Mike Leonard

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Leaders in Law endorses Mike Leonard as our exclusively recommended Criminal Law expert in Illinois, USA. If you wish to get in touch with Mike use the contact information provided above.

Mike is a nationally recognized trial lawyer who has successfully tried to verdict a wide variety of cases in Federal and State courts across the country. He is a “go-to” trial lawyer who has represented individuals in single plaintiff actions; individuals and companies in class and collective actions; some of the nation’s and region’s largest corporations; and individuals in Federal and State criminal trials.

Mike has been recognized as a top trial lawyer and commercial and criminal litigator by the following: The National Trial Lawyers; America’s Best Attorneys; Super Lawyers; Leading Lawyers Network; American Institute of Criminal Law Attorneys; and Crain’s Chicago Business.

Mike’s extraordinarily diverse practice has seen him successfully take to verdict cases ranging from securities fraud, employment discrimination, sexual harassment, breach of contract, ERISA, personal injury, and Federal and State criminal matters, among others.

Mike has also arbitrated a wide variety of cases, including international arbitration. Many of his cases have been the subject of national and local media attention, stirring recognition in publications ranging from the Wall Street Journal to the Chicago Tribune, Chicago Sun Times, Los Angeles Times, CBS News, Law 360, and Chicago Daily Law Bulletin.

Mike has a keen interest in the craft and science of trial practice, and he is a frequent lecturer on trial and litigation related subjects. He is an instructor in Northwestern School of Law’s prestigious trial practice program, where he has also coached some of its Mock Trial teams.

Notable Experience

Obtained not guilty verdict on behalf of his client on all charges brought pursuant to 18 U.S.C. § 922, after a jury trial in prosecution brought by the United States Attorneys’ Office for the Northern District of Illinois.

Obtained an arbitration award in favor of LeonardMeyer’s client with the Arbitrator finding that, contrary to Respondent’s position, the client’s business actually constituted a “franchise” under applicable State law – and that his franchise had been terminated improperly.  Arbitrator entered a total Award in favor of LeonardMeyer’s client in excess of 1.2 million dollars.

Obtained a jury verdict in favor of his client, the former President of the Chicago police union, in a whistleblower and retaliation lawsuit in the Circuit Court of Cook County.

Obtained a six-figure jury verdict for his client, a famed Chicago chef, in a breach of contract action in the Circuit Court of Cook County.

Obtained a directed verdict for his client, a shareholder and alleged co-owner of mining companies, on all Counts after a week long trial in the Circuit Court of Cook County.

Obtained a not guilty jury verdict on behalf of his client on all Count in a Federal criminal prosecution
in the United States District Court for the Northern District of Illinois, arising out of alleged violations of the Federal Controlled Substances Act.

Obtained a not guilty jury verdict on behalf of his client – an Illinois attorney – on all Count in a Federal criminal prosecution in the United States District Court for the Northern District of Illinois, arising out of alleged wire fraud in connection with the attorney’s role at the closing of multiple condominium sale transactions.

Obtained a finding of no liability on all counts for his client – a placement agent – in a civil securities bench trial in Illinois State court.

Obtained a ruling in favor of his doctor clients in Indiana State court in a matter arising from non-compete and breach of fiduciary duty issues.

Obtained a finding in favor of his client on all counts in a sexual harassment case before the Illinois Human Rights Commission.

Obtained a jury verdict in favor of his client in an age discrimination case in the United States District Court for the District of Kansas

Obtained a jury verdict in favor of his client in a sexual harassment case in the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia.

Obtained a jury verdict in favor of his client in an case involving age, national origin, and retaliation in the United States District Court for the Northern District of Illinois.

Obtained an Award in favor of his client in an international arbitration, arising out of breach of contract/failure to pay wages/discrimination.

Obtained a not guilty jury verdict on behalf of his client on all Count in a Federal criminal prosecution
in the United States District Court for the Northern District of Illinois, arising out of a charged Conspiracy.

Obtained a not guilty jury verdict on behalf of his client in a Federal criminal prosecution in the United States District Court for the Northern District of Illinois, arising out of alleged violations of Federal drug laws.

Obtained a not guilty jury verdict in favor of his client, who had been detained for seven years, in a pro bono State Court murder trial.

