In her daily work as an estate planning attorney, Jennifer Lasky deals with the details of wills, trusts, powers of attorney, probate and trust administration.
But also, along the way, she helps individuals become change agents in their own communities.
Lasky works with clients to consider the legacies they want to leave after they are gone as well as the impact they want to have on organizations during their lifetime.
“With the work that we do, we can offer those opportunities to really help breathe life into what their goals and wishes are in ways they cannot orchestrate on their own,” said Lasky, partner and shareholder at Moertl, Wilkins & Campbell, a Milwaukee law firm specializing in estate planning and elder law.
For the work she has done in fostering philanthropy among her clients and in the community, the Greater Milwaukee Foundation awarded Lasky with its 2025 Herbert J. Mueller Outstanding Professional Adviser of the Year Award. It was named after Herbert Mueller, an attorney who, by the time of his death in 2001 at 91, had encouraged his clients to partner with the Foundation to start and grow more than a dozen funds with gifts totaling nearly $50 million.
Lasky has been a volunteer with and an advocate for the Foundation for more than five years. She became familiar with the concept of a community foundation through her work as an estate planning attorney at a full-service practice firm in North Carolina, but it was her predecessor, Terry Campbell, who introduced her to the Foundation when she joined Moertl, Wilkins & Campbell in 2019. The firm had a longstanding relationship with the Foundation, having referred many clients over the years to establish funds. Campbell, the firm’s managing shareholder at the time, was the HJM Outstanding Professional Adviser of the Year in 2019.
It didn’t take long for Lasky to get more deeply involved. Upon Campbell’s suggestion, she participated in the Foundation’s yearlong Community Adviser and Ambassador Network, a diverse group of community leaders and professional advisers who learn how the Foundation works, how it supports the community and in return help deepen the Foundation’s understanding of community needs.
Lasky found it to be a terrific opportunity to engage with the Foundation, meet other nonprofit leaders and financial advisers and learn about the city and how to affect change.
“I am honored to be connected to an organization that is a beacon of hope for our city and a leader of national repute standing strong and making a difference more than 100 years later,” said Lasky, who has since made numerous referrals of other young professionals who should join CAAN.
Over the years, Lasky has steadily gotten more engaged with the Foundation. She was a member of the Foundation’s civic awards committee in 2020, co-presented with its gift planning staff at the Planned Giving Council of Eastern Wisconsin conference in 2021 and later that year joined the Foundation’s Development and Philanthropic Services Committee.
She is also involved in the community and in her profession in other ways – as a member of the Milwaukee chapter of Jack and Jill of America and as a board member for the Old World Wisconsin Museum Foundation and Wispact, a nonprofit that administers pooled and community special needs trusts for people with disabilities.
Lasky, who was born and raised in Detroit, originally wanted to be a prosecutor. After law school, she because an assistant district attorney but found that working in an adversarial capacity on a regular basis proved to be extremely exhausting. She eventually found her way to estate planning because she felt it was better aligned with her personality and her skills as a strategic thinker, problem solver and collaborator.
“Oftentimes clients speak in stories, and they bring their questions to the table, but they may not necessarily know what makes the most sense for their situation,” Lasky said. “I enjoy doing research and strategizing to develop a plan not only that fits their situation now but also looks into the future and creates some flexibility and contingency planning.”
She also relishes the longevity of the relationships that she helps build with clients.
“Estate planning is never a one-and-done situation,” Lasky said. “It’s rewarding to grow with clients as their lives changes and to be able to offer them solutions when various circumstances change or the law changes.”
One of the solutions she often presents – especially regarding how to advance their philanthropic interests – is to partner with the Foundation. Lasky has found much value in referring clients because of the breadth and flexibility the Foundation provides and its stewardship of donor dollars in perpetuity.
“The Foundation is a powerhouse of solutions to facilitate philanthropic giving,” Lasky said. “Its expertise, vast network and administrative prowess allow clients to focus on their ‘why’ while the Foundation takes care of the ‘how’.”