Sam Wayne focuses his practice on contract negotiation and business formation. He joined the firm after one year as a solo practitioner with offices in Madison and Chicago. He graduated from the University of Wisconsin Law School in 2009, where he took first place in the American Bar Association Regional Negotiation Competition. He earned the Sonnet Schmidt Edmonds Award for excellence in energy law and the State Bar of Wisconsin Award for the best performance in Negotiations class. In his third year of law school, he was the President of both the Business and Tax Law Association and the Jewish Law Students Association. In addition, he coached two teams of middle school students in a mock-trial competition at the law school.

Sam clerked for the Consumer Protection Unit of the Wisconsin Department of Justice, as a Janet D. Steiger Fellow, after his first year of law school. He clerked for the international law firm of Cadwalader, Wickersham & Taft LLP after his second year.

Sam is a graduate of Cornell University in Ithaca, New York, where he earned a Bachelors of Science in Policy Analysis and Management, and of the La Follette School of Public Affairs at the University of Wisconsin, where he earned a Masters of Public Affairs, attending on a Robert M. La Follette Fellowship.

Sam recently served as a Dean's Fellow at the University of Wisconsin Law School, where he led in-depth weekly study sessions for five groups of first-year students and helped them become acclimated to life in law school. He is an active member of Downtown Madison, Inc. and the Young Lawyers' Division of the State Bar of Wisconsin. He has been a supporting member of the Chicago Area Gay and Lesbian Chamber of Commerce. He is involved with the Wisconsin Wills for Heroes program, providing free estate planning services to Wisconsin's first responders. He is also a "Big Brother" with Big Brothers Big Sisters of Dane County.

Sam lives on the west side of Madison with his incredible wife, Emilie, who will earn her degree in Veterinary Medicine in May 2011. They are proud "parents" of dogs Lucy and Willy and cat Daphne. In his free time, Sam enjoys his family, reading, all kinds of athletics and the company of fun, interesting, and sincere people.

Sam is admitted to practice law in Wisconsin and Illinois.

• General Business and Corporate Law
• Contract Negotiation
• Residential and Commercial Real Estate
• Also admitted to practice in Illinois