While Gingras, Thomsen & Wachs was formed in 2018, its attorneys’ experience dates much further back: Wachs, an Eau Claire native, has been practicing law in his hometown since 1985, while Weber has been practicing in Wisconsin for 20 years.

Alongside their colleagues at offices Madison, Milwaukee, and Waukesha, the team at Gingras, Thomsen & Wachs pursues justice for people whose lives have changed drastically in an instant as the result of a traffic accident, a medical error, or a defective product.

“By joining together, we’re able to handle bigger and bigger cases,” he said of the partnership.

“We are a trial firm. We will go to trial,” Wachs emphasized. “If we really try cases — which we do — and the insurance companies know we do, the settlements we get are higher than the ones with law firms that don’t try cases.”

Older and more seasoned attorneys have more life experience and are better able to relate to clients, Weber added.

Weber, a South Dakota native, has been practicing law in Wisconsin since 2004, most of that time in Eau Claire as a criminal defense attorney. The courtroom experience she honed during criminal trials helps her in liability cases that reach the courtroom.

“The people skills don’t change in terms of how you deal with clients, and judges, and other lawyers,” she said.

And among those skills is collaboration. Gingras, Thomsen & Wachs always brings two attorneys to each case, which Wachs says is better for both the clients and the attorneys.

“It’s kind of a combat in these courtrooms, and it’s much better and easier on each lawyer if there’s two of us,” he said. “It’s better representation, because we can sense what the jury is doing and thinking.”

Another way of ensuring that a client is well-represented is running every case by a focus group before going to trial. This process helps the attorneys determine how jurors might consider the evidence and ultimately weigh who will be found liable in a case.

“It helps us get rid of the legal mumbo-jumbo so that we can talk to regular folks in that courtroom,” Wachs said of the focus group process. “It’s very, very helpful.”

As one of the very few medical malpractice firms in Wisconsin, Gingras, Thomsen & Wachs knows the importance of retaining the most knowledgeable experts to testify on behalf of their clients. For example, Wachs recalled a case where he called an expert — a physician from Miami — to the witness stand and asked him what he knew about a complex medical device. “Why, I invented it,” the doctor replied.

“It helps get things settled if we have top-notch experts,” Wachs said.

The same goes for attorneys. Wachs is a member of the American Board of Trial Advocates, an invitation-only organization whose membership is equally balanced between plaintiff and defense attorneys. In fact, he said, Gingras, Thomsen & Wachs has more ABOTA-member lawyers than any firm in the state.

More important than accolades, however, is the satisfaction of achieving justice on behalf of a client.

“It’s wonderful when you know that you’ve really made a difference in somebody’s life,” Weber said.

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