Gardiner Koch Weisberg & Wrona has opened a Naperville office and added two attorneys. Susan Rogers comes to GKWW after practicing in estate planning, trust administration, guardianship and probate matters for 19 years. 

Rogers and Anastasia Xinos, who is also joining GKWW, were formerly with the Law Offices of Rogers & Associates.  Xinos has been practicing estate planning for five years. 

The GKWW Naperville office will be the same office as formerly occupied by Susan Rogers & Associates at 1700 Park Street, Naperville. With these additions, GKWW now has 17 lawyers and its litigators will greatly expand the capabilities of its new office to handle contested probate and guardianship matters.

Brian D. Moore has opened a solo practice in Naperville, Illinois.  Brian brings nearly 20 years of in-house experience with some of the nation’s largest companies to his practice where he focuses that big business experience on behalf of area companies. Brian also represents clients in divorce and post-divorce proceedings, and in real estate transactions and litigation.

Brian is a double graduate of Northern Illinois University: he received his JD in 1992, magna cum laude, and his BA in Economics in 1989.

Please visit Brian on the web at www.moorelawpc.com.

Dennis A. Rendleman, of Springfield and Chicago, has been promoted to Ethics Counsel in the Center for Professional Responsibility at the American Bar Association (ABA). He will serve as chief counsel to the Standing Committee on Ethics and Professional Responsibility and provide oversight for ETHICSearch. Since joining the ABA in April 2009, Rendleman has served as staff counsel for the Standing Committee on Specialization and associate counsel for the Standing Committee on Professionalism and managed the Consortium on Professionalism and the E. Smythe Gambrell Professionalism Award. He is one of the authors of the Annotated Model Code of Judicial Conduct, second edition. 

Prior to joining the ABA, Rendleman was Assistant Professor of Legal Studies at the University of Illinois at Springfield and spent 23 years at the Illinois State Bar Association leaving in 2003 as General Counsel. Rendleman has engaged in the private practice as a consultant and expert witness in professional responsibility and discipline. As a member of the Illinois Supreme Court’s Committee on Professional Responsibility since 2004, he was involved in redrafting of the 2010 Illinois Rules of Professional Conduct based upon the ABA Model Rules of Professional Conduct. He is an original member, since 1998, of the ISBA/CBA/IJA Illinois Judicial Ethics Committee which issues advisory opinions on the Illinois Code of Judicial Conduct.  He received his AB (1978) from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign and his JD (1981) from the University of Illinois College of Law.

Franks, Gerkin & McKenna, P.C. is pleased to announce that Joseph C. Ponitz has been named a Partner of our firm.

Joe has an extensive legal background that encompasses a wide range of practice areas, including Criminal and DUI Defense, Family Law, and Commercial Litigation.  Prior to joining Franks, Gerkin & McKenna, P.C., Joe served as a Prosecutor with the Winnebago County State’s Attorney’s Office.

Joe attended the Southern Illinois University School of Law, where he was a published author and an editor of the School’s Law Review.  Joe was also awarded the Southern Illinois University Alumni Scholarship Award.  In addition, Joe served as a graduate assistant to a prominent professor and his research was accredited in the Duke Environment of Law and Policy Forum. 

Joe is fluent in Spanish and volunteers with and serves on the Governance Committee of the Healing Pathways Cancer Research Center.  He is a member of the Cosmopolitan Club of Boone County.  He also serves as an Arbitrator for the Seventeenth Judicial District.  From 2007 to 2010, Joe served on the Executive Committee of the Board of Directors of McHenry County Youth Service Bureau.