Full-Service Law Firm solving complex challenges through bold thinking, precise execution, and shared purpose.

Full Service Law Firm | Michael Best & Friedrich LLP

Specializing in the Intersection of Business &amp; Government

Meet our team of trusted advisors, strategic thinkers, and community builders dedicated to client success.

Learn about our full-service legal and business solutions, designed to address complex challenges for leading organizations across industries.

Access thought leadership, news, and resources to stay informed about the latest trends, legal developments, and industry innovations.

Discover how partnership, bold thinking, and precise execution drive results for clients nationwide.

Explore how our national reach and local expertise support clients across the United States and beyond.

Grow at a firm designed to bring out your best.

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Boosting Progress. Managing Challenges. Planning Ahead.

Manufacturing drives innovation, economic growth, and global competitiveness. Our legacy of supporting U.S. manufacturers enables us to deliver strategic legal solutions that advance your business objectives and ensure long-term success.

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Supporting over 400 manufacturing clients, our cross-disciplinary team provides strategic counsel, including product development, distribution, and protection. Whether you're managing M&amp;A transactions, patent processes, or regulatory compliance, we deliver coordinated solutions that drive results.

Manufacturing companies navigate a maze of regulations, workforce challenges, and intellectual property concerns while pursuing growth opportunities.

Michael Best provides comprehensive legal support tailored to the manufacturing industry.

Helping You Grow

Manufacturers face constant pressure to scale, modernize, and stay competitive. Our team supports your growth by guiding you through strategic transactions that strengthen your business for the long term. Whether you are pursuing an acquisition, forming a joint venture, or planning leadership transitions, we help you structure deals that position your company for continued success

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Understanding Regulations

Regulation touches every part of modern manufacturing, and staying ahead of shifting requirements is essential to protecting your operations. We help you make sense of complex rules by conducting targeted compliance reviews and identifying practical steps to meet federal, state, and industry‑specific standards.  The result is a clearer path forward that minimizes risk, reduces surprises, and keeps your production moving.

Work and Employment

We help you address everyday employment questions, support compliance with workplace requirements, and navigate conversations that can affect team stability. When union negotiations or labor issues arise, we work with you to prepare, communicate, and move through the process in a way that maintains operations and supports long‑term working relationships.

Technology and Patents

Manufacturers rely on technology that has to work reliably, scale smoothly, and stay protected. We help you address practical tech challenges as they arise and ensure your innovations are properly safeguarded through thoughtful patent strategies. Our team blends technical understanding with legal insight to support product development, reduce risk, and keep your systems and ideas secure.

Legal Issues and Risks

Issues can arise from many directions, whether related to products, suppliers, customers, or broader operational demands. We help you address these situations with clarity, evaluate potential risks, and move toward workable resolutions. Our team supports you in managing product‑related questions, responding to concerns, and navigating disputes in a way that protects continuity and keeps your business focused on what’s next.

Our attorneys have deep experience advising manufacturers from virtually every sector, including in-house leadership positions at major manufacturers, giving us a comprehensive perspective on the important work we do with our client.

Serve as legal counsel to a large tool manufacturer and its entities, advising on a variety of employment matters nationally, including COVID-19 laws and considerations, ADA, FMLA, paid leave, severance agreements, employment policies, non-discrimination and harassment policies and training, restrictive covenants, employee discipline, employment separations, wage and hour matters, OFCCP/federal contracting matters (AAPs, self-identifications, applicant tracking, etc.), OSHA, and a myriad of state employment laws. We also advise on a variety of employee benefits law matters, including 401(k) plan, pension plan, executive compensation, health and welfare plans, ERISA issues, tax law compliance, PBGC compliance, DOL compliance, and more.

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Serve as lead legal counsel for a multi-platform industrial corporation. We provide ongoing counseling to the company on a variety of employment related issues, including policy review and employment relations consulting, which often involves contact on a weekly basis. We have also conducted sensitive internal investigations, led a comprehensive review of the client’s severance agreements, and recently provided in-service trainings to the HR Team on key labor law developments and managing workforce reductions. We keep the client abreast of key employment law developments in the states in which they do business and represent the company in employment disputes across jurisdictions.

Counseled manufacturers on large reductions-in-force and compliance with federal and state WARN laws.

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Counseled manufacturer on supervisor and manager best practices, including conflict resolution, hiring, and performance management.

Drafted nationwide drug testing policy for an industrial manufacturing client.

Oversaw manufacturing client’s Affirmative Action plan and compliance.

Assisted manufacturer with large-scale theft investigation and disciplinary actions.

Advised manufacturer on wage and hour issues related to compensation and bonus program.

Advised manufacturer on employee classification issues related to sales representatives.

Assisted manufacturer with religious accommodations for large subset of employee group.

Advised manufacturer on FMLA abuse investigation.

Counseled industrial client through a transition in leadership, facilitating a smooth transition.

Counseled manufacturer regarding potential rights and liabilities arising from restrictive covenants signed by their employees, former employees, and prospective employees.

Counseled manufacturing client on Affordable Care Act (ACA), COBRA, and Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) compliance.

For a large international manufacturer that had grown through acquisition over the prior decade, we consolidated multiple qualified retirement plans into a single plan, allowing our client to decrease its overall cost of plan administration.

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Michael Best is an active member of manufacturing organizations and trade associations. Our attorneys frequently speak on industry-specific topics at seminars, conferences, and other events hosted by organizations.

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Wide view of an industrial manufacturing facility with automated machinery, production lines, and equipment in operation.

Wisconsin Manufacturer of the Year Finalists Announced

Nine Companies Named in 35th Annual Wisconsin Manufacturer of the Year Awards

USTR Initiates Section 301 Exclusion Process for Domestic Manufacturing Machinery

Trump Trade 2.0: Trump Unveils Tariffs on Mexico and Canada, Additional Tariffs on China

Trump Trade 2.0: New Steel, Aluminum, and Reciprocal Tariffs

Trump Trade 2.0: Reciprocal Tariffs Arrive

Eight Wisconsin Companies Earn Manufacturer of the Year Title

Trump Trade 2.0: Weekend Action on Trade

Opportunity to Seek a Clean Air Act Section 112 NESHAP Presidential Exemption

Manufacturing

Key Contact

Trending Conversations for Manufacturing

Upcoming Webinar: Trade and Tariff Landscape Updates

USTR Announces President Trump’s 2026 “America First” Trade Policy Agenda

Protecting Your Manufacturing Business in 2026: A Practical Guide to Trade Secrets, Non‑Competes, and Non‑Solicitation Agreements

Key Contact

Trending Conversations for Manufacturing

Upcoming Webinar: Trade and Tariff Landscape Updates

USTR Announces President Trump’s 2026 “America First” Trade Policy Agenda

Protecting Your Manufacturing Business in 2026: A Practical Guide to Trade Secrets, Non‑Competes, and Non‑Solicitation Agreements

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