Patricia Wise

Meeting of January 14, 2015 - Workplace Harassment

Patricia Wise has been in practice for 30 years, specializing in employment law, and generally representing management and/or employers.  She is a partner in the firm of Niehaus Wise & Kalas Ltd and serves as panel counsel for EPL and D&O carriers.  She is an Ohio State Bar Association Certified Specialist in Labor and Employment Law, and carries Martindale-Hubbell's AV-Preeminent Rating.  Patty is a co-chair of the SHRM Labor Relations Special Expertise Panel.  She is admitted to practice before the Sixth Circuit and the U.S. Supreme Court and is an ABA Foundation Fellow.  In 2014 she was appointed by the Ohio Supreme Court to serve on the state Board of Commissioners on Grievances and Discipline. 

Patty has been an adjunct or visiting professor at the University of Toledo College of Law for 12 years.  She has taught various employment law classes including Employment Discrimination, Advanced Topics in Employment Law and Civil and Political Rights.  Patty is also on the faculty of the Graduate School of Banking at the University of Wisconsin-Madison where she provides in-person and on-line instruction in employment law each year.  She has been a sponsored speaker for the Graduate School, traveling to present programs to the state bankers' associations in Kansas, Missouri, Nebraska, North Dakota, Illinois and Ohio.  Patty will be a co-presenter at this year's SHRM Annual Conference in Las Vegas at a workshop titled "Labor Relations for HR Managers."

Patty has also written a book on harassment, Harassment in the Workplace: Sexual, Racial and Religious Complaints, published by the Thompson Publishing Group, 2012, and a book on retaliation, Understanding and Preventing Workplace Retaliation, which was published in its 3rd edition in 2012.  She has also published many articles on discrimination and employment law.

Patty has practiced as in-house counsel and Senior Vice President for a multi-billion dollar bank holding company, and that experience helped her to understand clients' needs.  She represents clients of all sizes, in a variety of industries, including many financial institution clients.  She emphasizes practical, preventive efforts in her representation of clients.  Much of her practice includes management training, often focusing on harassment in the workplace.

Patty received the Inaugural Public Service Commitment Award from the University of Toledo College of Law Alumni, the Inaugural "Twenty Under 40" Community Leadership Award from the Toledo Jaycees, and the Inaugural Outstanding Recent Graduate Award from Bowling Green State University.  She also received a Milestones Award for Achievement in Business in 2000.