Murphy & Prachthauser celebrated its West Bend grand opening and Chamber of Commerce ribbon-cutting on May 19th. Rick Jenson of 101.3 WIBD interviewed personal injury attorneys Thadd Llaurado and Michelle Hockers about why they chose West Bend and how they are already actively involved in the community.
You can listen to the interview or read the transcript below.
Visit Murphy & Prachthauser’s newest location at 111 N. Main Street, Suite 101.
Rick Jensen:
Rick Jensen with you Wednesday morning, it is about 8:16, and we have a local business spotlight brought to you by the West Bend Area Chamber of Commerce, recognizing businesses in our community and recognizing businesses that are growing in our community. And that’s why we’re doing a spotlight on a Wednesday instead of our usual Tuesday.
I have a couple of guests on the line this morning and, if you would, Thadd and Michelle, please introduce yourselves.
Thadd Llaurado:
Good morning, Rick. Good morning to your listeners. I’m Thadd Llaurado, and here we also have Michelle Hockers. We’re from Murphy & Prachthauser, a personal injury law firm now located in West Bend.
Rick Jensen:
All right. And, personal injury law. This firm has been doing that for a long time?
Michelle Hockers:
Absolutely. Our firm has been practicing exclusively personal injury law for over 40 years. Our practice specializes in representing injured people as a result of car accidents, truck accidents, defective products, and many other areas.
Rick Jensen:
So what happens if I think I have a case, what do I do?
Thadd Llaurado:
Well, you would call a personal injury law firm. Our phone number is (262) 346-3340. Our West Bend office is located at 111 North Main Street and West Bend. We would start by asking you about what happened and how you’re doing.
The first thing you need to do would be to get the care you need to get better and a support system for you and your family. And then we would investigate what happened.
We would evaluate whether the other driver failed to operate under the laws of the state of Wisconsin and under the rules of the road to evaluate whether you have a case.
Rick Jensen:
Right. I know the idea is to get an out-of-court settlement and move along, or is that not quite the case?
Thadd Llaurado:
Good question. First of all, the insurance companies have outstanding lawyers themselves and are well-funded. So we have to prosecute every single case and look at each case as if it will go to trial. And we have experience doing that.
We have experience being successful in that. By preparing cases this way, the other side knows that we’re properly prepared. We show them that we’re not afraid to take the case to court. And when you’re in that type of position, the other side is more likely to resolve the case.
About 96% of our cases do resolve without a court settlement. We achieve this by setting all our cases up properly right from the get-go.
Rick Jensen:
Gotcha. And I understand that you have a new office location in West Bend. And you have something going on this afternoon?
Michelle Hockers:
Yes, Rick. We just opened our West Bend office right in downtown West Bend. We are excited to celebrate our grand opening today and do our ribbon cutting with The Chamber.
Thadd Llaurado:
Rick, one of the reasons we opened up this office is that we have many Washington County, Eastern Ozaukee County, and Northern Waukesha County clients. Michelle Hockers, my partner here, she’s from West Bend and grew up here. Michelle has a connection to this community.
I live here now as well. So we both have a lot of connections to this town. So that’s why we wanted to have this office, to serve our community better. Additionally, we spent a lot of time looking at different office locations, and we felt that there’s positive energy in downtown West Bend.
You can feel it. The Downtown Association puts on a range of activities, the community is very involved, and we’re lucky enough to be near the beautiful Riverwalk. There are many fantastic businesses down here, and we’re very excited to be a part of it.
Rick Jensen:
All right. And the two of you I know are on some local community organization boards as well. In fact, that’s where I met Michelle.
Michelle Hockers:
Yes. I am also on the board of directors for Columns, and that’s where we initially met.
Since January joined the West Bend Chamber Board of Directors, I’m happy to be able to serve professionally in the community and give back to those organizations and help develop additional business in our community.
Thadd Llaurado:
I’m on the Board of Directors of the Museum of Wisconsin Art. An excellent facility and a treasure that we have here in West Bend. And I’m very honored to be a part of that.
Michelle, could you please expand a little bit about Columns? Because I’m not sure everybody knows what Columns is, and it’s wonderful for our young people. And Michelle has spent a lot of time contributing.
Michelle Hockers:
Yes. Columns is the West Bend Community and Alumni Scholarship Foundation. We raise money and work with private donors to help provide scholarships to graduating West Bend high school students. Each year we have two main benefits: our run-walk, which is coming up on August 5th. And our Holiday Pop Concert with the Symphony in December. And so, through those events, networking, and many private generous donors, we’re able to help students in our community have a great first start as they continue their education beyond high school.
Rick Jensen:
How many students receive the scholarship?
Michelle Hockers:
It varies every year. I believe the number for this year, between Columns and our private donors, was over $800,000 awarded to graduating seniors.
Rick Jensen:
If I remember what Jen Wimmer told me yesterday, that money was spread out among I believe 140 some members of the class of 2021 from East and West.
Michelle Hockers:
That sounds correct.
Thadd Llaurado:
That’s spectacular.
Rick Jensen:
Yes, absolutely. And, as you may know, last Christmas we couldn’t do the symphony show, but you said that we’ll be back this year. And I know a lot of people are excited about that.
Michelle Hockers:
Yes, it will be back. We are all set for December 14th, and Murphy & Prachthauser is proud to be this year’s sponsor.
Rick Jensen:
All right. Once again, let’s say the office name, the location, the phone number, and again, invite folks down for the grand opening and ribbon cutting this afternoon.
Michelle Hockers:
Yes. We are Murphy & Prachthauser; our West Bend address is 111 North Main Street, suite 101. The best phone number to reach us is (262) 346-3340. And if that was way too quick and you can’t find us. Our website is a little easier. It’s westbend.law.
Rick Jensen:
Easy enough! And again, a ribbon-cutting set for noon. Well, Thadd and Michelle, did we miss anything?
Thadd Llaurado:
No, Rick, we didn’t. We also wanted to say thank you to you and the community for your support and for allowing us to tell our story today.