Paisley Hoffman is the Senior Associate Attorney at Nicholson Goetz & Otis, S.C., where she represents clients throughout Wisconsin in complex criminal defense, juvenile, and family law matters. Her criminal practice focuses on defending adults and juveniles accused of serious felony offenses, including child abuse allegations, sexual assault charges, homicide, and firearm-related crimes. She regularly handles juvenile waiver proceedings to adult court, advocating to protect young clients from the long-term consequences of adult convictions when the State seeks to transfer jurisdiction to adult court.
Paisley brings particular experience in abusive head trauma and shaken baby syndrome cases, work she began prior to law school with the Wisconsin Innocence Project, assisting in overturning wrongful convictions. Such cases require a deep understanding of child abuse pediatrics and the scientific research informing the allegations.
Consistent with her commitment to youth advocacy, Paisley also maintains a strong juvenile practice, representing clients in delinquency proceedings, school expulsion hearings, and CHIPS cases, with a focus on keeping young clients in their homes and communities whenever possible.
Paisley has achieved notable success in pre-charging cases, often preventing criminal charges through effective collaboration with prosecutors, investigators, and experts. Known for her strong advocacy and compassionate approach, she guides clients through the Wisconsin court system during some of their most challenging and stressful moments.
In addition to criminal defense, Paisley maintains a robust family law practice, handling matters such as divorce, paternity, and post judgment custody and placement disputes.
Paisley is frequently appointed by judges as Guardian ad Litem in Dane County and surrounding counties. Judges trust her judgment and rely on her to serve as a strong, thoughtful advocate for the best interests of children in contested family law cases.
Paisley uses her background as a Guardian ad Litem to advise her clients on steps in court and outside of court to take to improve their placement schedules. She has been particularly effective in advocating for parents with minimal placement in custody and placement disputes, achieving meaningful increases in parenting time for her clients, including through contested trials.
Paisley holds a Master of Social Work with a concentration in mental health, which enhances her ability to understand family dynamics and interpersonal relationships.
Paisley has been recognized as a Super Lawyers® Wisconsin Rising Star every year since 2020, reflecting her excellence in and out of the courtroom. Since January 2022, she has served as part-time faculty at Madison College, teaching Legal Writing and Family Law in the paralegal program.
Paisley has been awarded the Hanson Memorial Advocate’s Prize for successfully trying homicide cases and the Kuchler-Nicholson-Stilling award for successfully trying sexual assault cases.
Criminal Defense | Juvenile Delinquency | CHIPS | School Expulsion | Divorce & Paternity | Custody & Placement | Guardian ad Litem
She is a compassionate advisor and strong legal advocate in court who understand that the court process can be confusing. She takes time to understand her client’s concerns and fully explain the legal process to them. She appreciates this opportunity to help her clients through some of the most difficult times of their lives.
Prior to earning her J.D., she simultaneously worked for the Wisconsin Innocence Project—reviewing serious criminal convictions for errors—while obtaining a Master of Social Work with a concentration in mental health. This background serves her well in all areas of her practice. In criminal matters, it helps her make sense of the interpersonal relationships as well as the potential rehabilitative needs of her clients. It also helps her find creative resolutions to the legal issues facing her clients.
In family law, she makes good use of her understanding of children’s developmental needs and family dynamics. She has had particular success pursuing the rights of fathers in family court. Generally, family court matters settle short of trial, but when she has gone to trial, her clients have received significantly more placement than they had before trial.
Her ability to use her social work background and family law experience to help her clients reach their goals extends to her work in delinquency cases, where she works to keep her clients in their community.
She has had tremendous success representing individuals in child abuse cases, particularly advocating for infants to remain with their parents after suffering significant injuries. She advocates for her clients with the social worker, GAL, and judge, using her understanding of the science and the laws in child abuse pediatrics to convince prosecutors that they will not be able to successfully prosecute such cases. When she is involved during the pre-charge phase, the majority of her clients have not been criminally charged.
In one of the fastest turnaround times from law school to recognition, she was named as one of Super Lawyers’ Wisconsin Rising Stars in 2020-2023. Since January of 2022, she has served as a part-time teacher for the paralegal program at Madison College.
