Former UW Law School Dean Kenneth B. Davis, Jr. Joins Reinhart to Launch Corporate Governance and Investor Relations Services Group

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MILWAUKEE & MADISON – Jerome M. Janzer, CEO of Reinhart Boerner Van Deuren s.c., announces the addition of Kenneth B. Davis, Jr. to the firm. Davis was the recent and longtime Dean of the University of Wisconsin Law School and the inaugural holder of the Frederick W. and Vi Miller Endowed Deanship. Davis joins Reinhart on an "Of Counsel" basis and will help to build Reinhart's Corporate Governance and Investor Relations Services Group. Davis will work closely with Reinhart's Keith L. Johnson, former General Counsel of the State of Wisconsin Investment Board and a UW Law School alumnus, who leads Reinhart's Institutional Investment Services practice area. Davis, Johnson and other Reinhart attorneys comprising the team will provide legal advice to companies on strategies to improve corporate governance and relations with shareholders. The goal of this legal service area is to better serve companies and their boards by helping them build and facilitate an appreciation of investor outlook and priorities.

Davis has written and lectured extensively in the areas of corporate governance and securities law, and is a widely recognized authority in both fields. He has been active in corporate law reform efforts at both the state and national levels. Davis was co-reporter for the comprehensive revision of the Wisconsin Business Corporate Law, and co-authored the leading commentary on that law. He has been a member of the American Bar Association's Corporate Law Committee — the group responsible for the influential Model Business Corporate Act — and chaired the Committee's Task Force Director's Conflicts of Interest. Over the course of his UW career, he has frequently advised and consulted with companies, boards of directors, and investors on issues of corporate governance, fiduciary responsibility and securities law.

"I am excited to be affiliated with Reinhart and appreciate this unique opportunity to serve clients," says Davis. "Keith Johnson is a longtime professional colleague, and I look forward to working with him and other Reinhart attorneys as we build the firm's Corporate Governance and Investor Relations Services Group."

Davis is the Dean Emeritus of the University of Wisconsin Law School, where he continues to teach. He served as Dean of the Law School from 1997 to June of 2011. In that post, he led an organization with an annual budget of roughly $30 million, 200 employees and 850 students. Davis is credited with a number of highly successful initiatives to advance the Law School's stature as one of the country's preeminent public law schools, with its national rankings climbing over the course of his tenure. Central to these initiatives was an ambitious strategic plan to embody the School's commitment to "Law in Action" and enhance both its competitiveness in attracting and placing top students from across the country, and the professional preparation of its graduates. At the same time, under Davis's leadership the School received national recognition for its dedication and success on issues of diversity. Davis also oversaw the largest capital campaign in the School's history, which exceeded its goal by one-third, and has tripled annual giving to the School.

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