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Benesch/Dann Pecar
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In 2010, Wendy Brewer took a calculated risk. She left Indianapolis law firm Barnes & Thornburg, where she’d been a partner for five years, to join the new firm of Benesch/Dann Pecar.
“The headhunters came calling, and I thought it was a good opportunity,” said Brewer, who now leads 20 attorneys as vice chairwoman of the Business Reorganization Practice Group.
As a specialist in bankruptcy law and creditors’ rights, she counsels national and regional clients, and is certified as a business bankruptcy specialist. She also made the lists of Indiana Super Lawyers in her specialty for four straight years (2008-2011) and The Best Lawyers in America (2010 and 2011).
“There’s a lot of reward in doing something and doing it well.”
Was focusing on bankruptcy, creditors and debtors a lifelong dream? Brewer laughs. “I avoided all that stuff in law school,” which was at Florida State University, where she was inducted into the Order of Coif, an honor society for law school graduates.
She started out doing insurance defense litigation in Orlando. When she joined a practice in Tallahassee, she got her marching orders to develop a creditors’ rights practice for the firm.
“It really wasn’t ever a choice of mine, but I love it now,” she said.
When she’s not working, she and her husband, WISH-TV Channel 8 meteorologist Ken Brewer, are busy with their two children and their activities, swimming and Scouts.
“You just have to figure out when something’s important,” she said.
What’s also important to her is the not-for-profit Partners and Housing Development Corp., of which she is board chairman.
“It’s affordable housing that has support services tied to it, because that’s usually what residents need to maintain stable living arrangements,” she said.
She also worked on the transition team for Indianapolis Mayor Greg Ballard.
She likes to keep busy.
“I can’t help it,” she said, laughing.•
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