100% Club Spotlight
Walling & Berg
With Equal Right, January, 2004
Walling & Berg, P.A. was founded
in 1991 by Nancy Zalusky Berg and Wright S. Walling. Their goal was to establish
a law firm that would creatively and efficiently handle matters involving family
and children’s issues. The firm has grown from five to twelve attorneys with a
support staff of fifteen. There are four shareholders in the firm including two
women: Nancy Zalusky Berg and Jody Ollyver DeSmidt.
Because of our practice area,
the firm is very aware of the importance of family in the lives of our
employees. We continually strive to maintain the balance of being in private
practice and being a parent. We provide disability coverage and parental leave
for new parents and flexible schedules to accommodate childcare issues,
especially those all-important extracurricular events. Our offices are
child-friendly and we have a supply of movies for times when daycare is not
available. We are proud to claim the joyous arrival of fifteen children to our
employees during the past twelve years!
Walling & Berg, P.A. has demonstrated a commitment to acknowledging, addressing,
and supporting issues that are important to women lawyers. We encourage our
attorneys to participate in Minnesota Women Lawyers and provide firm resources
for such participation. We also support our attorneys in their desire to become
active members of the Bar Association and in their involvement with pro bono
work, educational activities, and community organizations. Our attorneys
participate in non-profit boards, state bar committees, community panels, and in
conducting seminars for the benefit of lawyers and non-lawyer groups. We are
devoted to providing creative legal solutions in a comprehensive, efficient, and
cost effective manner to our clients. Our focus is in adoption, family and
juvenile law matters and practice before courts throughout the state as well as
handling appeals before the Court of Appeals and Minnesota Supreme Court.
We find working in a predominately female environment has its advantages in that
there is a nurturing and mentorship available to us that may not be available in
all law firms. We support each other in our careers and share our hopes for
improving the legal system for families going through difficult times. We are
professional women who believe that if there is understanding and caring of the
individual, the entire group will succeed.
We thank MWL for acknowledging our attorneys as role models for professional
women and express our congratulations to Nancy Zalusky Berg, Jody Ollyver
DeSmidt, Nathalie Rabuse, Jessica Maher, Erica Klein, Stacia Walling Driver and
Sherri Hawley.
