Michael B. Van Sicklen is a partner with Foley & Lardner LLP and heads the Madison office Litigation Team. He is a member of firm's Business Litigation & Dispute Resolution and Bankruptcy & Business Reorganizations Practices, as well as the Appellate and Insurance & Reinsurance Litigation Practices. Mr. Van Sicklen's practice focuses on commercial litigation, debtors/creditors rights and appellate practice. He represents and counsels clients in a wide variety of civil and commercial litigation, bankruptcy and insolvency matters (including real estate and lender liability), and all types of civil cases on appeal to higher courts. He presently is overseeing all litigation in the massive Ambac Assurance Corporation (Segregated Account) Rehabilitation (see ambacpolicyholders.com).
Prior to joining Foley, Mr. Van Sicklen was law clerk to Justice Nathan S. Heffernan on the Wisconsin Supreme Court (1979-1980), the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit in San Francisco (1980-1981), and Judge Robert Boochever, U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit, Juneau, Alaska (1981-1982).
Mr. Van Sicklen received his bachelor's degree, summa cum laude and Phi Beta Kappa, in 1975 from the University of Colorado. His J.D. degree was conferred, cum laude, in 1978 by the University of Wisconsin -- Madison, where he was an editor of the Wisconsin Law Review.
Mr. Van Sicklen teaches and lectures from time to time on various litigation subjects, and recently spoke at the University of Wisconsin Law School about judicial clerkships and interviewing skills.
Mr. Van Sicklen has been Peer Review Rated as AV® Preeminent™, the highest performance rating in Martindale-Hubbell's peer review rating system. He has been listed in The Best Lawyers in America® for more than 10 years and has been named 2012 Madison Litigation - Real Estate Lawyer of the Year by Best Lawyers in America. Mr. Van Sicklen has also been selected for inclusion in the 2005 - 2011 lists of Wisconsin Super Lawyers® and has been named top appellate lawyer by Madison Magazine.