Poquette, Donnellan & Schlewitz Law
• General Practice
Highlighting Sarah Donnellan
LEFT TO RIGHT: Keenan Crawford, Sarah Donnellan, Sam Schlewitz, Danette Teigen.
Poquette, Donnellan & Schlewitz Law is located in the heart of downtown Eau Claire, its team arriving every day to work alongside neighboring small businesses and the hard-working people who create the fabric of the community it serves. While its partners have served clients for decades, their roots call back to a time that predates the very road the office sits upon — Barstow Street — to the lumbering days of Northwestern Wisconsin.
Perhaps personified best through Attorney Sarah Donnellan (a family name that needs little introduction to longtime locals), a fifth generation Chippewa Vallian, that history is not lost on her. Recalling her great grandfather’s first steps in the area, arriving by train in Durand and walking miles to settle in Eau Claire, he became part of the logging industry and this community’s earliest chapters. Today, Donnellan continues to serve the community through her work in Social Security disability, estate planning, probate, and the wider array of areas the firm specializes in.
Beyond the unique, diverse range of areas that Poquette, Donnellan & Schlewitz Law serve their clients through, it is the family-centric, honorable Midwestern approach that has made lifelong clients of other locals. It is the privilege of that work that continues to guide the firm, and Donnellan.
Sarah Donnellan
After graduating from college and law school, Donnellan and her husband worked in large corporate law and contract work in Seattle. Call it fate or familial dedication, but the couple was pulled back toward Donnellan’s home: Eau Claire. “The opportunity to come back to Eau Claire, it was a call back to my original values: family values,” Donnellan said. “Seattle was a hard thing to give up, but in doing so, I was able to raise a family where my kids knew their grandparents, became best friends with their cousins — there is nothing else like that.”
“There have been a number of times previous generations and members of my family could have made the choice to go on the road, venture out from the Chippewa Valley, but as a family we have always chosen community,” she said. “Serving this community as it becomes stronger and healthier, to play a part in that, it’s something bigger than just ourselves.”
That people-first mentality is not just a slogan or motto for Poquette, Donnellan & Schlewitz. It is the benchmark and their Golden Rule. Their staff and attorneys don’t just work and live in this area, they invest in it: each attorney is a homeowner in the county, serves on a variety of boards and in community organizations, and includes pro-bono work so much so that it equates to about 10% of their business.
“We are a practice that crosses over from estate planning and trusts to probate, to personal injury and workers compensation, to Social Security disability. These areas lend themselves to people with very specific needs, so if you can’t listen to that and to them — really get into somebody else’s shoes — you’re way behind the curve,” Donnellan said.
Her personal experiences supporting people close to her with Social Security disability and more has made Donnellan uniquely qualified to support and fight for others going through similar situations. “It’s just part of being a solid human being in a community that has been so good to me,” she said. “These situations can be heart-wrenching, and I immediately recognize that in other people. This work can truly help people, and it can make all the difference in their world. That’s what I really love — helping people.”
Poquette, Donnellan & Schlewitz was not dubbed the Chippewa Valley’s ‘Local Legal Team’ simply because they work here, but because they live and breathe it.
“We have an open vision of service. If you walk through our door and we can help you, we will knock ourselves out for you as a team,” Donnellan said. “There is no ego. When we need each other to support a client, we are all willing to do that at a drop of a hat.”
To go to someone you likely have never crossed paths with before, like a lawyer, and share what may be some of the most personal or tough moments in life with them is a heavy thing. For this local legal team, it is a weight of importance they carry willingly. “We are very aware that our clients come to us and allow us to work for them. It is a privilege,” Donnellan said.
Donnellan does not foresee a day when she won’t want to come into the downtown Eau Claire office and go to bat for this community, and that is the difference that comes from a generations-deep law firm with family values and a community-oriented mission.