2025 WDC Annual Awards

The WDC Annual Awards recognize the talent, effort, and accomplishments of our incredible members. Congratulations to the following award recipients who will be recognized during the WDC 2025 Annual Conference on August 14-15, 2025!

2025 Advocate of the Year Award Recipient: Heather L. Nelson

Congratulations to Heather Nelson for being selected by the WDC Board of Directors as the 2025 Advocate of the Year! The Advocate of the Year Award recognizes the member with the most defense work success of the prior calendar year.

Heather is President and Shareholder of Everson, Whitney, Everson & Brehm, S.C., in Green Bay. She currently serves as WDC President, having served on the Board of Directors and Executive Committee as well. Heather is an experienced trial attorney, having successfully tried cases before juries in state and federal courts throughout Wisconsin and Illinois. She obtained her J.D. from DePaul University College of Law in Chicago and launched her legal career in the Chicago area. Heather became licensed to practice law in Wisconsin in 2000, defending cases in both Illinois and Wisconsin. Her practice areas include motor vehicle accident, premises liability, wrongful death, and insurance coverage. Heather has been active in presenting CLE topics at WDC conferences, for the State Bar of Wisconsin, and at the North Central Region Trial Academy. 

Heather excels as a trial attorney, earning defense verdicts, counseling and caring deeply for her insureds, and giving back to WDC, all while serving as the President of her law firm, which requires that Heather be available to do not only her job but to trouble shoot, problem solve, and manage the challenges faced by all of her partners, associates, and employees. And she does this with grace. There is no person more deserving of this recognition than Heather.

Heather had a number of notable professional achievements in 2024, including a defense verdict at trial in the Brown County case, Agnes Duening, et al. v. Wilco Cabinet Makers, Inc., et al.[1] Heather not only earned this professional victory, importantly she took a young associate to trial with her, and included him in many pretrial activities for a professional learning experience. She also turned this outcome into three presentations for WDC : 1) “View from the Other Chair: A Lawsuit from the Insured’s Perspective” at the 2024 Winter Conference (presenting with her insured/client), 2) “A Peek Behind the Curtain: The Jury Trial Experience from The Jurors’ Point of View” at the 2025 Spring Conference (presenting with three jurors from her two recent trials), and 3) “A View from the Bench: A Trial Judge’s Thoughts, Perceptions and Observations About Civil Jury Trials” at the 2025 Summer/Annual Conference (presenting with Brown County Judge Marc Hammer, who presided over the Duening trial).

This year, Heather tried a case as co-defendant with John Shull in Lincoln County, The Estate of James M. Hartson, et al. v. USAA Cas. Ins. Co., et al.[2] It was a very emotional wrongful death trial, but Heather and John worked together to earn a defense verdict. While a defense verdict is always a nice win when you are on the defense side of the ‘v,’ what is always impressive about Heather is how incredibly sensitive she is to her insured’s experience. Heather and John knew that in this case especially, the insured had struggled profoundly since the tragic accident that cost another person his life. Heather and John took the time after the insured’s testimony to offer support and, after securing a defense verdict  both Heather and John reached out to the insured to personally connect with her, to check in on her mental health, and to share some encouraging words.  The personal touch and caring attitude of both Heather and John will undoubtedly have an impact on the insured, in a positive way, long into the future after the dust from the trial and the verdict has long settled. 

Heather does her job in a way that ensures the best  interests of her clients are always met, but she also interacts with opposing counsel in a way that is professional, respectful, and even compassionate – and the world could use a lot more of that. She is a consummate professional and her work in the courtroom is impressive, and of course she is always willing to share her experiences to make everyone around her better too. Her willingness to talk so openly about trials and trial experiences, to involve her insureds, and to help WDC members learn from real jurors is inspiring.

Nominated By: Kristen Scheuerman, Weiss Law Office, Brian Anderson, Everson, Whitney, Everson & Brehm, S.C., and Nicole Marklein, Cross, Jenks, Mercer & Maffei, LLP 

2025 Young Lawyer Award: Ashleigh N. Johnson

Congratulations to Ashleigh Johnson for being selected by the WDC Board of Directors as the recipient of the 2025 Young Lawyer Award! The Young Lawyer Award recognizes a young lawyer (up to ten years past their first bar admission date) who has shown not only excellence in their work and achievements in their career to date, but also a commitment to professional and ethical standards, as well as a commitment to the larger community. 

Ashleigh is an attorney at American Family Mutual Insurance Company. She graduated from the University of Wisconsin Law School in 2022. 

