Need Advice?

New University-Related Legal Matters

Employees of UWM with legal questions arising in the scope of their employment are welcome to contact the Office of Legal Affairs for legal counsel. OLA attorneys rotate the handling of new matters on a weekly basis and each attorney is capable of handling a wide variety of legal matters.

Personal Matters

The Office of Legal Affairs represents the University and is not able to provide legal counsel to faculty, staff, or students in personal legal matters.

Students seeking personal legal advice may contact the University Legal Clinic.

UWM employees seeking personal legal advice may contact UWM’s Employee Assistance Program, Acentra Health.

Individuals seeking personal legal advice are encouraged to contact the State Bar of Wisconsin at (800) 362-9082 or the Milwaukee Bar Association at (414) 274-6768 for a lawyer referral.

Intake Process

For advice regarding a new, University-related legal matter, or to schedule a meeting with an attorney, please call (414) 229-4278 or email nehringb@uwm.edu. Please provide our staff with all relevant background information and documentation to ensure that the intake attorney is best prepared to respond to your inquiry. (Please note that the legal support staff member is able to receive any information you consider to be confidential.)

Served with Subpoena

If you receive a subpoena to appear as a witness for a deposition or in court and the matter for which you have been subpoenaed involves your duties or activities at the University, contact our office for further information. If the matter is unrelated to the University, you should contact your personal attorney.

If you receive a “subpoena duces tecum” asking you to turn over University-related documents, contact us immediately. You should not respond or turn over any documents prior to consulting our office.

Served with Summons and Complaint

This is the start of a lawsuit. If you are named individually in a lawsuit that is related to your position at the University, you may accept service or you may make arrangements for our office to accept service on your behalf. If you are not individually named, you should not accept service of the complaint for either the University or any other individual named as a defendant. If you are served or otherwise receive a copy of a summons and complaint relating to your position at the University, keep all the original documents and contact us immediately. Do not sign any acknowledgment or waiver of service forms that come with the summons and complaint.

Instead, gather the original complaint and the UNSIGNED acknowledgment or waiver and forward them to our office immediately. We will request representation for the named defendant from the Attorney General. Under section 165.25, Wis. Stats., the Attorney General and Department of Justice are specifically empowered to represent the University and its employees in University-related lawsuits filed in state and federal court.

Notary Services

UWM’s Human Resources Office offers notary services during business hours.
The UW Credit Union located in the Student Union offers notary services to members.

For information about remote notarization please see:

The State of Wisconsin's Department of Financial InstitutionsThe State of Wisconsin’s Department of Financial Institutions