Creating the job as he goes: New business model breeds CEO role at whyte hirschboeck. (In focus).(conduct of life for Mark Miller, new CEO at Whyte Hirschboeck Dudek S.C.)

Making the move from a five-person family law practice in a town of 700 to a corporate culture: of more than 100 attorneys in a metropolitan area may seem like a giant leap for some lawyers.

Indeed, Mark Miller, 44, newly appointed chief executive officer for Milwaukee law firm Whyte Hirschboeck Dudek S.C., did experience a cultural change when he left his family's practice in his home town of St. Nazianz to join the firm's Manitowoc office as managing director in 1994.

But the transition was easier, Miller said, because "one standard was the same for both firms -- we both put our clients first" he said.

The only big difference was in the type of clients. His family's firm dealt with large farms statewide and concentrated on agricultural business law.

Miller worked at the family firm from 1983 until 1991. He started to practice on his own after his father died and his brother left law practice, but the agricultural economy was struggling and he wanted to expand his corporate practice. So Miller joined White Hirschboeck Dudek's office in Manitowoc, where he has specialized in corporate, trust and estate law.

In addition to his …