In the Community

Kay Biga is expanding her role at the Spott Law Office.  She recently completed twenty years of service at UW-Superior, retiring as an Associate Professor of Management and Business Law.  Although she will miss working with students, Kay is excited to spend more time working with the clients at the Spott Law Office

Biga is also a Rule 114 Qualified Neutral Mediator and is available to provide mediation services in both business and family matters.

Mediator and attorney Kay Biga started her year as President of the Duluth Superior Eco Rotary on July 1, 2017.  Biga was a founding member of the Club in 2008.  The Duluth Superior Eco Rotary Club is a service organization committed to enhancing and preserving our region's natural beauty and resources through hands-on service projects.  The Club offers a great opportunity to network with and meet fun, energetic community leaders who have a passion for the environment and improve our region, meeting the first, second and fourth Tuesday of each month from 4:45 pm to 5:45 pm at Blackwood's on London Road.  

Mediator and business attorney Kay Biga has been promoted to Associate Professor at the University of Wisconsin Superior.  Biga has taught at the University of Wisconsin Superior since 1998, teaching a variety of management and business law classes.  She has also published a number of journal articles, including "Smart Hiring in the Hospitality Industry: Legal and Business Perspectives" in the American Journal of Management.  Her articles are available through Google Scholar.

Business attorney and mediator Patrick Spott presented on vocational opportunities in law to high school students as part of the 2017 Mentoring Day.  Mentoring Day is a local version of the National Disability Mentoring Day which is organized by the American Association of People with Disabilities (AAPD).  It has occurred regionally as “Rocketing into the Future”, under the leadership of the Northern Lights Special Education Cooperative (NLSEC) since 1992.   In October of 2008, with a grant from the Department of Employment and Economic Development (DEED), the NLSEC was asked to host Minnesota Disability Mentoring Day at the DECC.  The 2008 event was so successful that the AAPD made the 2009 event their 10th Anniversary National Kick-off event.  More than 800 students, parents and teachers from regional schools as well as more than 70 area businesses participated in that event.

Business attorney and mediator Patrick Spott helped design and is teaching a graduate coure in conflict resolution, coaching and negotiation at the College of St. Scholastica in Spring 2017.  The course is titled MGT 6310 Conflict, Negotiation, and Coaching the Client Group and is part of the College's Master in Business Administration in Leadership and Change.  The outcomes of that MBA program include the following:

Exercise critical thinking and high level reasoning through effective oral and written communication skills.
Identify competing values, behaviors, and assumptions that are relevant to the effective implementation of proposed change initiatives.
Analyze, design, and deliver effective change-based interventions and strategies in an ever-changing global environment.
Describe and explain to the client system the cultural context that affects a proposed change initiative.

Business attorney and mediator Patrick Spott recently completed an advanced Organization Development Course entitled MGT 6405 Wholeness, OD, and Everything taught by Bob Hartl and Dr. Alla Heorhiadi.  The course is part of the College of St. Scholastica's Master of Business Administration in Leadership and Change program.  Spott is enrolled in that MBA program.  This training will build on Spott's previous experience and training as a mediator and allow him to more effectively advise business clients.

Business attorney and mediator Patrick Spott took and eight week Communicating Across Cultural Boundaries course from Bob Hartl at the College of St. Scholastica.  This course prepares students to develop and direct employees using culturally sensitive interpersonal communication. The course incorporates theory with practice and helps students develop the awareness and skills necessary to manage effectively across cultures in both the domestic and global workplace.  This training will build on Spott's previous experience and training as a mediator.

Business attorney and mediator Patrick Spott is teaching Legal Aspects of Management to undergraduates in the School of Business and Technology of the College of St. Scholastica during the Fall Semester of 2016. Legal Aspects of Management deals with the nature and functions of law with emphasis on applications in economics, marketing and management.  The Course includes contracts and business entities and the regulation of business under federal and state administrative agencies.

Business attorney and mediator Patrick Spott kicked of Leadership Duluth 2016-17 on September 14, 2016 with a presentation on networking and personal relations. Leadership Duluth is our community’s premier leadership development program. Designed to identify, orient, develop and network existing and emerging leaders, Leadership Duluth inspires participants to take an active role in ensuring the health and prosperity of our area.
A program of the Duluth Area Chamber of Commerce, Leadership Duluth's mission is to identify, educate and inspire leaders to serve our community. Participants will collaborate with each other and area leaders to determine and define the components of a healthy community. Through a series of educational and hands-on opportunities, participants will come to understand the inner-workings of these components and how they contribute to the Duluth area’s overall health. Finally, in response to Leadership Duluth’s call to action, participants will be asked to share their personal and business intentions for the future.
Program objectives are to educate participants about Duluth’s cultural and business history, as well as the current issues facing the region. Invite participants to work together to foster and facilitate positive change in their workplaces and in the community. Equip participants with skills that will assist them in being more effective leaders in the workplace and in the community. Finally, the program seeks to motivate participants to pursue active leadership within those causes with which they identify.
Attorney and mediator Patrick Spott is a graduate of Leadership Duluth and actively participates in Duluth Area Chamber of Commerce initiatives and programs.

Business attorney and mediator Patrick Spott is part of the team developing a competency based Bachelor of Science in Business Administration degree offered through University of Wisconsin Extension.  Led by partnerships throughout the UW System and UW-Extension, the UW Flexible Option draws upon the expertise of UW faculty to offer a more personalized, convenient, and affordable way for adults and other nontraditional students to earn a University of Wisconsin degree or certificate.  The UW Flexible Option’s self-directed, competency-based degree and certificate programs lets the student start any month, work at the student's own pace, and earn credit using existing knowledge you—whether that knowledge was gained through prior coursework, military training, on-the-job training, or other learning experiences.  Unlike traditional semester-based classroom and online programs, the UW Flexible Option awards credit based on competency, not class time. The student makes progress by passing a series of assessments—tests, papers, and other projects—that prove the student has mastered competencies—the skills and knowledge identified by UW faculty as essential to the chosen degree or certificate. As soon as the student demonstrates mastery of an area, credit is earned and the student moves on to the next competency and assessment.