E-Mail: jbratkiewicz@sbslaw.net
Jeff joined Siegel, Barnett & Schutz in July of 2009 and represents clients in civil litigation in state and federal courts in South Dakota, Nebraska, and Iowa. Jeff is based in the Sioux Falls office, and his practice areas include: medical and legal malpractice defense; insurance and personal-injury defense; construction and contract litigation; civil-rights defense; appeals; and representing individuals and businesses in resolving sales, use, and excise tax disputes at both the State and local level.
Jeff completed his undergraduate studies at South Dakota State University in 1997 and earned his law degree from the University of South Dakota School of Law in 2000. After law school, he spent two years clerking for the Honorable Lyle E. Strom, a Senior United States District Court Judge in Omaha, Nebraska. Before joining Siegel, Barnett & Schutz, Jeff practiced for six years as a litigator with another Sioux Falls law firm. Jeff’s civil litigation experience includes trial and motions practice in state and federal court, depositions, administrative trials and hearings, and participation in oral arguments before the South Dakota Supreme Court and Eighth Circuit Court of Appeals. He has helped to obtain favorable outcomes for clients in a broad array of cases, including representing taxpayers in challenging State and local sales, use, and excise tax assessments; defending physicians and clinics in medical malpractice claims; and representing individuals and business in commercial and contract disputes. Jeff has also acted as lead or co-counsel in successfully defending governmental entities and officials in more than 30 civil-rights cases in state and federal court, and has been invited to speak at law enforcement training sessions and risk management seminars on the subject of correctional and law-enforcement liability. In 2008, Jeff was invited to present at a national conference for state risk and insurance managers where he spoke on the impact of federal legislation called the Religious Land Use and Institutionalized Persons Act (RLUIPA) on how inmate and prisoner civil rights claims are defended. In addition to his experience defending civil-rights claims, Jeff is currently the legal counsel for the South Dakota Certification Board for Alcohol and Drug Professionals, which is the state administrative agency that licenses and regulates chemical-dependency treatment professionals. His work for government entities has also included serving as an interim prosecutor for the South Dakota Board of Pardons and Paroles.
Jeff was born and raised in Sioux City, Iowa, and is proud to be married to native South Dakotan Heidi (Schumacher), who grew up in the Eureka/Long Lake area. Jeff and Heidi live in Sioux Falls and have one son, Sam.
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