Serena E. Pollack

Biography

Serena E. Pollack practices in the area of commercial litigation, with a focus on complex commercial, civil racketeering actions, and the defense of regulatory fraud allegations. She has also represented parties in a wide range of insurance disputes, business disputes, professional liability actions, multi-district litigation, and class action and derivative claims. She has tried more than twenty-five cases to verdict and handled the subsequent appeals of many of those cases. Ms. Pollack also serves as General Counsel to the Wisconsin Association of Osteopathic Physicians.

Her restaurant and hospitality experience includes the representation of James Beard award winning chefs and restaurants in multi-district litigation involving losses suffered in the wake of the Gulf Coast oil spill. She has also represented chefs and restaurants in a variety of situations from simple contractual issues with vendors to licensing issues to trademark issues. She regularly deals with issues in the
restaurant industry ranging from concept to creation and everything that flows therefrom. Additionally, she has handled contract negotiation for chefs and restaurants in relation to book deals, licensing deals, and media appearances. Ms. Pollack is an active member of the James Beard Foundation.

Ms. Pollack also has experience in the area of agricultural litigation. She has handled arbitrations before AGFA with seed litigation/seed failures. Ms. Pollack has litigated and consulted on federal regulations pertaining to the agriculture industry, including on the parameters of USDA regulations pertaining to organic labeling. This has included advising restaurants and chefs about the proper use of words such as “organic,” “naturally raised,” “grass-fed,” “grain-fed,”“cage free,” “free range,” and “hormone-free” on menus.

Additionally, Ms. Pollack has tried several matters before arbitration and mediation panels in Wisconsin, Illinois, Missouri, and Louisiana, and she continues to represent clients across the United States. These matters have involved complex financial and shareholder matters, business formation and dissolution, non-compete contracts, breach of contract, fraud, and insurance coverage and reinsurance issues.

After working at large law firms in Milwaukee and Chicago, Ms. Pollack was so moved by the devastation of Hurricane Katrina that she moved to New Orleans. She spent the past five years practicing law in New Orleans and volunteered in Post-Katrina rebuilding efforts. Even after moving back to her hometown of Milwaukee, Ms. Pollack remains committed to rebuilding New Orleans and continues to serve as an advisory board member of The St. Bernard Project, a nonprofit organization whose mission is to remove physical, mental, and emotional barriers for vulnerable families, senior citizens and disabled residents who are struggling to recover from the devastation and trauma caused by Hurricane Katrina and the Gulf Coast Oil Spill.

In 2005, she was selected as a member of Jewish Federations of North America’s National Young Leadership Cabinet, and has held various leadership positions within that organization since that time. One of those positions included planning the service project for a national conference that brought over 500 young adults to New Orleans from across North America to volunteer in St. Bernard Parish. Ms. Pollack also served on the board of directors of the Anti-Defamation League in New Orleans.

Ms. Pollack earned her J.D. from the University of Denver College of Law, where she received Order of the Coif honors, was a national finalist in the ABA Appellate Advocacy Moot Court competition, and served as an Editor of the Denver Journal of International Law and Policy. She received a Bachelor of Arts, cum laude, in Political Science and Jewish Studies from the University of Wisconsin – Madison. She is a member of the State Bars of Wisconsin and Illinois and the University of Wisconsin Alumni Association. Ms. Pollack serves as one of Judge Lindsey Grady’s Supplement Court Commissioners for Branch 23 of the Milwaukee County Circuit Court. She is a member of TEMPO and participates in its membership committee. In addition, she is involved with fundraising efforts for Share Our Strength (No Kid Hungry).

Ms. Pollack is admitted to practice in the States of Wisconsin and Illinois; before the Wisconsin and Illinois State Supreme Courts; before the U.S. District Court for the Eastern and Western Districts of Wisconsin; Central, Northern, and Southern Districts of Illinois; Eastern District of Louisiana; and before the U.S. Court of Appeal for the Fifth and Seventh Circuits.

Education & Bar Admissions

Education

• University of Denver College of Law, J.D., Order of the Coif
• University of Wisconsin-Madison, B.A., cum laude, Political Science and Jewish Studies

Bar Admissions

• Illinois
• Wisconsin
• U.S. District Court, Eastern and Western Districts of Wisconsin
• U.S. District Court, Central, Northern, and Southern Districts of Illinois
• U.S. District Court, Eastern District of Louisiana
• U.S. Court of Appeals, Fifth And Seventh Circuits
• Illinois Supreme Court
• Wisconsin Supreme Court

In the News

• 12/3/2012 - Serena Pollack to speak at the Philadelphia Bar Association’s Annual CLE
• 8/1/2012 - Serena Pollack serves as Supplement Court Commissioner for Branch 23 of the Milwaukee County Circuit Court
• 4/23/2012 - Jean-Marie Crahan and Serena E. Pollack to present, “Everything You Don’t Know About E-Discovery (But Wish You Did)”
• 8/15/2011 - Gonzalez Saggio & Harlan welcomes Serena E. Pollack