Trending Topics in Business Litigation 2025

  • OnDemand seminar
  • Attorney Regulation
  • Business Law
Up to 8.0 Credit Hours
View schedule and faculty
Trending Topics in Business Litigation 2025

Next-gen business litigation

From high-stakes data breaches to employee-raiding, today’s business litigation landscape is more complex than ever. Each year brings a new wave of precedent-setting decisions, creative claims, and procedural shifts that alter how Wisconsin attorneys advise business clients.

Trending Topics in Business Litigation 2025 is your authoritative guide to today’s most pressing issues in business law and practice. You’ll receive invaluable insights from candid panel discussions focusing on what’s changing now and what you’ll need immediately in your litigation toolkit.

8:30 am
Cybersecurity and Privacy Claims Against Businesses

Matthew W. O’Neill, Zach R. Willenbrink

  • Personal Data Breach Litigation: Claims and Complexity Increase
  • Funds-Transfer Fraud
  • CIPA Claims: California’s Wiretapping Gets a Tech Makeover and Comes to Wisconsin (and the Rest of the US)
9:20 am
Wisconsin’s Economic Loss Doctrine: Where did you come from? Where did you go?

Benjamin R. Prinsen, Adam E. Witkov Panel discussion: Michael J. Cohen, (Moderator), Anthony S. Baish, Robert B. Corris, Robert S. Driscoll, Matthew M. Fernholz, Caleb R. Gerbitz, Susan E. Lovern, Ann M. Maher, Matthew W. O’Neill, David J. Turek, Zach R. Willenbrink

  • History of the Economic Loss Doctrine in Wisconsin
  • Application of the Economic Loss Doctrine in Wisconsin
  • What is happening outside Wisconsin?
  • The future of the ELD and a practitioner's guide
10:10 am
Break
10:25 am
Healthy Competition or Illegal Interference? How contract and tort principles impact hiring a competitor’s employees.

Robert S. Driscoll Panel discussion: Michael J. Cohen, (Moderator), Anthony S. Baish, Robert B. Corris, Matthew M. Fernholz, Caleb R. Gerbitz, Susan E. Lovern, Ann M. Maher, Matthew W. O’Neill, Benjamin R. Prinsen, David J. Turek, Zach R. Willenbrink, Adam E. Witkov

  • Employee raiding and employees subject to contractual provisions. When does hiring an employee carry a liability risk due to the contractual provisions to which the employee is subjected?
  • Employee raiding and at-will employment. When does hiring an at-will employee carry a liability risk?
  • s The impact of crossing the line: damages available to a competitor who can prove impermissible employee raiding, highlighting Frey Construction & Home Improvement LLC v. Hasheider Roofing & Siding Ltd., 2025 WI App 4.
11:15 am
Decoding the DTPA: Uncertainty in Wis. Stat. § 100.18 Claims

Anthony S. Baish Panel discussion: Michael J. Cohen (Moderator), Robert B. Corris, Robert S. Driscoll, Matthew M. Fernholz, Caleb R. Gerbitz, Susan E. Lovern, Ann M. Maher, Matthew W. O’Neill, Benjamin R. Prinsen, David J. Turek, Zach R. Willenbrink, Adam E. Witkov

  • Pleading standards clarified
  • Reasonable reliance not required . . . maybe
  • Defining “the public”
12:05 pm
Lunch (on your own)
1:05 pm
Trending Ethics Topics

Matthew M. Fernholz, Susan E. Lovern, Ann M. Maher

  • Emerging ethics and court rules applicable to the use of AI
  • Ethics issues with using ChatGPT to conduct legal research
  • Scope and application of the attorney-client privilege in the context of public relations consultants
1:55 pm
No Contract, No Problem: Alternative Theories to a Traditional Breach of Contract Claim

David J. Turek Panel discussion: Michael J. Cohen (Moderator), Anthony S. Baish, Robert B. Corris, Robert S. Driscoll, Matthew M. Fernholz, Caleb R. Gerbitz, Susan E. Lovern, Ann M. Maher, Matthew W. O’Neill, Benjamin R. Prinsen, Zach R. Willenbrink, Adam E. Witkov

