On the Job
Attorney Kyle Engelke’s Practice
Attorney Kyle Engelke is a partner in the Madison office at Stafford Rosenbaum LLP. Kyle is a past president of the Dane County Bar Association and co-chairs Stafford Rosenbaum’s litigation practice group. He has been recognized for his work as a litigator by Best Lawyers in America, Super Lawyers, and the Wisconsin Law Journal.
Kyle’s passion is courtroom practice. However, a client should hear what they need to know about their legal dispute – both the good and bad – long before a judge or jury passes judgment. Kyle’s job is to assess the risk created by a client’s conflict and manage the legal uncertainty they face. His trial practice includes commercial litigation, tort and civil rights defense, personal injury matters and wrongful death claims. Regardless of the matter, Kyle believes it is his job to earn his client’s trust, and that every client deserves an advocate who is both responsive and understanding of the demands (and costs) legal disputes create for the client.
Trial practice requires storytelling, and Kyle enjoys all aspects of building a trial record. Kyle’s experience includes handling all aspects of trial practice – from jury trials to emergency injunction hearings, and from expert discovery to case management and budgeting. Kyle’s frequent briefing experience includes successfully dismissing a mass tort claim for carbon monoxide poisoning at a hockey rink and authoring an amicus brief on behalf of the League of Wisconsin Municipalities addressing Wisconsin’s governmental immunity law – a matter Kyle also argued before the Wisconsin Supreme Court.
In state court, Kyle frequently defends municipalities against claims ranging from negligence and violations of Wisconsin’s Safe Place Law to nuisance and defamation. In federal court, Kyle has appeared defending municipalities against civil rights claims alleging excessive force and fair housing violations, in addition to claims brought under the Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act (CERCLA) for environmental cleanup costs.
Kyle’s commercial litigation experience includes fair dealership claims, corporate control contests, whistleblower claims involving misappropriation of trade secrets, defending class actions alleging professional liability arising from financial investments and multi-state statutory fraud claims involving administration of Wisconsin’s Medicaid program. Kyle also co-authors the Wisconsin Bar Association’s publications on Trade Secrets and Tortious Interference with Contractual Relations.
Kyle’s Court Admissions
- State of Wisconsin
- U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Wisconsin
- U.S. District Court for the Western District of Wisconsin
- U.S. Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit
- United States Supreme Court
Kyle’s Education
- University of Wisconsin Law School (J.D.)
- Wisconsin Innocence Project, Student Attorney
- Symposium Editor and Senior Board member for the Wisconsin International Law Journal
- Coach and participant in the Willem C. Vis International Commercial Arbitration Moot in Vienna, Austria
- University of Wisconsin-Madison (B.A. Journalism and International Studies)
Kyle’s Professional Recognition and Awards
- The Best Lawyers in America: Litigation – Municipal (since 2023)
- In Business Madison 40 Under 40 class member (2022)
- Wisconsin Rising Star by Super Lawyers (since 2018)
- Up and Coming Lawyer by Wisconsin Law Journal (2016)
Kyle’s Publications
- Co-author, Trade Secrets chapter, Wisconsin Attorney’s Desk Reference (2017-present)
- Co -author, Tortious Interference with Contractual Relations, Law of Damages (2018-present)
Kyle’s Professional Memberships and Activities
- Dane County Bar Association
- President (2021-2022)
- Board of Directors (2017 to present)
- American Bar Association
- Fellow of American Bar Association, 2019
- State Bar of Wisconsin
- Bench and Bar Committee (June 2018 to present)
- James E. Doyle American Inn of Court
