Seven Kutak Rock attorneys are featured in Attorney at Law Magazine in an issue titled "Athletes in Law" highlighting former athletes who learned lessons from their sports that helped them become attorneys. John Bales (Denver), Kyle Heffley (Rogers), Jeff Makovicka (Omaha), Clete Samson (Omaha), Brett Bruneteau (Omaha), Katie Brane (Denver), and Heather Puckette (Denver) are featured as attorneys who enjoyed successful, collegiate athletic careers. Click below to read their full profile:

• John Bales (pg. 16)
• Kyle Heffley (pg. 13)
• Jeff Makovicka (pg. 13)
• Clete Samson (pg. 12)
• Brett Bruneteau (pg. 15)
• Katie Crane (pg. 17)
• Heather Puckette (pg. 15)

Click here to view the entire issue.

John, a former college swimmer, serves as bond counsel, disclosure counsel, borrower's counsel and underwriter's counsel on transactions involving the issuance of a variety of debt instruments.

Kyle, a former college football and baseball player, is a litigation partner in the firm's Rogers, Arkansas office who practices real estate, product liability, tort law and personal injury.

Jeff, a former national champion college football player, concentrates on banking matters and represents banking and other financial institutions and their boards of directors on the strategic, policy and regulatory aspects of mergers and acquisitions, joint ventures, establishing subsidiaries (operating or otherwise), capital raises, restructuring transactions and investments by and in banking organizations. He also counsels individuals, private equity firms and others seeking to invest in regulated financial institutions. He regularly advises financial institutions on compliance and enforcement issues with respect to a broad range of governance, risk management, affiliate transactions, regulatory capital, consumer, Community Reinvestment Act and other matters, including representation before federal and state regulatory and enforcement agencies. He also represents clients in structured finance transactions, including issuers in credit card securitizations.

Clete, a former college football and basketball player, is a nationally respected crisis response lawyer and focuses his practice on employment law, immigration law, worksite and regulatory compliance, and commercial litigation. Before joining Kutak Rock in 2016, he served the United States for seven years as a federal trial attorney for the U.S. Department of Homeland Security. There, he gained extensive trial experience prosecuting hundreds, if not thousands, of removal cases with underlying criminal and immigration elements. He has extensive knowledge of the Immigration and Nationality Act and the Immigration Reform and Control Act of 1986, including the civil and criminal penalties for hiring and employing individuals without employment authorization, worksite enforcement, and other related issues.

Brett is a former college hockey player whose practice covers an extensive range of transactional and business law matters. These matters include mergers and acquisitions (M&A), corporate governance, securities filings, entity formation, business structuring, banking operations, private equity, venture capital, compliance, corporate finance, general contracts, and other business-related issues. In addition, Brett works closely with clients to negotiate, review, and draft documents. In his efforts, he collaborates with all members of the Kutak Rock law firm to carry out and deliver on each client’s individual legal needs.

Katie is a former college softball player whose practice centers on complex real estate and real estate financing transactions. She represents developers, lenders, community land trusts and other investors in a variety of transactions including acquiring, selling, exchanging, leasing, financing and developing commercial real estate. She has counseled clients in numerous multifamily property acquisitions and dispositions, condominium and planned community formation, leasing and ground leasing.

Heather, a former college rower, has a range of experience in commercial real estate transactions, financing, and leasing. She regularly negotiates and reviews transactional and financing documents in connection with the sale, acquisition, financing, and disposition of commercial real estate. Additionally, Heather has experience in leasing, regularly reviewing and negotiating retail, office and commercial leases.