On the Job
Attorney Johanna Allex’s Practice
Attorney Johanna Allex is a partner in the Madison office of Stafford Rosenbaum LLP where she helps families and individuals to plan for and manage life’s expected and unexpected transitions. Johanna’s law practice covers all aspects of estate planning and estate administration, marital property law, business succession planning, and tax-exempt organization planning and operations. Johanna is a Certified Public Accountant and serves on the firm’s board of directors.
Johanna’s practice also includes working as an impartial mediator to help families and individuals resolve disputes involving probate, trust administration and adult guardianships. Johanna’s goal is to try to help people to identify priorities, resolve conflicts and make decisions together about how to move forward without the need to resort to litigation that can be costly to both relationships and finances.
Johanna regularly lectures on topics such as estate planning, alternative dispute resolution, and operational issues of importance to nonprofit, tax-exempt organizations. She also co-taught a practical seminar in Estate Planning and Estate Administration as an adjunct professor at the University of Wisconsin Law School.
Johanna has been selected by her peers for inclusion in The Best Lawyers in America© (since 2019) in the fields of Trusts and Estates. She was also chosen for the 2016 Women in the Law Award from The Wisconsin Law Journal.
Johanna’s Transactional Experience Includes:
- Drafting Wills, Trusts, and other estate planning documents
- Probate and trust administration
- Drafting and negotiating Marital Property Agreements
- Designing and helping to implement complex gift and estate planning techniques
- Acting as general counsel and business advisor to nonprofit organizations
- Business succession planning
- Organizing and obtaining income tax exemption recognition for local and national nonprofit organizations, such as charities, educational institutions, and trade associations
- Nonprofit governance and corporate procedures, including advising directors and officers about fiduciary duties
- Organizational changes, such as mergers, conversions, amendments to articles and bylaws, and joint ventures
- Planned giving
- Charitable registration advising
Johanna’s Education
- University of Wisconsin Law School (J.D.)
- University of Wisconsin-Madison (Masters of Music)
- University of Wisconsin-Madison (B.S.)
Johanna’s Professional Memberships and Activities
- State Bar of Wisconsin
- Real Property and Probate Section
- Taxation Section
- Madison Estate Council
- Wisconsin Planned Giving Council
- American Bar Association
- Real Property, Trust and Estate Law Section
- Wisconsin Association of Mediators
- Dane County Bar Association
- Association for Women Lawyers
Johanna’s Presentations and Publications
- “Special Needs Trusts,” Madison Public Library Foundation, March 2024
- “All Things Estate Planning,” Groundswell Conservancy, 2023
- “Estate Planning: Getting Started at Any Age,” La Crosse Public Library, April 2023
- “Estate Planning: Getting Started at Any Age,” Madison Public Library, September 2022
- “Tax Cuts and Jobs Act of 2017: Charitable Giving Implications for Nonprofits Presentation”
- “What to Consider Legally Before Your Child Turns 18”
