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  • February 23, 2012 | People
    Arnstein & Lehr promotes 2 ISBA members to partner

    Arnstein & Lehr LLP is pleased to announce that two attorneys elevated to partner in the firm’s Chicago office.

    W. Matthew Bryant is a member of the firm’s Construction and Litigation Practice Groups in Chicago. He focuses his practice on construction and commercial litigation and dispute resolution. Bryant received his undergraduate degree from the University of Chicago and his law degree from Loyola University Chicago School of Law.

    Mary Ann Sullivan is a member of the firm’s Property Tax Appeals, Real Estate and Tax Practice Groups in Chicago. Her practice focuses on property assessment law, ad valorem taxation and real estate law. Sullivan received her undergraduate degree from the University of Illinois and her law degree from Loyola University Chicago School of Law.

  • February 22, 2012 | People
    Attorneys' Title Guaranty Fund appoints Arden Miner to run process service subsidiary

    Arden Miner, who joined the legal department of Attorneys’ Title Guaranty Fund, Inc. (ATG) in 2001, has been promoted to executive vice president and CEO at ATG LegalServe, Inc., a subsidiary of ATG.

    ATG LegalServe, formed during the fall of 2009, is a process service company that has grown from two employees to 12 in less than three years. LegalServe is also a full-service litigation support provider. Miner and Operations Manager Robert Rusch have a combined 32 years of serving the legal profession.

    “LegalServe is a logical service for ATG to provide because we already have a broad reach through our extensive network of lawyers,” says ATG CEO Peter Birnbaum.  “We’ve come a long way in just two years. Arden’s deep and varied experience with ATG and her wide range of skills make her the perfect fit for the top position at this subsidiary. We are confident she will provide the kind of leadership that will continue to grow this business and make it the premier process server in the Midwest.” 

    Starting in 2001, Miner worked as an attorney in the ATG legal and underwriting departments;  in 2004 she was promoted to senior manager of the demanding underwriting and escrow departments. She is a member of the Illinois State Bar Association and the Chicago Bar Association, a past chairperson for the CBA Real Property Law Committee, and current Vice Chair of the UPL and Multi-Disciplinary Law Committees. Miner served on the board of the Illinois Land Title Association until her switch to ATG LegalServe and has been a frequent speaker for IICLE and ATG Legal Education seminars.

  • February 22, 2012 | People
    Graves receives Lansing lawyer of the year award

    Best Lawyers of America has named James F. Graves the "2012 Lansing Personal Injury Litigation-Plaintiffs Lawyer of the Year" for the second consecutive year.

    Graves, a partner with the Sinas Dramis Law Firm, has been recognized by The Best Lawyers in America in the field of personal injury litigation each year since 2006. He is licensed to practice in Michigan and Illinois. He received the Leo A. Farhat Outstanding Attorney Award from the Ingham County Bar Association in 2004. Graves is the Past President of the Ingham County Bar Association and the Ingham County Bar Foundation. He is a sustaining member of the Michigan Association for Justice and a member of the American Board of Trial Advocates.

    The Sinas Dramis Law Firm represents personal injury clients throughout Michigan and Illinois. Jim Graves and other members of the Sinas Dramis firm can be reached at (517) 394-7500. Firm bios can be viewed at www.sinasdramis.com.

  • February 17, 2012 | People
    Casciato and Ouyang join Stellato & Schwartz as associates

    Stellato & Schwartz, Ltd. is pleased to announce the addition of two new associates, who are recent admittees to the Illinois Bar: Jack J. Casciato, a graduate of the University of The District of Columbia David A. Clarke School of Law and Ryan H. Ouyang, a graduate of the University of Notre Dame Law School. Mr. Casciato will be working in the Chicago office and Mr. Ouyang in the firm's Schaumburg office.

  • February 17, 2012 | People
    Jean Allard 1924-2012

    Jean Allard was the first female partner at the law firm of Sonnenschein Nath & Rosenthal and, along with former University of Chicago President Hanna Holborn Gray, was among the first women to become members of the exclusive Chicago Club.

    In 1979, Ms. Allard helped start and became the first chairwoman of the Chicago Network, an organization of influential local women. Her motivation in launching the group was to foster the idea of women helping women, said MarySue Barrett, a member of the Chicago Network who succeeded Ms. Allard as president of the Metropolitan Planning Council in 1996.

