Denasha Scott didn’t always aspire to be an attorney, but once she set her mind on becoming one, she kept one key goal in mind – helping people.
“Finding ways as part of my practice to give back to the community and find ways to help people is really important to me,” said Scott, a partner in the office of Stafford Rosenbaum LLP. “The thing I find most rewarding about my job is that it allows me to help people – not only the individuals, charitable organizations and businesses that are my clients but also the greater community.”
In recognition of the contributions she has made in building relationships with the Greater Milwaukee Foundation and helping her clients create charitable funds for the benefit of the community, the Foundation awarded Scott with its 2026 Herbert J. Mueller Outstanding Professional Adviser of the Year Award. The award was named after attorney Herbert Mueller, who, by the time of his death in 2001 at 91, had encouraged his clients to partner with the Foundation to start and grow more than a dozen funds with gifts totaling nearly $50 million.
“Denasha has been a strong advocate and thoughtful partner to the Foundation for many years,” said Emanuel Rios, the Foundation’s director of gift planning. “Through both her professional work and personal community involvement, she has consistently demonstrated a commitment to strengthening philanthropy and advancing meaningful impact throughout the greater Milwaukee community.”
Scott has a longstanding history with and appreciation for the Foundation, stretching back to the early years of her legal career. After graduating from law school at the University of Wisconsin-Madison in 1997, she began her legal career as an associate at the Milwaukee office of Cook & Franke S.C., one of Wisconsin’s oldest law firms at the time. Harry Franke, one of the firm’s partners and a prominent civic leader and philanthropist, took her under his wing.
Franke had a donor advised fund at the Foundation and had recently completed his term on the Foundation’s Board. Scott joined Franke at Foundation events and became acquainted with several Foundation staff and Board members.
“He was somebody who really believed in his community and giving back,” said Scott, who worked at the firm for 14 years. “He said if I was a lawyer in Milwaukee, I better know about the Greater Milwaukee Foundation.”
Scott specializes in estate planning, business planning and succession planning and charitable law. She said her practice affords her many opportunities to help both her clients and the greater community in her own way.
“Sometimes that means providing advice directly to a charitable organization that benefits our community. Sometimes that means helping a client who is interested in philanthropy. Sometimes that means doing my part as an estate planning attorney to help an individual or family get through a stressful time. And sometimes that means helping a local business with business planning and succession planning so that hopefully that business will continue to be a thriving part of our community,” Scott said.
As she advanced in her legal career, it didn’t take long for her to learn about the advantages that the Foundation could bring to her clients.
“A community foundation really has their pulse on what is going on in the community and is a potential solution to a lot of things that clients would like,” said Scott, who is involved with several private foundations and area nonprofits, such as the Jane Bradley Petitt Foundation and Friends of Boerner Botanical Gardens. “I feel like you add so much value in terms of how you bring people together.”
Scott has become a valued ambassador and partner of the Foundation, Rios said. She has referred several clients and has consistently championed the Foundation as a philanthropic partner for individuals, families and nonprofits. Her referrals have included clients who established a charitable fund valued at more than $200,000, as well as clients who established a $50,000 fund alongside a documented $5 million legacy promise through their estate plans. She also has encouraged several nonprofits to start endowment funds.
Over the past 30 years, as the Foundation’s work has deepened and evolved, so too has Scott’s relationship with the Foundation. She participated in the Foundation’s inaugural Young Professional Adviser Council in 2018 (now known as the Community Adviser and Ambassador Network), returned as a guest speaker for the 2020 CAAN cohort and served as a panelist for a 2025 seminar for fellow professional advisers. More recently, Denasha participated in the Foundation's strategic planning sessions, helping contribute perspective and feedback that will help shape the future direction of the Foundation and its work within the community.
“Denasha has helped connect donors with meaningful charitable giving opportunities that will benefit the community for generations to come,” Rios said.