Skip to Main Content

“Rod Carter is the quintessential professional you want on your side, never on the opposition. He is obsessively goal-oriented, tactical, organized and quiet in his execution. He is not a braggart or arrogant, but rather an attorney you can also call your friend.”

Adam Berger, President, Doering Fleet Management

Overview

For Rod, honesty and credibility are the foundation for the strong relationships he develops with clients.

Rod has earned a reputation for skillfully steering complex business and real estate transactions to successful outcomes within the public and private sectors. Leader of the firm’s Telecommunications team, Rod represents cable operators, competitive local exchange carriers, wireless companies, broadband providers, tech companies, and communications trade associations in all aspects of infrastructure deployment​. He also represents developers and national, regional, and local retailers and advises clients in industrial, office, and multifamily real estate transactions.​

Rod has broad experience in land use planning, zoning, eminent domain, tax increment financing, leasing, and construction and design contracts. Drawing on his decades of experience in real estate and technology law, Rod is one of a handful of practitioners who has broad experience in all aspects of the data center industry.​​ ​

He brings to his work strategic vision and a collaborative approach to solving problems. Rod is an effective advocate, deeply knowledgeable about the law and practical in finding effective solutions to clients’ issues.

“Rod Carter is the quintessential professional you want on your side, never on the opposition. He is obsessively goal-oriented, tactical, organized and quiet in his execution. He is not a braggart or arrogant, but rather an attorney you can also call your friend.”

Adam Berger, President, Doering Fleet Management

Industry

Services

Recognition

  • Milwaukee Business Journal, 40 Under 40 Award Recipient, 2016
  • Martindale-Hubbell AV Preeminent

Education

  • J.D., Marquette University Law School
      • Marquette Law Review
  • B.A., Carthage College
      • Dean's List
  • American University
    • Washington Semester in National Government & Politics

Admissions

  • U.S. District Court, Eastern District of Wisconsin
  • Wisconsin
  • U.S. District Court, Western District of Wisconsin
  • U.S. District Court, Northern District of Illinois
  • U.S. Court of Appeals, Seventh Circuit

Professional Memberships and Certifications

  • State Bar of Wisconsin, Real Estate and Public Utilities Sections
  • American Bar Association, Real Property and Public Utility/Communications Law Sections
  • Federal Communications Bar Association, Midwest Chapter, Co-Director
  • International Technology Law Association
  • Wisconsin Wireless Association, Officer, Board of Directors
  • Illinois Wireless Association
  • Carthage College Alumni Council, Officer, Board of Directors
  • Commercial Association of Realtors Wisconsin
Featured Experience

All Parties Win in Deal on Telecommunications Tower

A wireless tower acquisition company sought to construct a new communications tower in Eau Claire, Wisconsin. The local planning commission denied the tower on the grounds that surrounding residential properties would be harmed, purportedly because a wireless tower already stood on the property. Rod challenged the commission in court while simultaneously negotiating removal of the existing tower, effectively resolving the court action. The settlement paved the way for the client’s tower, which could accommodate multiple carriers, and accomplished the city’s goal of limiting the number of towers on the property.


Additional Experience
  • Advised private developers and investors, lenders, municipalities and community development authorities on land use planning, zoning, eminent domain, historic tax credits, multiple and mixed-use ownership structures, tax increment financing and leasing, and construction and design contracts and disputes.
  • Represented lenders and borrowers on workouts and financial restructuring of distressed real estate projects, including retail and office centers, hotels, industrial properties and other types of commercial and multifamily real estate.
  • Advised NYSE and NASDAQ telecommunications companies on deployment of wireless digital networks, including securing government approvals, acquiring public and private land rights, and negotiating lease/co-location agreements.
  • Represented companies in negotiation/enforcement of complex commercial transactions, including network joint ventures, interconnection agreements, pole attachment agreements, co-location agreements, IRU agreements, joint trench agreements, fiber leases, and ISP and VoIP service agreements.
  • Advocated for clients before federal and state courts, the Federal Communications Commission and state public utility commissions.
  • Represented Lendlease in obtaining favorable settlement in lawsuit against the Village of Cary, Illinois. The victory paves the way for the construction of the first privately-permitted wireless tower in the Village.
  • Negotiated multiple agreements on behalf of Midwest Fiber Networks to provide fiber service to a facility in Pleasant Prairie, Wisconsin.
  • Represented Tillman Infrastructure in its real estate deployment of 35 new towers across the country.
  • Represented major wireless carrier in the deployment of traditional cell sites with 5G and small cell technologies across the country, while also negotiating with rural communities that currently have poor coverage to bring towers to their communities for internet access.
Case Studies
Microsoft Corporation

Our team assisted Microsoft in the construction of a $1 billion data center on a 315-acre parcel of land in Wisconsin.

Outside the Office

Proud husband and father.

Rod is married to a municipal lawyer and is the father of three children: a son studying computer engineering and physics at Lehigh University, a daughter studying photojournalism at the University of Missouri and a son attending Marquette University High School.

A self-proclaimed foodie who also enjoys politics, reading, music, travel and his faith, Rod is also a sports fan. In true Green Bay Packers tradition, he holds season tickets at Lambeau Field that have been in his family for multiple generations. He focuses his charitable efforts on issues involving education.

Community Leadership
  • Board of Zoning Appeals, City of Brookfield, Wisconsin
  • Carthage College Alumni Association, Officer, Board of Directors
  • Marquette University Law School Mediation Program, Teacher, Mediator and Judge
  • Marquette University Law School Alumni Association, Board of Directors, 2004-2012
Follow Rodney on Twitter