On the Job
Attorney Stephen Goettsche’s Practice
Attorney Stephen Goettsche is an associate in Stafford Rosenbaum’s Madison office with a practice focused on litigating election and political law, municipal, and commercial matters. Stephen enjoys wrestling with complex legal problems and pays great attention to detail in his work. To ensure that he gets it right, he takes the time to consider all angles of an issue and pores over the fine print.
Stephen started working at Stafford Rosenbaum in 2023 as a law clerk, gaining valuable insight into the firm’s commitment to client service and array of practice areas. While in law school, Stephen was a managing editor for the Wisconsin Law Review, and he interned for Wisconsin Supreme Court Justice Ann Walsh Bradley, for the Wisconsin Department of Public Instruction’s Office of Legal Services, and for UW Law School’s Eviction Defense Clinic. To round out his law school experience, Stephen received an impressive list of honors, including recognition for brief writing, deposition skills, and best performances in democracy, administrative, and business law courses, among others.
A former public sector employee, Stephen takes great care with providing public sector clients with excellent legal services. Prior to law school, he taught middle-school Spanish courses for 15 years in Boulder, Colorado, and he is excited to apply his classroom experience to serving and representing clients in litigation and court proceedings. The Supreme Court of the United States has illustrated America’s public schools as the nurseries of democracy, an apt description according to Stephen, and, after all those years in the public school system, Stephen is committed to protecting the principles of democracy in his practice. Due in part to his teaching experience, Stephen has an incredibly patient demeanor and appreciates clients who are engaged and ask questions—he is skilled at making difficult concepts easy to understand.
Stephen is fluent in English and Spanish.
Stephen is admitted to practice law in Wisconsin.
Stephen’s Education
- University of Wisconsin Law School (J.D., magna cum laude)
- Intern for Justice Ann Walsh Bradley, Wisconsin Supreme Court
- Wisconsin Law Review, Managing Editor
- University of Colorado – Boulder (M.A., Spanish and Education)
- Middlebury College (B.A., cum laude, History-Religion, minor in Spanish)
Stephen’s Presentations and Publications
- Author, Comment, “Cleaning up the Opioid Crisis: Emerging Public Nuisance Liability in Opioid Litigation,” Wisconsin Law Review, December 2023
- Co-author, “State v. Johnson Confirms that a Parent’s Health Records Are Privileged,” Wisconsin Journal of Family Law, October 2023
- Contributor, “Recent U.S. Supreme Court Decision Shows that the Dormant Commerce Clause Does Not Preclude Wisconsin Fair Dealership Law Damages for Sales beyond State Borders,” Wisconsin Law Review Forward, November 2023