Obtained a jury verdict in favor of his client in case arising out of the sale of land and for fraud in the Circuit Court of Kane County, Illinois.

Obtained a jury verdict in favor of his client in breach of contract action in the Circuit Court of Lake County, Illinois.

Obtained a verdict in favor of his client in a bench trial involving claims arising out of a change of control agreement in the United States District Court for the Northern District of Illinois.

Obtained a favorable verdict for his client in an ERISA bench trial in the United States District Court for the Northern District of Illinois.

Obtained an eight figure settlement arising out of whistleblower actions filed in Federal and State courts in Illinois, California, and Florida, against a major pharmacy benefits manager.

Obtained a substantial settlement on behalf of his client in a Federal district court action in Boston, arising out of alleged billing fraud.

Obtained a multi-million dollar settlement arising out of a shareholders’ derivative action in Federal court in Houston.

Mike has argued before the United States Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit on numerous occasions, and he has also argued before the United States Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit, the Idaho Supreme Court, the Illinois Appellate Court, and the California Court of Appeals.

Practice Areas

  • Federal Criminal 50%
  • Employment 20%
  • Whistleblower 20%
  • Commercial Litigation 10%

Bar Admissions

  • Illinois, 1991
  • U.S. District Court Northern District of Illinois
  • U.S. Court of Appeals 10th Circuit
  • U.S. Court of Appeals 7th Circuit
  • U.S. Supreme Court
  • U.S. Court of Appeals 3rd Circuit
  • U.S. Court of Appeals 6th Circuit
  • U.S. Court of Appeals 9th Circuit

Honors

  • International Human Rights Law Group Pro Bono Service Award
  • Super Lawyers
  • Leading Lawyers
  • America’s Top Trial Lawyers
  • Criminal Defense Top 10

Eductation

JD, Loyola University Chicago School of Law, 1991

BA, University of Iowa, 1988

Bar Admission

Illinois, 1991

Firm Description:

An Experienced And Nationally Recognized Legal Team

The attorneys at Leonard Trial Lawyers have successfully tried to jury verdict a wide variety of cases in Federal and State courts across the country. Considered “go-to” trial lawyers, they regularly represent individuals and entities in connection with Federal criminal prosecutions and investigations, as well as individuals and classes in employment, whistleblower, qui tam(False Claims Act), and commercial cases.

As a “Federal attorney,” Mike Leonard is believed to be the only presently practicing attorney who has obtained six of more complete not guilty jury verdicts on all counts and charges in Federal criminal jury trials brought by the United States Attorneys’ Office for the Northern District of Illinois.  His record of success in civil jury trials has been equally impressive. Many of Mike’s cases and representations have been the subject of national and local media attention, in publications including the Wall Street Journal, Chicago Tribune, Chicago Sun-Times, Los Angeles Times, CBS News, Law 360, and the Chicago Daily Law Bulletin. Mike is particularly known and recognized for his cross-examination skills, and his creative and exhaustive trial preparation.

At Leonard Trial Lawyers, we take full advantage of innovative technologies increasingly available to trial lawyers. We examine the circumstances surrounding each case and distill complex facts into straightforward, persuasive narratives with the utmost efficiency. Our approach is to set objectives in concert with our clients and focus on linchpin issues from day one. We’ve tried more than 75 cases in venues across the United States. Our legal team welcomes the opportunity to advocate on your behalf.

 

Robert M. Fishman

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Leaders in Law endorses Robert Fishman as our exclusively recommended Insolvency Law expert in Illinois, USA. If you wish to get in touch with Robert please use the contact information provided above.

Bob represents trustees, debtors, equity committees, secured and unsecured creditors, receivers and asset buyers and litigants in various insolvency proceedings, including informal out-of-court workouts. His clients range from health care, telecommunications, manufacturing service providers, to those in the real estate, retail, transportation, and financial services sectors. Bob served as the fee examiner in the City of Detroit, Michigan Chapter 9 case, and has acted as a fee examiner in other bankruptcy cases. As a bankruptcy mediator, he regularly handles a range of traditional two-party matters, including preference, fraudulent conveyance, and automatic stay disputes, as well as broader plan mediations involving all of the significant parties in interest in the case.

