Connors, Michael N.

Curt Pawlisch is an attorney at the law firm Cullen Weston Pines & Bach LLP. After beginning as a page in the Wisconsin State Assembly, Curt now has over 30 years of legal and policy experience. He has numerous accolades to his name, including being listed among the Best Lawyers in America and achieving local recognition after Madison Magazine listed him as a top lawyer in public policy practice.

Curt divides his practice among the areas of telecommunications and energy law as well as general governmental affairs work, including in the field of environmental law.

In the telecommunications arena, he is one of the state's most prominent advocates for competitive local phone companies at the Public Service Commission of Wisconsin and the state capitol. Curt is also one of the state's top advocates for renewable energy and has assisted numerous wind energy companies with the development process, obtaining local approvals, and spearheading the passage of state wind siting legislation.

Achievements
Telecommunications
• Served as state regulatory counsel for several national competitive local exchange carriers in ensuring regulatory compliance and protected their interests before the Public Service Commission of Wisconsin.
• Protected competitive telecommunications companies in a generic docket to examine deregulation proposals by defeating efforts to weaken the PSCW's authority over the wholesale operations of incumbents.
• Safeguarded competitive telecommunications companies in a generic docket by defeating efforts to reduce intrastate access rates.
• Defended successfully a small competitive telecommunications company against AT&T's complaint filed with the PSCW that its intrastate access rates were too high.
• Secured key state regulatory authority over the wholesale operations of incumbents in representation of competitive telecommunications companies during the passage of an omnibus telecommunications deregulation law passed by the Wisconsin state legislature.
• Protected interests of competitive telecommunications companies by drafting and submitting comments in a proceeding to recertify a large incumbent in case of first impression before the PSCW.
• Advised telecommunications providers on the implementation by the PSCW of an omnibus telecommunications reform law passed by the Wisconsin state legislature.

Energy
• On behalf of a multinational energy efficiency company, successfully directed a bipartisan lobbying campaign to enable school districts to own and operate renewable energy facilities. The bill passed with unanimous support.
• Created and led a coalition of more than 50 businesses and labor and environmental organizations in successfully advocating for the passage of a state uniform wind energy siting legislation to overcome visible grassroots opposition. Representation included drafting and review of legislation and amendments, legislative meetings, negotiations with stakeholders, and developing strategy for lobbying and community and media outreach.
• Represented several wind energy companies in obtaining local approvals for their wind energy projects and in other aspects of project development.
• Represented the state's renewable energy trade association in its intervention on behalf of Forward Energy's application to build a 200 MW wind energy project in eastern Wisconsin.
• Negotiated and achieved a balanced regulation for utility recovery of fuel costs, while preventing a rushed effort when status quo favored the client. This effort took five years and included successfully blocking one-sided legislation that opponents sought to smuggle into a "midnight" budget amendment.
• Led efforts to develop a hydroelectric facility on behalf of a Wisconsin technical college, including oversight of efforts to obtain all federal and state approvals as well as to negotiate purchase of the dam and a power purchase agreement.

Governmental Affairs
• Developed and implemented successful 18-month strategy to pass 2005 Wisconsin Act 260, legislation that created an apprentice-type program for well drillers and adopting restriction on who may seal and abandon unused wells. The client had been unsuccessfully trying to pass the measure for 20 years until Curt's involvement.
• Called attention to the systemic problems in understaffing of health care at prisons. This successfully shifted the debate from an isolated investigation focused on the actions of two health care workers related to an inmate's death to a larger policy review of chronic understaffing.