The past few years have presented all of us with both challenges and opportunities. We’ve learned that how we approach both determines our success. It’s been an invigorating time at Whyte Hirschboeck Dudek S.C.—and, I suspect, at many of our Clients’ businesses—as we collectively redefine what it means and takes to be successful. At WHD, the fundamental constant during this time has been our focus on our Clients and their challenges and opportunities.

It has never been more rewarding to meet with our Clients—large and small, old and new, local and international—and strategize on how we can help them achieve their goals. We are energized by their visions and the positive impact they will ultimately have on the community and economy. Simultaneously, we have inventoried our services as well as other factors that can make the difference in today’s attorney-client relationship, sharing the risk through alternative fee arrangements and collaborating beyond the billable hour. We want to ensure we are a partner in the truest sense of the word—and this means listening to our Clients, understanding their needs, and evolving as necessary.

How rewarding it is to see within these pages the results of our collaborations. During the past 12 months, we were privileged to not only witness but take an active role in increased retail development, new company start-ups, and business expansions and improvements made possible through bonds, bank loans, New Markets Tax Credits, and the hard work of our Clients. This growth is truly encouraging.

For WHD, and for our transactional practice especially, these experiences have provided the opportunity to reflect on and reaffirm what we always knew about deals: that no matter the transaction’s size, nor the number of players or intricacies involved, our Clients are a big deal—the biggest deal—to us.

Paul J. Eberle
Chief Executive

May 2011