekels is a shareholder at Davis & Kuelthau. Davis & Kuelthau's municipal law practice was recently recognized as Tier 1 in the 2013 Best Law Firms survey, according to a news release.

"I have a downtown law practice in a 75-attorney firm, but when I'm wearing my Village Attorney hat I get to be a country lawyer," Jaekels said. "That's what I like best about the job."


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