Anne E. Ross, managing partner of the Madison office of Foley & Lardner LLP, has worked in the field of business law for more than 30 years. A partner in the Private Equity & Venture Capital and Transactional & Securities Practices, and the Life Sciences and Insurance & Reinsurance Industry Teams, her practice reflects the growing intellectual asset-based economy of the Upper Midwest, including extensive work with technology-driven companies and their investors, insurance companies, and tax-exempt organizations. Ms. Ross strives to work as her clients' partner in making the most of business opportunities, solving problems, and avoiding potential disputes through active listening, creative negotiation, and precise drafting of transactional documents. She acts as "outside general counsel" to many of her clients, serving as the focal point to bring the full resources of Foley & Lardner to bear on the project at hand in an effective and efficient manner.
Ms. Ross serves as counsel to public and private companies in a variety of technology-driven industries. She has had extensive experience handling mergers and acquisitions, distribution and licensing arrangements, private debt and equity financings, and strategic partnerships for ag-biotech and pharmaceutical companies, software developers, medical device manufacturers, communications technology companies, contract providers, new media companies, and companies working on a variety of renewable energy solutions. Ms. Ross regularly works with university faculty members, research scientists, and engineers on company formation, start-up funding, and commercialization of emerging technology. She also represents venture capital, "angel," and institutional investors in fund formation and portfolio investment and divestment transactions. Ms. Ross co-authored the Wisconsin Department of Commerce publication Venture Financing: Raising Capital in Wisconsin. She is an ex-officio director and legal counsel to the Wisconsin Venture and Growth Capital Association, and a founder and director of Accelerate Madison (a trade group for technology companies).
Ms. Ross' insurance industry experience includes regulatory compliance work (including new company formation) for title, health, life, and property/casualty insurers; mergers and acquisitions of stock and mutual companies; demutualizations; bulk reinsurance transactions; insolvency workouts; formation of holding companies; and private financing and strategic partnership transactions.
Ms. Ross has served as legal counsel to scores of tax-exempt entities, including public charities, grant-making foundations, research institutions, and trade groups. She has worked with the state of Wisconsin to organize several public/private nonprofit ventures, and has extensive experience with nonprofit/for-profit partnerships, cooperative research and development agreements, and licensing arrangements. Ms. Ross is a co-author of the Wisconsin State Bar publication, A Guide For Wisconsin Nonprofit Organizations.
Ms. Ross has served as a director of Wisconsin Lawyers Mutual Insurance Company since 1988, SECURA Insurance, A Mutual Company, since 1993, and Associated Bank South Central since 1995. Ms. Ross has also served on the boards of directors of a number of nonprofit organizations and public commissions, including the Madison YWCA, the Urban League of Greater Madison, the Aldo Leopold Nature Center, the Business Forum, the Benedictine Life Foundation, the United Way of Dane County, and the Henry Vilas Zoo Commission.
In 2006 - 2011, Ms. Ross was selected for inclusion in the Wisconsin Super Lawyers ® lists. She has been named the Best Lawyers ® 2011 Madison Insurance Lawyer of the Year and was selected by her peers for inclusion in the 2008 - 2012 editions of The Best Lawyers in America ® in the categories of corporate law and insurance law. Ms. Ross is named a "top lawyer" by Madison Magazine and has received the Wisconsin Law Journal "Leader in the Law" award. Ms. Ross has also been Peer Review Rated as AV® Preeminent™, the highest performance rating in Martindale-Hubbell's peer review rating system.
Ms. Ross graduated with her J.D. from Stanford University Law School in 1981, where she was associate editor of the Stanford Law Review. She earned a B.A. in physical anthropology, with distinction, from the University of Wisconsin - Madison in 1977.