Bob was selected as a fellow of the American College of Bankruptcy in 1998, and served as the Seventh Circuit’s representative on the College Board of Regents and as a member of the College’s Board of Directors. He was president, chairman, and vice president of education of the American Bankruptcy Institute, and in 2018, he received the ABI’s Lifetime Achievement Award. He has been recognized by Chambers USA for Bankruptcy and Restructuring, Illinois, and Best Lawyers for Bankruptcy and Creditor Debtor Rights and Insolvency and Reorganization Law in Illinois.

Bob earned his J.D. from George Washington University School of Law in 1979.  He earned his B.A. from the University of Illinois in 1976.

Firm Description:

Ranked among the top 100 law firms in the country, Cozen O’Connor has more than 750 attorneys in 28 cities across two continents. We are a full-service firm with nationally recognized practices in litigation, business law, and government relations, and our attorneys have experience operating in all sectors of the economy. Our diverse client list includes global Fortune 500 companies, middle-market firms poised for growth, ambitious startups, and high-profile individuals.

In an industry built on talk, Cozen O’Connor has made its name by doing. We have built our firm one case, one victory at a time. Our attorneys have impeccable academic credentials and are able to combine intellectual rigor with practicality and efficiency. We provide sophisticated, business-minded advice aimed at one simple goal: getting the right result for our clients. No matter how complex, contentious, or critical the undertaking, we persevere until the job is done.

What you’ve built, we can defend. What you envision, we can help construct.

Business Law. The firm serves as a trusted adviser and lead dealmaker on behalf of an impressive roster of national and international corporate clients. Our attorneys are recognized as among the country’s most practical and creative corporate practitioners. Rarely is the path from point A to point B a straight line, so our role is to find alternatives, devise workable strategies, and keep projects moving forward to completion. Cozen O’Connor’s business attorneys help clients achieve their goals with respect to mergers and acquisitions, venture capital, intellectual property, real estate, energy and environment, securities, tax, transportation & trade, employee benefits and executive compensation, bankruptcy, public and project finance, insurance corporate and regulatory and health law.

Litigation. Cozen O’Connor’s historical roots are in litigation, and we are widely known as one of the top trial firms in the country. This firm has more attorneys in the American College of Trial Lawyers and more attorneys who have led major trials than any other comparably sized firm. Our long track record of aggressive and innovative advocacy gives us an edge both in court and in negotiations. We have experience resolving many types of disputes, including in the areas of complex commercial litigation, intellectual property, labor & employment, securities, antitrust, product liability, aviation, construction, insurance claims & litigation, and criminal defense and government investigations.

Government Relations. Cozen O’Connor Public Strategies is a bipartisan government relations firm based in Washington, D.C., with strength through the mid-Atlantic region. The group serves clients on the federal, state and local level and before both the executive and legislative branches of government. Public Strategies professionals have held high-level political positions in Republican and Democratic administrations; worked for members of Congress and congressional and state committees; and run federal, state and local political campaigns. The team helps ensure that clients are seen and heard by key decision makers, and provides critical crisis management and public relations counsel.

 

Larry Soldinger

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Leaders in Law endorses Larry Soldinger as our exclusively recommended Audit & Assurance Services expert in Illinois, USA. If you wish to get in touch with Larry please use the contact information provided above.

Larry Soldinger founded L J Soldinger Associates (“LJSA”), a full service international certified public accounting firm in 1989, and currently serves as the firm’s managing partner. He has spent his career evaluating companies, negotiating and structuring transactions, and assisting in obtaining funding for his clients. He has numerous business contacts throughout the world and provides international financial and accounting services to his many clients. LJSA is a firm highly regarded for its consulting services on mergers and acquisitions and auditing and accounting services to both privately held and publicly held companies. The firm is well known and respected for its traditional accounting services as well as for a variety of other non-traditional business consulting services, including corporate planning, budgeting, forensic accounting, workout and turnaround services and cash and pre-cash crisis management. LJSA is international in scope and represents clients in numerous industries, whether public or private, foreign or domestic.

Larry began his accounting career in 1973 and received B.B.A. degrees in both Accounting and Finance from the University of Wisconsin-Madison. From 1992 through 2010 he also served as Executive Chairman and CEO of Cosentino Signature Wineries, plc, a family controlled business owning three Napa Valley wineries and two more located in Lodi, California. He is married to his childhood sweetheart, Edie, and has two adult sons, Ben and Shane.