Asheigh is an extremely hard-working attorney, achieving excellent results for her clients. She has shown a commitment to WDC by taking on the role of the Social Media Chair and Vice Chair of the Young Lawyers Division, as well as putting together a presentation for the 2025 Spring Conference. She created the member spotlights for WDC’s social media outlets to foster engagement of our members. Outside of her professional life, Ashleigh is very involved with soccer, playing herself and coaching a youth team in her spare time. 

Nominated By: Megan L. McKenzie, American Family Mutual Insurance Company

2025 Distinguished Professional Service Award Recipient: Nicole Marklein 

Congratulations to Nicole Marklein for being selected by the WDC Board of Directors as the recipient of the 2025 Distinguished Professional Service Award! The Distinguished Professional Service Award recognizes a longtime member who has given consistent effort to grow and improve WDC.

Nicole Marklein is a partner with Cross Jenks Mercer & Maffei, LLP in Baraboo, Wisconsin. She concentrates her practice on civil defense litigation, both defending insureds on the merits of claims and representing insurers regarding coverage issues. Attorney Marklein also specializes in as employment law, wherein she provides employers cost-effective advice and defends employment-related claims should they arise. 

Nicole is a former President of WDC, is the current DRI Representative, and represents the organization on the Wisconsin Civil Justice Council. She continues to offer her time and expertise “above and beyond,” including presenting at WDC conferences, meeting with legislators, connecting with other affiliation groups, and suggesting programming and outreach opportunities to multiple committees. Nicole does not just check the boxes, she is an absolute champion of WDC and continues to be after serving in several time-intensive capacities over the years. 

Nominated By: Heather Nelson and Brian Anderson, Everson, Whitney, Everson & Brehm, S.C.

2025 Publication Award Recipients: Erik J. Pless, Alicia M. Stern, and Kristen S. Scheuerman

Congratulations to Erik Pless, Alicia Stern, and Kristen Scheuerman for being selected by the WDC Journal Editor and Board of Directors as the recipient of the 2025 Publication Award! The Publication Award recognizes a well-written cutting-edge article written for the Wisconsin Civil Trial Journal. Erik, Alicia, and Kristen are receiving the award for their article, “It Happens to the Best of Us: Avoiding and Mitigating Defaults,” which appeared in the 2024 Spring Issue of the Journal.[3] In addition to presenting the law on the topic, the article gives recommendations for how to deal with defaults, as well as offering a paralegal’s perspective.

Erik Pless is an attorney at One Law Group S.C. in Green Bay. He received his J.D. degree from the University of Wisconsin in 1993 and a B.A. magna cum laude in 1990 from Wisconsin Lutheran College in Milwaukee. Erik has been an active trial attorney in Northeast Wisconsin since 1993. Over the past 30 years, Erik has litigated more than 80 jury trials to verdict and has argued before the Wisconsin Supreme Court on multiple occasions. He practices primarily in the fields of insurance and tort law, defending insureds and insurers in personal injury, insurance coverage, and bad faith litigation. Erik also handles product liability, legal and other professional malpractice, premises liability, and mold litigation. Erik served on the Board of Directors for the Wisconsin Defense Counsel from 1998 to 2003. He is a member of the Council on Litigation Management and the Association of Defense Trial Attorneys. Erik earned Board Certification as a Civil Trial Specialist from the National Board of Trial Advocacy in 2004.

Alicia Stern is a paralegal at One Law Group S.C. Alicia joined One Law Group, S.C. in 2023. After High School, she graduated from Blue Sky School of Massage with certifications in multiple Neuromuscular Therapies working primarily with physical therapy patients. In December 2007, she made a career change to the legal field and joined a general practice firm in Shawano assisting in everything from Municipal, Family, Criminal, Wills, Power of Attorneys, and Real Estate law. Alicia and her family made a move to the Green Bay area, and she has been working as Attorney Pless’s paralegal handling civil defense matters since 2014. Alicia completed the Paralegal Training Program through the University of Wisconsin Oshkosh and is also a State Bar of Wisconsin Certified Paralegal. 

Kristen Scheuerman joined Weiss Law Office, S.C., in October 2022 after spending more than a decade at a large Fox Valley law firm, where she practiced as a Shareholder. Kristen’s practice has always been focused on personal injury and civil litigation, and before joining Weiss Law Office, she also served as a municipal prosecutor. Throughout her career, Kristen’s practice has also included appellate work in a variety of practice areas. Kristen earned her bachelor’s degree from Lawrence University and her law degree from Marquette University Law School. She also serves as a mediator throughout the State and accepts appointments to serve as a Guardian ad litem in cases involving minor settlements.