  • Promissory estoppel
  • Unjust enrichment
  • Quantum meruit
  • Implied covenant of good faith and fair dealing
2:45 pm
Break
3:00 pm
Commercial Litigation Trends in Wisconsin’s Appellate Courts

Robert S. Driscoll, Caleb R. Gerbitz Panel discussion: Michael J. Cohen (Moderator), Anthony S. Baish, Robert B. Corris, Matthew M. Fernholz, Susan E. Lovern, Ann M. Maher, Matthew W. O’Neill, Benjamin R. Prinsen, David J. Turek, Zach R. Willenbrink, Adam E. Witkov

  • Updates on employment law, insurance coverage issues, and more
  • Overview of Wisconsin Supreme Court’s multiplicitous motion-to-dismiss standard
  • Clarifications on the deadline to file an appeal from a decision on a post-judgment motion
3:50 pm
Litigating trade secret misappropriation claims when no direct evidence of misappropriation

Robert B. Corris Panel discussion: Michael J. Cohen (Moderator), Anthony S. Baish, Robert S. Driscoll, Matthew M. Fernholz, Caleb R. Gerbitz, Susan E. Lovern, Ann M. Maher, Matthew W. O’Neill, Benjamin R. Prinsen, David J. Turek, Zach R. Willenbrink, Adam E. Witkov

  • Identifying misappropriated trade secrets
  • Proving misappropriation by access plus similarity
  • Proving misappropriation by derivation
  • Inevitable disclosure as proof of actual misappropriation
  • Predicting Wisconsin adoption or not of inevitable disclosure
4:40 pm
Program Concludes

Program Chair and Speaker

Michael J. Cohen
Meissner Meissner Tierney Fisher & Nichols S.C. · Milwaukee

Speakers

12 total
Anthony S. Baish
Godfrey & Kahn, S.C. · Milwaukee
Robert B. Corris
Robert B. Corris Law, S.C. · Hartland
Robert S. Driscoll
Reinhart Boerner Van Deuren s.c. · Milwaukee
Matthew M. Fernholz
Cramer Multhauf LLP · Waukesha
Caleb R. Gerbitz
Meissner Tierney Fisher & Nichols S.C. · Milwaukee
Susan E. Lovern
von Briesen & Roper, s.c. · Milwaukee
Ann M. Maher
Husch Blackwell, LLP · Milwaukee
Matthew W. O’Neill
Fox O’Neill Shannon S.C. · Milwaukee
Benjamin R. Prinsen
Kravit Hovel & Krawczyk, s.c. · Milwaukee
David J. Turek
Gass Turek, LLC · Milwaukee
Zachary R. Willenbrink
Godfrey & Kahn, S.C. · Milwaukee
Adam E. Witkov
Michael Best & Friedrich, LLP · Milwaukee

  • Keep your litigation strategy current with the newest claims and defenses
  • Anticipate client exposure under updated privacy, trade secret, and competition laws
  • Gain clarity on the limits of contract, tort, and equitable recovery theories
  • Strengthen your appellate practice with insight into Wisconsin’s procedural developments
  • Understand your ethical duties when incorporating AI and digital tools into your practice
  • Business lawyers
  • In-house counsel
  • Corporate attorneys
  • Business lawyers who advise corporate clients
  • Litigators
  • Appellate lawyers

Book Bonus!

Business Litigation & Dispute Resolution in Wisconsin
Save 15% on the Business Litigation & Dispute Resolution in Wisconsin.* Advise business clients, represent or defend them in lawsuits, and keep them out of trouble altogether – packed with relevant case law, time-saving practice tips, checklists, cautions, caveats, sample language, and practice guides. Use discount code CA3816 when you order online or by calling (800) 728-7788.

*Discount applies to both print and digital Books Unbound editions of this title and cannot be applied to previous purchases. Offer valid through 12/31/26. For Books Unbound users, discount may be applied to purchase of individual Books Unbound title only and may not be used on the purchase of libraries. Discount cannot be combined with any other offers.

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