Maureen A. McGinnity is a retired partner and business litigation lawyer with Foley & Lardner LLP. She focused on federal, state, and local tax litigation and resolution of complex contract and tax disputes. Ms. McGinnity litigated valuation issues in the context of shareholder disputes and with respect to complex property tax matters, including the assessments of office buildings, a landfill, and golf courses. Additionally, she litigated various sales and use and property tax exemptions, including manufacturing, waste treatment, recycling, and computer exemptions. With her extensive civil litigation experience, she tried many cases to verdict or decision, and successfully argued cases before state and federal courts of appeals and the Wisconsin Supreme Court.
Representative Transactions
Examples of Ms. McGinnity’s successful informal resolutions of litigated tax cases include:
Reported tax cases recently litigated by Ms. McGinnity include:
Thought Leadership
Ms. McGinnity was an author and general editor of LexisNexis Wisconsin Practice Insights: Tax (Matthew Bender & Co., Inc., 2008), a featured author of Inside the Minds: Tax Litigation Best Practices (Aspatore, Inc., 2006), and regularly contributed as an author of tax law updates for the Council on State Taxation (COST) conference materials and the State Bar of Wisconsin’s Annual Survey of Wisconsin Law.
Recognition
Ms. McGinnity has been Peer Review Rated as AV® Preeminent™, the highest performance rating in Martindale-Hubbell's peer review rating system. In addition, she has been recognized by:
Affiliations and Professional Memberships
Ms. McGinnity is a past chair of the Board of Governors of the State Bar of Wisconsin, past-president of the Association for Women Lawyers, past president of the Milwaukee Young Lawyers Association, and is a member of the American Bar Association, State Bar of Wisconsin, and the Milwaukee Bar Association. Ms. McGinnity was appointed by the chief justice of the Wisconsin Supreme Court to serve as one of two State Bar representatives on the Supreme Court's Planning and Policy Advisory Committee, which developed a long-range strategic plan for the Wisconsin judiciary. She also served on the State Bar of Wisconsin’s Diversity Task Force from 2013-2014.
Pro Bono
Recognition for Ms. McGinnity’s legal work on behalf of indigent clients has included the State Bar of Wisconsin's Pro Bono Award and Legal Action of Wisconsin's "Beyond the Call" Award. She also was presented with the Donald O'Melia Award for Local Service by the Wisconsin Law Foundation. Ms. McGinnity has been profiled in American Lawyer magazine for her pro bono work and was named one of Milwaukee's "Forty Under Forty" leaders.
Community Engagement
Among other charitable and community activities, Ms. McGinnity is a member of Milwaukee Women Inc., a group dedicated to promoting women in leadership positions; a member and past president of Professional Dimensions, a professional women’s organization; and serves on the boards of the Boys & Girls Club and the Professional Dimensions Charitable Fund.
Education
Ms. McGinnity holds a bachelor's degree from the University of Wisconsin – Milwaukee (1977) and a J.D. degree, cum laude, from the University of Wisconsin – Madison (1982), where she served as a member of the editorial board and later as managing editor of the Wisconsin Law Review.
Admissions
Ms. McGinnity’s bar admissions include the State of Wisconsin, U.S. District Courts for the Eastern and Western Districts of Wisconsin, the U.S. Courts of Appeals for the First and Seventh Circuits, the U.S. Tax Court, and the U.S. Supreme Court.