About Mary L.
Mary L. Poletti practices law in Wisconsin and Virginia. She built her legal foundation at Taylor University, where she earned a B.A. in English and Pre-Law in 1977. She went on to receive her J.D. from Washington and Lee University School of Law in 1987. Those academic steps set the stage for a career that blends courtroom work, dispute resolution and local public service.
Her early professional timeline includes work as a certified arbitrator beginning in 1992. That credential led to recurring roles in alternative dispute resolution. She served as a mediator for the Kenosha Circuit Court Mediation Program in 2009, handling court-referred mediations and helping parties explore negotiated outcomes. In 2017 she returned to the mock-trial arena as a scoring judge for the regional competition in Wisconsin, contributing to legal education and community outreach.
Poletti has also engaged in local government matters. She became a member of the Kenosha Board of Zoning Appeals in 2011 and continues on that board. That position involves hearing land-use appeals and interpreting local zoning ordinances, work that draws on both legal analysis and public-facing decision-making.
Her bar affiliations span two states. She holds memberships in the State Bar of Wisconsin and the Virginia State Bar, and she is active in the American Bar Association. Locally, she belongs to the Kenosha Bar Association and the Racine Bar Association, where she participates in the Family Law Committee. Those memberships reflect a mix of professional development and subject-matter activity.
Outside of strictly legal circles, Poletti serves on the board of the Burlington Senior Center and is involved in her church community at Crossway Community Church. These roles indicate ongoing ties to civic life in the communities where she practices.
She is a named partner at Nickolai & Poletti, LLC, where she maintains a practice that includes family law matters, mediation and zoning-related issues. Her work combines adjudicative roles, dispute resolution, and service on local boards.
Poletti continues to practice law in the Midwest and maintains professional ties to Virginia while handling family law, mediation and zoning matters in her current practice.
