After returning to the area from schooling and five years of legal practice in Tennessee, Sam recalls walking into the Barstow Street office in 2008 without a formal interview setup. Conversations about family, service to others, the community, and the great outdoors developed an instantaneous connection with Ron Poquette, the firm’s founder. As fate would have it, Sam left with a job in the city where his passion for legal studies first sparked — albeit in an untraditional way.

That tale begins when the then 16-year-old Altoona High Schooler took the old shortcut through Wagner’s Lanes’ parking lot to Brackett Avenue while on his way to Taco Johns, which resulted in a car accident. A few years later, under subpoena at the deposition, he met a lawyer and got a glimpse into the legal profession for the first time.

After the deposition, Sam made a bold decision: following his heart, he had a candid conversation with his college’s Dean of Education.“In my last semester of college, about to graduate with a degree in teaching, I talked to the Dean of Education and said, ‘Could I go to Law School or did I already miss out by not taking specific pre-law classes?’ ” Sam recalled. The Dean replied, “What are your grades and community involvement?”

Thankfully, Sam had grown up a student athlete, balancing the stress of schoolwork and the demand of competitive sports — a skillset that served his college career well. With good grades and a significant amount of campus involvement, in large part due to his membership in the fraternity Sigma Phi Epsilon, Sam was only facing one final hurdle: taking and passing the LSATs.

Studying, then, wasn’t marked by scrollable, at-your-fingertips ease and internet; dial-up was the tech and email was just beginning to catch on. Sam went to Barnes & Noble, purchased an LSAT study book, and got to work. And by “got to work” we mean, he crammed for the LSATs just weeks before he took the intensive exam — and passed.

Sam fell in love with legal studies nearly as soon as law school courses began. After a taste of big city civil law, Sam realized 60- to 80-hour work weeks did not fill his cup as much as quality family time and living life outside the office did.

Family and the Chippewa Valley community have always been important for Sam. He comes from four generations of Chippewa Vallians; his great-grandfather worked on the area’s railroads over a century ago, and Sam’s parents met at Altoona High School. Today, Sam and his wife Kim live in Altoona, where their older children have graduated from and their youngest still attends.

Sam personifies a key trait of the firm: its dedication to their own Golden Rule. “Gratitude is a philosophy of mine, and it is an action. It’s about how I can be of service to others.” Sam explained. “I have learned that people really want somebody to listen and to hear their story.”

That is what Sam values most: listening to client’s and then helping them in the best way he and the firm possibly can. “Helping people, that’s really what this is all about,” he said. “If you do that, everything else takes care of itself.”

It is not uncommon for longtime and new clients of the downtown Eau Claire firm to comment on the team’s positive atmosphere and people-first mentality; a near-tangible energy equally embodied through the firm.

The firm proudly grows with the community’s needs in terms of areas of practice, handling many different legal issues such as estate planning, probate, wills, trusts, workers compensation, injury law, social security disability, business law, contract law, real estate, family law and more. Its online reviews further prove that their team’s care, compassion, energy, and top-tier efforts are really what people love.

Sam, alongside the whole firm, also contributes to the wider community in a multitude of ways — including its pro-bono service efforts. Personally, Sam has spent years involved with local organizations and events such as youth athletics — with two step-children and one daughter, he coached youth basketball for a number of years — and organizations like the Lions Club, Cerebral Palsy, the Eau Claire County Bar Association, and the State Bar of Wisconsin, and perhaps the most significant: the Nick Schlewitz Memorial Foundation.

In honor of his late brother Nick — who died of brain cancer at the age of 31 after graduating from Vanderbilt University and working as a sales engineer in heating and air conditioning (because, as Sam relays, “Nick said it was cool”) — Sam and his family formed the nonprofit organization. Its existence, with the help of the community, is to give back to the Schlewitz’s hometown and area.

“Community is what this is all for; the donations are from the community and go back to the community,” Sam said.

“This is my home, and through my extensive work with people going through difficult times and needing help, I have learned to be thankful for everything and give back what I can,” he said.

If you are ever in need of legal services with a uniquely positive, family-centered atmosphere, visit your Local Legal Team: Poquette, Donnellan & Schlewitz Law.

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