Firm Description:

L J Soldinger Associates is a mid-size firm that is a recognized leader in the field of accounting, assurance, tax, forensic accounting and business consulting services.  We are proud to be among an elite group of certified public accounting firms to have received a “no comment letter” on all aspects of our firm in every review conducted by the AICPA’s Quality Review Program.  Our firm maintains these high standards, which has afforded us this recognition every year since the inception of this program.  With only a handful of firms in the entire country receiving such honor, you can be assured we offer a quality of service that is unmatched.

Background

L J Soldinger Associates, founded in 1989, is a full-service certified public accounting firm with its headquarters in the suburbs of Chicago, Illinois.

LJSA prides itself on quality work, creativity, and client service.  In addition to providing traditional audit, review and tax engagements for numerous private and public companies, the firm is highly regarded for its business consulting services, especially in the areas of mergers and acquisitions and forensic accounting.

LJSA is registered with the Public Company Accounting Oversight Board and is a member of the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants’ Center for Audit Quality.  The firm has performed numerous audits for public companies and has worked on the preparation of a variety of registration statements that have been filed with the SEC.

Global Presence

LJSA currently services international clients in the United States, Europe, Mexico, Canada, South East Asia and the Far East.

Find out how L J Soldinger Associates can help you gain a distinct advantage by contacting us today at 847.726.8100.

L J SOLDINGER TIED FOR 4TH IN THE WORLD IN SEC NET ENGAGEMENT LEADERS IN THE 4TH QUARTER 2019!

 

Larry Soldinger

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Larry Soldinger founded L J Soldinger Associates (“LJSA”), a full service international certified public accounting firm in 1989, and currently serves as the firm’s managing partner. He has spent his career evaluating companies, negotiating and structuring transactions, and assisting in obtaining funding for his clients. He has numerous business contacts throughout the world and provides international financial and accounting services to his many clients. LJSA is a firm highly regarded for its consulting services on mergers and acquisitions and auditing and accounting services to both privately held and publicly held companies. The firm is well known and respected for its traditional accounting services as well as for a variety of other non-traditional business consulting services, including corporate planning, budgeting, forensic accounting, workout and turnaround services and cash and pre-cash crisis management. LJSA is international in scope and represents clients in numerous industries, whether public or private, foreign or domestic.

Larry began his accounting career in 1973 and received B.B.A. degrees in both Accounting and Finance from the University of Wisconsin-Madison. From 1992 through 2010 he also served as Executive Chairman and CEO of Cosentino Signature Wineries, plc, a family controlled business owning three Napa Valley wineries and two more located in Lodi, California. He is married to his childhood sweetheart, Edie, and has two adult sons, Ben and Shane.

FIRM DESCRIPTION

L J Soldinger Associates is a mid-size firm that is a recognized leader in the field of accounting, assurance, tax, forensic accounting and business consulting services.  We are proud to be among an elite group of certified public accounting firms to have received a “no comment letter” on all aspects of our firm in every review conducted by the AICPA’s Quality Review Program.  Our firm maintains these high standards, which has afforded us this recognition every year since the inception of this program.  With only a handful of firms in the entire country receiving such honor, you can be assured we offer a quality of service that is unmatched.

Background

L J Soldinger Associates, founded in 1989, is a full-service certified public accounting firm with its headquarters in the suburbs of Chicago, Illinois.

LJSA prides itself on quality work, creativity, and client service.  In addition to providing traditional audit, review and tax engagements for numerous private and public companies, the firm is highly regarded for its business consulting services, especially in the areas of mergers and acquisitions and forensic accounting.

LJSA is registered with the Public Company Accounting Oversight Board and is a member of the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants’ Center for Audit Quality.  The firm has performed numerous audits for public companies and has worked on the preparation of a variety of registration statements that have been filed with the SEC.

Global Presence

LJSA currently services international clients in the United States, Europe, Mexico, Canada, South East Asia and the Far East.

Find out how L J Soldinger Associates can help you gain a distinct advantage by contacting us today at 847.726.8100.

Michael J. Baum

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Michael J. Baum is Co-Chair of the firm’s Chicago Real Estate Practice. He focuses his practice on domestic and cross-border real estate transactions.

