EXPERIENCED IN THESE PRACTICE AREAS

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 Ralph Ehlinger will discuss your situation free of charge to determine whether his abilities will meet your needs at a price you can afford.  His services include the following:

Civil Lawsuits and Appeals

Ralph will take your tough civil case and give you representation that is effective, creative, and energetic, drawing on his years of experience as a civil litigator.  He has concentrated primarily on cases that are complex, unique, and vigorously opposed.  Ranging from libel and slander to usury, from employment non-compete injunctionsto shareholder wars, from malpractice to civil rights and discrimination, from lender liability to bad faith insurance denials,  from adverse possession to zoning, Ralph will fight for your rights.  You will get hands-on, accessible representation from a lawyer who blends legal scholarship with ingenuity and front-line experience -- and never forgets that you have put your right to justice in his hands.

Business Transactions

Ralph has created and represented businesses throughout four decades of law practice.  As an adjunct professor of corporate law at Marquette Law School, he has taught beginning lawyers how to do it right.  You and your corporation, LLC, or partnership will be in experienced hands from the day you start planning to acquire or create your business to the day you turn it over to your successors.  And in between you will have access to a storehouse of knowledge as you negotiate agreements, hire employees, merge or acquire businesses, chart your course through regulatory mazes, and attempt to resolve disputes in a business-like manner – always knowing that Ralph is no stranger to the courtroom when there is no other way. 

Real Estate

Ralph’s representation of business clients regularly includes the  negotiation, drafting, and closing  of purchases and sales  of commercial properties, and the drafting of real estate purchase options, commercial leases, easements, mortgages, and other instruments creating or affecting interests in real estate.  He served as Wisconsin counsel in a multi-million dollar reorganization of a national nursing home provider involving the transfer of multiple properties in Wisconsin, including creation and amendment of title-holding entities, title transfer, senior and subordinate mortgages and leasehold mortgages, purchase options, financing agreements, UCC financing statements, and the furnishing of counsel opinions as to validity and enforceability. 

Nonprofits

Ralph has represented numerous tax exempt entities, including 501(c)3 charitable organizations, 501(c)7 social and recreation clubs, and churches and other religious organizations.  He knows how to structure them, to run them, and to draw the line between their exempt activities and their business activities.  He knows nonprofits not only as their lawyer, but from the perspective of a board member and executive officer.  He has been president of the Mental Health Association in Milwaukee County, the Grand Avenue Club (the MHA’s off-shoot rehabilitation clubhouse for the mentally ill), the Milwaukee Bar Association Foundation, and  the Nordic Ski Club of Milwaukee. He has also served on the boards of the Wisconsin School of Professional Psychology, Artreach, Centro Legal por Derechos Humanos, and the Milwaukee Bar Association. He understands “mission” and how to use the law to promote it.

Personal Crises
Ralph’s legal perspective and life experience make him particularly valuable in helping sort out and resolve tangled and stressful situations that require wise analysis and effective action.  These can include harassment injunctions, involuntary civil commitments of the mentally ill or vulnerable elderly, and even foreclosures and disputes between landlords and tenants – painful problems with legal dimensions that affect the well being and stability of an individual or a family.  Ralph does not, however, handle divorce matters. 



Nursing Home Care

Ralph has represented large and small nursing home providers in Wisconsin and in other states in regulatory actions by state and federal agencies seeking to impose penalties or to revoke their federal certifications or state licenses due to allegations of inadequate care or abuse.  He has also represented them in disputes over the appropriate amount of reimbursement for their services to patients under Medicare or Medicaid.  Based on this experience he remains available to conduct or assist in representation in such matters or to advise patients or their families as to their rights.