    Read the full obituary in the Chicago Tribune

  • February 17, 2012 | People
    Cook County Criminal Courts to be named for Leighton

    Cook County Board President Tony Preckwinkle and several commissioners issued a resolution this week to name the Cook County Criminal Courts Building at 26th and California after George Leighton, a 2001 ISBA Laureate of the Academy of Illinois Lawyers. He received the ISBA's Diversity Leadership Award in 2009.

    Leighton, 99, served as a Cook County Circuit Court judge and later became the first African American to sit on the Illinois Appellate Court.

    Read the full article in the Chicago Sun-Times

  • February 17, 2012 | People
    Arnstein & Lehr elevates 3 ISBA members to partner/equity partner

    Arnstein & Lehr LLP is pleased to announce that three ISBA members have been elevated to equity partner/partner in the firm’s Chicago office.

    The following attorney has been elected to equity partner:

    Thomas F. McGuire is a member of the firm’s Estate Planning and Tax Practice Groups in Chicago. His practice is concentrated in the areas of estate planning, probate and trust administration, and taxation. McGuire received his undergraduate degree and law degree, magna cum laude, from the University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign.

    The following associates have been promoted to partner:

    W. Toby Eveland is a member of the firm’s Litigation Practice Group in Chicago. His practice focuses on business litigation, class action litigation and complex insurance disputes, in fields such as real estate, construction, higher education, risk management, professional liability, health care, employment, intellectual property, warranty, and condominium law. Eveland received his undergraduate degree, magna cum laude, from the University of North Alabama and his law degree from Loyola University Chicago School of Law.

  • February 13, 2012 | ISBA News | People
    Granite City's Orsey reminds lawyers about ISBA public information brochures
    Granite City lawyer Dennis Orsey has been supplying ISBA public information brochures to the Circuit Clerk's offices in Madison County since the early 1990s when he was president of the Madison County Bar Association and a member of ISBA's Public Relations Committee. Orsey, also a former member of the ISBA Board of Governors, is shown presenting brochures recently to Sarah Betz, deputy clerk in Circuit Clerk Matt Melucci's office. ISBA client brochures and booklets are available on 26 topics of common interest in printed form or downloadable from ISBA's website. Brochures are free for noncommercial uses and for sale to law firms and others in business. Details about available brochure titles is at http://www.isba.org/store/clientbrochures or contact Janice Ishmael at ISBA - 800.252.8908, jishmael@isba.org.
  • February 9, 2012 | People
    Jason P. Eckerly named new shareholder at Segal McCambridge

    Jason P. Eckerly has been elected to shareholder status at Segal McCambridge Singer & Mahoney, Ltd.

    Mr. Eckerly is an experienced litigator and trial counsel whose practice focuses on the defense of toxic tort, asbestos and general liability litigation. He serves on many of the firm’s national coordinating counsel teams, developing and coordinating the defense of large corporations across the country.

    He is a 1998 graduate of Michigan State University and a 2002 graduate of DePaul University College of Law.

    From its roots as a four-lawyer shop in Chicago just over 25 years ago, Segal McCambridge Singer & Mahoney, Ltd., has grown to a law firm with approximately 150 lawyers and offices in Austin, Baltimore, Chicago, Detroit, Jersey City, New York and Philadelphia. To learn more about the firm, visit www.smsm.com.

  • February 9, 2012 | People
    Sarah E. Fanto joins Quarles & Brady's Intellectual Property Group

    The national law firm of Quarles & Brady LLP announced that Sarah E. Fanto has joined the Firm's Chicago office as an associate in the Intellectual Property Group.

    Ms. Fanto has experience in preparing and prosecuting utility and design patent applications in the U.S. and abroad, advising clients in matters related to patentability, patent validity, and patent infringement, and drafting non-disclosure agreements, joint development agreements, and licensing agreements. Ms. Fanto also has experience prosecuting and enforcing Trademarks. During law school, Ms. Fanto served as a law clerk at the Chicago Legal Clinic where she prepared FOIA requests, researched the Clean Air Act and applicable Illinois statutes, and wrote opinion letters and memos to clients.

    She earned her law degree from Chicago-Kent College of Law and her undergraduate degree in mechanical engineering from the University of Pittsburgh. 

    About Quarles & Brady LLP