Michael represents clients in connection with the sponsorship, formation and implementation of U.S. and international (primary focus in Mexico and Brazil) real estate opportunity funds, joint ventures, acquisitions, developments, financings, leasing and dispositions of multi-family, industrial, office, retail and resort properties.

He also represents both financial institutions and borrowers in connection with construction, mezzanine and general secured real estate financings. Recently, Michael has advised these clients in relation to loan workouts, partnership restructurings and other business reorganizations.

The Real Estate Law Practice:

Greenberg Traurig’s Real Estate Practice is a cornerstone of the firm and a recognized leader in the industry. More than 400 real estate attorneys from around the world serve clients from key markets in the United States, Europe, the Middle East, and Latin America. Property developers, lenders, investment managers, private equity funds, REITs, operators, joint ventures, sovereign wealth funds, international developers, and private owners look to us for diversified and broad legal services. We apply our skills to the full cycle of a real estate deal, providing a holistic approach for our clients.

We handle property acquisition and investment, development, management and leasing, financing, restructuring, and disposition of all asset classes of real estate. We advise on a broad spectrum of commercial, recreational, and residential real estate, including structured equity, structured debt, and hybrid structures. We have a skilled hospitality legal team, including attorneys who have pioneered major developments within the industry.

Christine L. Albright

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Leaders in Law endorses Christine Albright as our exclusively recommended Estate & Trust Law expert in the USA – Illinois. If you wish to get in touch with Christine, please use the contact information provided above.

Christine L. Albright concentrates on counseling high-net-worth individuals and family groups in all facets of sophisticated wealth and estate planning and protection, estate, gift and generation-skipping transfer taxation, income taxation of estates and trusts, and succession planning for closely held and family businesses. She also represents fiduciaries and beneficiaries of trusts and estates regarding all aspects of trust and estate administration, the review and preparation of estate and generation-skipping transfer tax returns, the analysis of fiduciary income tax matters, and trust construction and reformation suits and other contested trust and estate matters. She represents parties in seeking private letter rulings and in handling tax audits for federal estate, gift, generation-skipping transfer and fiduciary income tax matters.

Ms. Albright’s practice in the wealth and estate planning includes matters such as:

  • structuring and implementing lifetime and testamentary transfers of wealth
  • structuring and managing closely held or family-owned business entities, including partnerships, limited liability companies and corporations
  • tax planning for gifts, sales and initial public offerings of businesses in connection with transferring wealth, and planning for succession of closely held and family-owned businesses
  • structuring and implementing gifts to charitable trusts, private foundations and other charitable entities, and establishing, administering and managing charitable trusts and foundations
  • preparing and implementing prenuptial and postnuptial agreements
  • preparing and analyzing wills, trusts, powers of attorney, and advance directives for healthcare and property, buy-sell and other shareholder agreements, and other ancillary estate planning documents

Ms. Albright is past chair of the American Bar Association’s Real Property, Probate and Trust Law Section, a former American College of Trust and Estate Counsel regent and past chair of the Trust Law Committee of The Chicago Bar Association. She has also assisted the American Bar Association in filing several amicus curiae briefs with federal circuit courts regarding federal tax cases in which the courts ruled in favor of the positions taken by the ABA.

Ms. Albright frequently speaks on wealth and estate planning and trust and estate administration issues for various professional groups, such as bar associations, ALI-CLE, the American College of Trust and Estate Counsel, and the Heckerling Institute on Estate Planning. For a number of years she was an adjunct professor at Northwestern University School of Law, teaching a course on the income taxation of trusts and estates in the Graduate Tax Program.

Holland & Knight LLP:

Holland & Knight is a global law firm with more than 1,200 lawyers and other professionals in 27 offices throughout the world. Our lawyers provide representation in litigation, business, real estate and governmental law. Interdisciplinary practice groups and industry-based teams provide clients with access to attorneys throughout the firm, regardless of location.

Laurel G. Bellows

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The Bellows Law Group is a general practice firm offering transactional, counseling, and litigation services to entrepreneurs, small and medium-sized businesses, and large corporations. Client matters range from complex commercial litigation to business strategy and startups. Ms. Bellows is an experienced business lawyer, counseling and litigating on behalf of senior executives and corporations on employment matters, employment and severance agreements, executive compensation, and workplace disputes. Laurel licensed to practice law in Illinois, Florida and California and is an arbitrator and certified mediator through the Institute for Conflict Management.

