Attorney Frank DeGuire returns to his legal roots at Quarles & Brady

Milwaukee-based attorney Frank DeGuire returned to his legal roots this week at Quarles & Brady LLP to work in the public finance and business law practices.

DeGuire will serve as bond counsel for a range of tax-exempt and taxable financings for the state and local governments, non-profit corporations including conduit and qualified private activity bond financings, the firm said. He additionally will leverage his most recent experience on the corporate side at Meridian Industries Inc. for the firm’s business law practice.

“We are pleased to welcome Frank back to the firm,” Rebecca Speckhard, public finance national chair, said in a statement. “As bond counsel, he has experience in working on financings for a diverse set of governmental entities. He has also gained extensive and broad experience in corporate and commercial law from serving as in-house counsel to closely held corporations.”

DeGuire started Monday in the firm’s Milwaukee headquarters as a partner.

“My time as in-house counsel has given me great insight into what clients expect out of law firms and I’m excited to use that knowledge to best serve the firm and its clients,” DeGuire said in the statement.

DeGuire began his legal career at Quarles & Brady in 1997 after graduating from Marquette University’s law school. He spent seven years there as an associate.

DeGuire moved on to the position of senior counsel at Johnson Controls and then on to Meridian Industries, a diversified manufacturing company in Milwaukee. He spent 14 years there as general counsel providing legal and strategic advice to the chief executive and presidents of the company’s several operating divisions.

DeGuire also holds an MBA from the University of Wisconsin-Madison and is a Navy veteran active in the Veterans Consortium Pro Bono Program, Hunger Task Force and Team Red White & Blue. DeGuire is a runner and has completed 42 marathons.

The national, full-service law firm has 475 attorneys in offices in Chicago, Indianapolis, Madison, Milwaukee, Minneapolis, Naples, Phoenix, Tampa, Tucson, and Washington D.C. Speckhard leads a group of 15 lawyers in the public finance group. The business law practice has 80 attorneys.

Quarles & Brady ranked 5th among bond counsel last year working on 387 deals totaling $4 billion, according to data from Refinitiv.