Efficient And Effective Legal Representation
Biography
Ms. Hitchcock Cross has been concentrating on employment, business and civil rights law for more than 45 years. Her clients include CEOs, CFOs, CIOs, COOs and other C-suite executives, managers, and personnel directors; college administrators and professors, school administrators, principals and teachers; judges, court commissioners, assistant district attorneys and public defenders; fire chiefs, police chiefs, police officers, chief deputies and deputy sheriffs; physicians, nurses, pharmacists, and health care administrators; accountants, stock brokers and others with fiduciary responsibilities; office workers, blue collar workers, factory workers, truckers, service employees; and all other executives, managers, supervisors, and employees, both in private and in the federal, state, and municipal public sectors; and consultants, entrepreneurs, temporary employees, and independent contractors. She is nationally known for her many multimillion-dollar False Claims Act recoveries and was recently nominated for Whistleblower Attorney of the Year, 2024 by Taxpayers Against Fraud: The Anti-Fraud Coalition.
Education
- University of Wisconsin Law School, Madison, Wisconsin
- Juris Doctor - 1975
- Honors: cum laude
- Honors: Law School Service Award
- Washington State University, Edward R. Murrow School of Journalism, Pullman, Washington
- Bachelor of Arts
- Major: Mass Communications
- Harvard University, Non-Matriculated Courses in International Banking and Finance, Spanish and Latin American Politics and Government
- Non-Matriculated Courses
- Merton College, Oxford University, BNA Comparative Industrial Relations Symposium, Oxford
- 1983
Classes & Seminars
- Cooperatives/Cohousing/Condos: A Study in Comparative Housing Structures, Milwaukee CoLOG, February 8, 2011
- Frequent Commentator, Various Labor Law Topics
- Regular Commentator, Case of Figueroa v. Mayor Norquist and City of Milwaukee, Channel 58
- Hiring & Firing, State Bar Of Wisconsin, Solo Practice Institute
- Legal Issues in Personnel, UW-Milwaukee Small Business Institute
- Lecturer, Collective Bargaining Course, Milwaukee Area Technical College
- Sexual Harassment Sensitivity, City of Milwaukee, Trainer
- Talks on SOX: Employment Provisions Under Sarbanes-Oxley, February, 2005; Wisconsin State Bar, Labor & Employment Section, 2005
- Covenants Not to Compete: Trends and Developments, State Bar of Wisconsin Conference, Madison, Wisconsin, 2006 to Present
- Guest Lecture, Mediation-Arbitration, UW-Wisconsin, UW-Wisconsin School for Workers
- Stewards Schools for Teamsters, IBEW, UE, OPEIU, Hospital Workers, Public Health Nurses, Ironworkers, AFSCME, etc.
- Speaker, Legal Issues for Housing Cooperatives, Wisconsin Cooperative Housing Conference
- Speaker, Women and Employment: Challenge Amidst Change, YWCA Conference, Workshop Session
- Speaker, Legal Issues Affecting Women in Employment, Broad Vocabulary Bookstore
- Alexander v. Gardner-Denver and the Role of Arbitration in Title VII Cases, National Education Association Council, National Convention
- “Relator Share”, Taxpayers Against Fraud Educational Fund, 2015
- “FCA Enforcement Against Hospitals, Device and Pharmaceutical Companies and Other Health Care Industry Companies: Is Medical Judgment a Trump Card?”, ABA False Claims Institute
Practice Areas
- False Claims Act
- Employment Law & Litigation
- Civil Rights & Constitutional Law
- Employment Torts & Litigation
- Job Counseling
- School Law - Teacher Contracts & Discipline, Student Rights
- Small Business Start-Up & Representation, Partnerships, Non-Profits, Cooperatives
- Wrongful Discharge
- Severance agreements
- Sexual harassment
- Whistleblowing - False Claims Act, Sarbanes-Oxley, NRA, SEC & IRS whistleblowers, OSHA
- Whistleblowing - Healthcare Retaliation, Medicare fraud, pharmaceutical fraud, defense contracting fraud
- Employment contracts-drafting, resolution & litigation
- Employment discrimination
- Non-Profits
- Cooperatives and cohousing
Bar Admissions
- Wisconsin
- U.S. District Court Eastern District of Wisconsin
- U.S. District Court Western District of Wisconsin
- U.S. Court of Appeals 7th Circuit
Professional Associations
- American Bar Association, Labor & Employment Sections , Member
- Wisconsin State Bar Association, Labor & Employment Sections, Member, Chairperson (Two Separate Terms) & Three- Term Board Member, Present
- Milwaukee Bar Association, Labor Law Section, Co-Chair
- American Association for Justice (AAJ), Member
- Industrial Relations Research Association, Member
- National Whistleblowers Association, Member and Attorney Referral Panel
- National Employment Lawyers Association (NELA), Member and Attorney Referral Panel
- Wisconsin Employment Lawyers Association (WELA), Member and Attorney Referral Panel
Honors
- "AV" rating (the highest) from Martindale-Hubbell
- Listed in "Best of the Bar," Employment Law, Milwaukee Magazine, 1985
- "Lead Attorney," Employment Law, CBS Channel 58, 2002 - 2003
- Honorary Co-Chair, National Business Advisory Council
Published Works
- "The Duty to Bargain Collective" Chapter 3, (Co-Author) Employee and Union Member Guide to Labor Law, A Manual for Attorneys Representing the Labor Movement, Contributing Author, Chpt. 3, Nat'l Labor & Employment Comm., National Lawyers Guild eds.
Pro-Bono Activities
- Milwaukee Forum, Former Member and Coordinator
- Milwaukee Forum, Coordinator Emeritus, Present
- American Association of University Women, Member & Attorney Referral Panel
- AFL-CIO Lawyers, Member, Coordinating Committee
- Association for Union Democracy, Advisory Board
- International Association of Democratic Lawyers, Member
- Wisconsin Women Angel Investors
Past Positions
- Murray & Cross, Managing Partner
- Adelman, Adelman & Murray, S.C., Milwaukee, Wisconsin, Partner
- Podell, Ugent & Cross, S.C., Managing Partner