Ms. Bellows is past president of the nearly 400,000 member American Bar Association and past president of The Chicago Bar Association. Laurel is president of the International Women’s Forum Chicago. Her law firm offers strategic business counseling and litigation services to entrepreneurs and businesses of all sizes, including large corporations. Laurel is an internationally recognized business lawyer, counseling senior executives and corporations on executive employment and severance agreements, workplace disputes, business conduct standards, anti-trafficking, risk assessment, supply chain and recruiting policies and cybersecurity. Laurel serves on Minister Gordon Brown’s Global Citizenship Commission to update the United Nations Declaration of Human Rights.

The Bellows Law Group, P.C:

The Bellows Law Group, P.C. provides transactional, counseling, and litigation services to entrepreneurs, small and medium-sized businesses, and large corporations. The law firm also serves individuals through its employment law and personal legal services practices.

The Bellows Law Group, P.C. is internationally recognized for providing personalized counseling and vigorous advocacy. Because each legal problem is different, every legal solution at The Bellows Law Group, P.C. is different. Our attorneys build close working relationships with clients, listen to their needs, determine identifiable goals, and develop tactical winning solutions.

The attorneys at The Bellows Law Group, P.C. have extensive experience representing plaintiffs and defendants in federal and state courts, in arbitrations, and in administrative tribunals. As nationally recognized litigators, the firm is proficient in representing commodity and security brokerage firms, public investors in cases related to investment fraud, and breach of contract disputes between brokerage firms and their customers.

Referrals are a hallmark of the success of The Bellows Law Group, P.C. Clients confidently refer family, friends and business colleagues to our firm. Both, corporations and individuals value the firm’s ability to craft innovative out-of-court solutions, and provide responsive advice for potentially catastrophic disputes. The firm’s trial lawyers, when necessary, aggressively litigate to protect the rights and interests of our clients.

Raymond J. Werner

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Mr. Werner is the Chairman of the firm’s Executive Committee. His practice covers a broad spectrum of activities in the real estate area, including the representation of purchasers, owners, developers, landlords, tenants, lenders and borrowers in connection with all types of properties, ranging from mixed use hotel/office developments and retail properties to vacant land transactions. 

He represents these parties in the context of negotiations and disputes, structuring and negotiating complex acquisitions, financing, land development, zoning, leasing and other matters. Mr. Werner’s practice includes the representation of lenders in structuring loan programs, originating individual loans and the enforcement of lenders’ rights and remedies.

Professional Activities and Achievements

Mr. Werner is a member of the American College of Real Estate Lawyers, the Anglo American Real Property Institute, of which he was the Chair; the American College of Mortgage Attorneys; the Chicago Bar Association (“CBA”) and the CBA’s Real Property Committee, of which he is a former Chair; and the American Bar Association (“ABA”) and the ABA’s Real Property, Probate and Trust Law Section, of which he was a member of its Executive Committee, Delegate to the ABA House of Delegates and member of the ABA Board of Governors. 

He was also a member of the ABA’s Audit Committee and an ABA Advisor to the National Conference of Commissioners on Uniform State Laws Joint Editorial Board for Real Property Acts. Recently, Mr. Werner was named to The Best Lawyers in America and Best Lawyers in Chicago in the specialty of Real Estate Law and The International Who’s Who of Real Estate Lawyers. 

He is a member of the Managing Partner Forum Advisory Board, The John Marshall Law School Center for Real Estate Advisory Board and the Governing Council of Advocate Lutheran General Hospital. Mr. Werner was recently named as one of IIT Chicago Kent College of Law’s 125 Alumni of Distinction at the law school’s 125th anniversary.

Publications

Mr. Werner has written and spoken extensively on a wide range of matters pertaining to real estate law. He is the author of Real Estate Law (11th ed.) and Real Estate Closings (2d Ed.). He co-authored Modern Mortgage Law and Practice (2d ed.) and a chapter entitled “Failure of the Workout: Lender Liability in Troubled Construction Loans.”

Education

Chicago-Kent College of Law (J.D., 1971)

DePaul University (B.S., 1967)

Bar Admissions

State of Illinois

U.S. District Court, Northern District of Illinois.

