“The firm has always been known for criminal defense, family law, and personal injury work,” Jay Heit, one of Herrick & Hart’s three attorneys, explained in a recent conversation. “It’s always been the place where you could come with your day-to-day problems — not big business.”

“Having always been in Eau Claire, the firm has always been part of the community, too,” added Stephanie Finn, a UW graduate, who first joined the firm in 1991. “It has been instilled in our team to be active in our community. We’ve each served on different boards, commissions, committees, and served in leadership roles at the Eau Claire County Bar Association.”

Herrick & Hart’s newest attorney, Kevin Dague, brings a unique point-of-view to the firm: he is a Chippewa Valley native. Similar to many longtime locals, Kevin holds respect for the community’s history — and Herrick & Hart’s.

“As one of the oldest and historic firms in the area, I was drawn to Herrick & Hart right out of school,” Kevin, a Marquette Law School graduate, said. “Part of that is, Herrick & Hart has become a staple of the community over the years, and has had generations of clients.”

As each of Herrick & Hart’s attorneys confirmed, it is common for the longtime local firm to see multiple members of the same family. Alongside its community cornerstone status, the team’s flexibility also lends itself to that common occurrence.

“If you go to a firm that only specializes in one type of law, they may not have experience in other things when you need them. For instance, if we’re working a personal injury or divorce case and some estate planning or real estate issues becomes involved, we can take care of all of that,” Stephanie said. “When someone comes here and hires one of us, they’re not just hiring that person — they’re hiring the firm.”

To that end, there is no singular answer from any of Herrick & Hart’s three attorneys when it comes to their area of specialty; While the firm’s four main specialties include personal injury, business law, family practice, and estate planning, each attorney runs the gamut in terms of expertise.

For Jay, those areas primarily include personal injury, medical malpractice, farm accidents, election law, and criminal defense. “From a criminal defense perspective, we’ve done everything from disorderly conducts to homicides,” he said.

Stephanie’s primary practice areas include business law and contracts, wills, legal analysis and complex litigation strategy, and appellate practice. The latter is not an entirely common area of specialty in the Eau Claire area.

“Appellate work could include, if someone has a case in circuit court and, whether they win or lose, they don’t like the outcome, they could take it further; to the next court, the court of appeals, or the Wisconsin Supreme Court,” Stephanie explained. “I take those types of cases, which may come from other lawyers here or other firms in town who don’t do appeal work, and refer clients to us.”

Kevin, too, practices in personal injury law, as well as family law and business law. He currently serves as president of the Eau Claire County Bar Association and officially made partner at Herrick & Hart in 2025.

As is evident upon spending time with Herrick & Hart’s three attorneys, collaboration lives at the core of the firm.

“When you have a multiple discipline practice, a person can come in with nearly any type of issue, and we’re able to bounce ideas off of each other as a team,” Stephanie said. “That happens more than you may think. In doing so, we can work together to bring all of our experience and specialties to one case.”

Beyond the firm’s downtown Eau Claire office walls, the Herrick & Hart attorney team — aided by experienced legal assistants and additional staff — cross paths with locals frequently, thanks to their community efforts. Collectively, the attorneys have been involved with the Eau Claire County Bar Association, Chippewa Valley Museum, Leadership Eau Claire, West Grand Avenue BID Board, Eau Claire Police and Fire Commission, and more.

After nearly 75 years, there is a tried-and-true answer as to which area firm goes to bat for their clients no matter the topic — and especially during cases which affect folks’s day-to-day life: Herrick & Hart S.C.

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