Ruth J. Irvings, a founding shareholder of Nelson, Irvings & Waeffler, concentrates her practice in estate planning. She works with individuals and couples to understand their goals, educate them on their options, present alternatives based on the most up-to-date techniques, and craft plans that meet their current and future needs. Her goal is to make the process comprehensible and satisfying to her clients and produce a high-quality result. Her practice includes will and trusts; estate and gift tax planning; business succession planning; advance planning for illness and incapacity; and trust administration. She also handles domestic partnership and parentage planning, and domestic partnership dissolution matters.

Ruth has an undergraduate degree from Brandeis University, magna cum laude, Phi Beta Kappa, and a J.D. from Stanford Law School in 1975. She joined Legal Action of Wisconsin as an attorney after law school, and served as its Executive Director from 1982 until 1990 when she entered private practice.

Throughout her career, Ruth has been involved with community and bar organizations. She is one of the founding members and a past President of Sojourner Truth House, Milwaukee’s first shelter for battered women. She has served on the Board of Directors of the Mental Health Association in Milwaukee, the Milwaukee Jewish Council, and Milestones Programs for Children. She received the Liberty Bell Award for service to the public, the legal community, and the organization, from the Milwaukee Young Lawyers Association. She was elected to serve on the Milwaukee Judicial Selection Committee, and served on both the Milwaukee and State Bar of Wisconsin Professionalism Committees. She currently serves on the boards of Fair Wisconsin Education Fund and the Jewish Home and Care Center Foundation.

In addition to working with clients, Ruth speaks regularly to professional and community groups on estate and domestic partnership planning issues. She is a member of the Real Property, Probate & Trust and the Elder Law sections of the State Bar of Wisconsin and the Estate and Trust section of the Milwaukee Bar Association. She has an AV Peer Review Rating from Martindale -Hubbell, awarded to lawyers recognized for the highest levels of skill and integrity, and has been included in the peer-rated Best Lawyers in America in estate planning.