 

David J. Tecson

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Leaders in Law endorses David J. Tecson as our exclusively recommended Commercial Litigation Law, Commercial Law and Healthcare Law expert in the USA. If you wish to get in touch with David please use the contact information provided above.

David concentrates his practice in complex civil litigation in state and federal court. He has successfully tried diverse cases to verdict and judgment. His experience includes commercial claims, healthcare, insurance coverage, employment, ERISA, director and officer liability, and class-action litigation.

He is also a former prosecutor for the Illinois Secretary of State. His clients include hospital systems, medical providers, schools, manufacturers, a wide range of business ventures, and international corporations based in Europe and South America. Notable trial work includes David’s successful prosecution of a complex managed care cases, multiple arbitrations on behalf of hospitals, a successful three-week federal jury trial, qui tam litigation, medical staff corrective action hearings, the prosecution and defense of director and officer claims, and international litigation.

He frequently counsels clients on employment issues. When necessary, he litigates employment claims before the U.S. District Court, the Illinois Department of Human Rights, the Illinois Human Rights Commission and other administrative agencies.

David lectures and writes on various topics arising out of his practice. The Illinois Institute of Continuing Legal Education selected him to co-author (with Ryan Haas) a chapter (Remedies) of the 2018 Practice Handbook on Employment Discrimination.

David worked in Argentina and Brazil prior to starting his practice in Chicago, and he is proficient in Spanish and conversant in Portuguese.

He served as a guest professor in the healthcare section of DePaul University College of Law (2018), as an adjunct professor at Loyola University School of Law teaching a course in healthcare litigation (2016) and as a guest professor at Wheaton College where he taught a course on international dispute resolution and litigation (2013-2015).

David currently serves on Chuhak & Tecson’s Diversity & Inclusion Council.

Chuhak & Tecson

Chuhak & Tecson offers more than just solutions. Since 1987, our experienced lawyers have served our clients not only as counselors but also as valued partners. With Chuhak & Tecson you will find a collaborative team of legal advisers who share a genuine interest in your success—professionals whose entrepreneurial spirit and vision are compatible with your own. All our attorneys are self-starters who maintain a holistic view of your goals, inspiring us to be creative in our solutions and driving us to remain a step ahead in moving your needs forward.

Chuhak & Tecson is built on the values that inspired the firm’s founders over 30 years ago—hard work, honesty and integrity. We position ourselves to attract attorneys with these values. As a team and as individuals, we do what’s right for the people we represent and the communities where we live and serve. Unlike many law firms where layers of bureaucracy impede direct contact with counsel, we connect our clients with experienced lawyers right away. It’s how we show we’re right there with you. This synthesis of experience and accessibility enables us to deliver high-quality service and solutions at a fair price.

Our home in Chicago is an advantage, too, and not just as a venue of Midwest values. Our Loop address places our firm in close proximity to local clients and in a prime central location for clients from across the United States.

 

Mary Beth Buckley

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Mary Beth Buckley counsels national and international food and beverage, retail and health care companies, along with their advertising and promotion agencies, on a wide variety of advertising, marketing, social media, pricing practices and e-commerce issues. In addition to counselling, Mary Beth regularly represents clients in connection with federal and state governmental agency inquiries and investigations and also represents clients in self-regulatory proceedings.

Mary Beth’s practice also includes defending clients in complex commercial and class action litigation, including consumer fraud, warranty, products liability and mass tort litigation. She has played a key role in defending food and beverage, life sciences, retail, and other consumer products companies in high-profile litigation throughout the country.

Firm Overview:

Built on the strength of our commercial, intellectual property, and white-collar litigation practices, our Chicago office serves clients in courts throughout the United States. Our professionals include nationally prominent lawyers in those fields, as well as leading products, environmental, and mass tort trial lawyers and litigators who joined the firm in 2015. With trial experience in over half of the jurisdictions in the United States and a broad array of clients, our Chicago lawyers work closely with their counterparts in all of Steptoe’s offices.

Examples of recent matters include Steptoe successfully moving to dismiss all claims in a data breach class action filed against VTech and successfully resolving all claims against RR Donnelley in a complex patent infringement matter involving 10 patents related to web-to-print and variable-data printing products and services.

Publications including Chambers USA, Legal 500 US, The National Law Journal, and Law360 recognize the practices represented in the Chicago office for their work, and many of the lawyers are leaders in legal and professional organizations.