Seth E. Dizard

As the head of the firm’s Banking, Receivership, and Creditors’ Rights Practice Group, Seth regularly serves as a court-appointed receiver throughout the State of Wisconsin for businesses, construction projects, real estate developments, marital and family estates, rental income properties, and high net worth individuals. He also represents financial institutions, secured and unsecured corporate or individual creditors, companies seeking to acquire distressed businesses, and financially troubled corporations in both state and federal courts. In addition, he assists business owners by guiding them through the process of informal financial work-outs and refinancing. Seth has extensive experience serving as court-appointed receiver, and representing court-appointed receivers, throughout the state in assignments for the benefit of creditors (Chapter 128 Receiverships), as well as real estate foreclosures, the winding-up of closely held corporations, and complex post-judgment collection matters.

Using his skills and knowledge as an experienced fiduciary, Seth also regularly serves as successor trustee when disputes arise during the administration of trusts. In his role as trustee, Seth works toward an equal division of property in mixed-asset trusts when liquidation would result in loss of value; he also traces trust assets when trust assets have been commingled; he investigates, preserves, and recovers trust assets after funds have been diverted; and, he steers litigation on behalf of a trust for the benefit of the beneficiaries when the original trustee has breached their fiduciary duty. Seth also develops, negotiates, and implements fair and equitable disposition strategies regarding trust assets.

Since joining the firm in 2007, he has managed and transitioned over $100,000,000 in assets. Seth also assists clients with the acquisition or disposition of businesses and/or business assets in insolvency proceedings, as well as representation of both secured and unsecured creditors in bankruptcy proceedings across the country.

Seth Assists Clients With

• Structuring financial transactions and workouts
• Representing financial institutions as well as secured and unsecured corporate or individual creditors in state and federal courts
• Acquisition or disposition of businesses in insolvency proceedings
• Complex post-judgment collection matters

  Experience/Representative Client Work

• Acting as court-appointed receiver, Seth has handled all aspects of the sale, wind-down, and liquidation of over one hundred financially distressed businesses across the state
• Swiftly and efficiently finalized the affairs of a closely held company in his role as receiver by selling a multi-million dollar parcel of partially developed land despite a hotly contested dispute between owners
• Guided a local manufacturing company smoothly and successfully through a situation where the company's key supplier had declared bankruptcy, threatening an interruption in the company's lines of production
• Collected numerous six figure judgments as supplemental receiver
• Served as Special Master in pending divorce proceeding, whereby he oversaw and administered a multi-million dollar marital estate
• Worked with the city of Milwaukee as receiver over public nuisance properties

  Professional Associations & Affiliations

• Wisconsin State Bar–Bankruptcy, Insolvency, and Creditors’ Rights Section
• Bench/Bar Committee, State Bar of Wisconsin
• Member, American Bankruptcy Institute
• Chair, Milwaukee Bar Association–Bankruptcy Section
• Member, Turnaround Management Association
• Uniform Law Commission
• Associate Member, National Association of Federal Equity Receivers

  Awards/Distinctions

• Recipient of the 2023 Judge Dale E. Ihlenfeldt Bankruptcy Award
• Named 2022 Best Lawyers® “Lawyer of the Year” for Bankruptcy and Creditor-Debtor Rights Law/Insolvency and Reorganization Law
• 2017 Legal Innovator Award Recipient, State Bar of Wisconsin
• Selected as one of the “Top 25 Lawyers” in Milwaukee in Law & Politics and Milwaukee Magazine, 2013–present
• Selected as one of the “Top 50 Lawyers” in Wisconsin in Law & Politics and Milwaukee Magazine, 2013–present
• Selected for inclusion in 2011 The Best Lawyers in America®, Bankruptcy and Creditor-Debtor Rights Law; and 2012–present in Bankruptcy and Creditor-Debtor Rights Law/Insolvency and Reorganization Law, Litigation-Bankruptcy
• Selected for inclusion in Wisconsin Super Lawyers, Law & Politics and Milwaukee Magazine, 2010–present
• Selected for inclusion in 2013 Top Rated Lawyer by American Lawyer Media, Martindale-Hubbell®
• Martindale-Hubbell Peer Review Rating™–AV Preeminent, reflecting an attorney who has reached the height of professional excellence and is recognized for the highest levels of skill and integrity
• Selected for inclusion in 2007, 2008, and 2009 Wisconsin Rising Stars, Law & Politics and Milwaukee Magazine
• He has a 10.0 out of 10.0 rating by Avvo, a national attorney rating service which uses a mathematical model to rate attorneys based on experience, professional achievements, industry recognition, and professional conduct

  Articles/Presentations

• Speaker, “Email Etiquette” Know Your Writes: Next Level Legal Writing, May 2017
• Speaker, “The Role of “Special Masters”: What Makes You Special and Why,” The Legal Ins and Outs of Special Masters and Other Alternative Disputes Resolution Options in Family Court Cases, May 2016
• Speaker, “Environmental Issues in the Foreclosure Process”
• Speaker, “Wisconsin Foreclosures and Work-Outs,” National Business Institute, August 2014
• Speaker, “Chapter 128 Receiverships; Overview & Perspectives,” O’Neil, Cannon, Hollman, DeJong & Laing, 2014 Hot Topics for Small Firm and Solo Practitioners seminar, October 2014
• Speaker, “Demystifying WI Receiverships,” Wisconsin Association for Legal Professionals, May 2014
• Speaker, O’Neil, Cannon, Hollman, DeJong, and Laing S.C. Seminar, 2015 Hot Topics for Small Firm and Solo Practitioners seminar, October 2015

  Community Involvement

• National Board of Directors, Ruffed Grouse Society (2017-present)
• North Central Little League (2007-2014)
• TBL (Tosa Baseball League) (2012-2015)
• Wauwatosa East Jr. Red Raiders - Baseball (2013-2015)
• Tosa East Athletic Booster Club

  Education

• Marquette University Law School (J.D.)
• University of New Mexico (B.A., cum laude)
• Rollins College