Boardman Law Firm

Rebecca W. Oettinger, Associate

Family Law   •   Litigation   •   Estate Planning

Rebecca is a dedicated attorney whose practice consists almost entirely of family law. She handles divorce, adult and juvenile guardianship, stepparent adoption, and termination of parental rights. Rebecca is most at home in Sauk, Columbia, and Dane Counties, but she has handled cases in cities as distant as Milwaukee, Waupaca, or Prairie du Chien. Rebecca was named a 2010 Super Lawyers Wisconsin Rising Star in family law.

Rebecca believes that families going through crisis usually are best served by a problem-solving attorney who can help them reach a satisfying settlement. Rebecca is a Collaborative Divorce practitioner and she is an active member in the Collaborative Family Law Council of Wisconsin. Rebecca acts as a divorce mediator privately and through the Dane County Bar Association' case mediation service. As a parent herself, Rebecca takes great pains to help divorcing parents minimize the effect of the divorce on their children.

When mediation is not appropriate or has failed, Rebecca is not afraid to try cases, and she has litigated many family cases. Her courtroom experience includes successful termination of parental rights, contested guardianship, and divorce matters, including litigation of the validity of marital property agreements. Rebecca is a graduate of the National Institute for Trial Advocacy and American Bar Association's family law litigation institute.

Rebecca is qualified to serve as a guardian ad litem in children's matters.

Education

• University of Wisconsin Law School. J.D., magna cum laude, Order of the Coif
• University of Wisconsin, M. Mus, Ph.D
• Humboldt-Universitaet, Berlin, Germany, graduate studies in history
• University of Wisconsin, Master of Music in Music History
• DePaul University, Chicago. B.M., summa cum laude

Publications

• 2011 Editorial Board, System Book for Family Law (State Bar of Wisconsin)
• Co-author with Gregg Herman and Tom Walsh, "South African Family Law: Experiences of Three Wisconsin Lawyers," Wisconsin Journal of Family Law, Vol. 30 No. 1 (Winter 2010)
• Contributor, Staying Connected: Rights and Responsibilities of Incarcerated Parents in Wisconsin (Family Law Project of the Frank J. Remington Center, University of Wisconsin Law School)

Memberships

• Collaborative Family Law Council of Wisconsin, Secretary of the Board
• Collaborative Family Law Council of Wisconsin, Public Education Committee
• American Bar Association and ABA Family Law Division
• State Bar of Wisconsin, including Family Law, Children's Law, and Elder Law sections
• Sauk and Dane County Bar Associations
• International Association of Collaborative Professionals

Community Involvement

• People to People International, Family Law Delegate to South Africa, 2009
• Al. Ringling Theatre Friends, board member and executive committee member
• Volunteer organist, St. Joseph Parish, Baraboo
• Rotary Club of Baraboo
• Volunteer, Safe Harbor Child Advocacy Center

Honors and Awards

• Leonard Loeb Award, American Academy of Matrimonial Lawyers
• Deutsche Akademische Austauschdienst fellowship

Languages

• English, fluent German

Interesting Facts

• Rebecca enjoys running, gardening, camping, and baking artisan breads
• Before becoming a lawyer, Rebecca was a professor of music history. Her book, Music as Propaganda in the German Reformation, won the 2002 Roland Bainton Prize from the Sixteenth Century Society and Conference.