[caption id="attachment_19956" align="alignright" width="150" caption="David Lewin"][/caption] David M. Lewin, experienced in commercial and insurance litigation and condominium association representation, is pleased to be acting as special counsel to Johnson Legal Group, LLC. Dave is admitted to practice before the Illinois Supreme Court, the Seventh Circuit, the Trial Bar for the U.S. District Court, Northern District of Illinois, and several other District Courts nationwide including Colorado, Michigan and Iowa. He has practiced literally from coast to coast, handling cases from Washington to Florida. He was awarded a J.D. from DePaul University College of Law in 1992. He obtained a B.A., graduating with honors, from Loyola University of Chicago in 1989. Dave is a recognized authority in risk shifting for contractors and the Illinois doctrine of "targeted tenders," and has written and spoken on the subject at several regional and national conferences. He has authored numerous publications regarding insurance and construction issues. Cindy Johnson, the firm's Managing Member and a member of the ISBA Commercial Banking, Collections & Bankruptcy Law Section Council, said, "We are very pleased to have someone with Dave's unique areas of expertise acting in a special counsel capacity to our firm."

[caption id="attachment_19421" align="alignright" width="134" caption="Mary Patricia Benz"][/caption] Mary Patricia Benz, an experienced trial and appellate lawyer, opened her practice in downtown Chicago concentrating on litigation and appeals, mediation and arbitration, and lawyer professional responsibility matters. In her business model, Ms. Benz often works with co-counsel, adding collaborative services and offering clients an efficient, creative and personal approach to complex legal problems. Ms. Benz has over 30 years of experience in state and federal courts and will focus on dispute resolution for individuals and businesses including lawyers, educators, and other professionals. Recent cases include a dispute among the principals of a real estate development company, a contract dispute among pharmaceutical vendors, an alleged class action involving claims of violation of individuals’ rights of publicity, insurance disputes involving property damage coverage and title insurance, consumer disputes, breach of fiduciary duty claims, employment disputes, professional malpractice and malicious prosecution claims, disputes related to attorney’s fees and professional discipline, and legal ethics counseling. For more than 10 years, Ms. Benz served as a volunteer on the Attorney Registration and Disciplinary Commission (ARDC) hearing and inquiry boards providing her with a solid base for representing lawyers at ARDC and counseling lawyers about ethics issues.

[caption id="attachment_19014" align="alignright" width="160" caption="Donald J. Straka"][/caption] Walentine O’Toole McQuilan & Gordon is pleased to announce that Donald J. Straka has joined the firm as a partner in the area of corporate and banking law. Straka has over 20 years of experience in representing public and private corporate clients, financial institutions, medical practices, manufacturing concerns and regulatory authorities in multiple jurisdictions. He specializes in corporate law, banking law and regulation, lending and finance, mergers and acquisitions (private and public companies), business transactions and litigation, regulatory matters, securities, real estate and employment matters. He provides strategic legal advice to clients relative to their growth and financial objectives, organizing and structuring business entities, acquisitions and divestitures, and negotiating and closing complex transactions. He served for eight years as the Chief Legal Officer of a Midwest regional Bank Holding Company and its subsidiaries where he advised the Board of Directors and led the Legal, Human Resources and Security Departments and served on a number of Committees. He has also served as a Director and/or CEO of various other corporate entities in the United States, Canada and Mexico.

[caption id="attachment_18818" align="alignright" width="150" caption="Brenda J. Robinson"][/caption] [caption id="attachment_18817" align="alignright" width="150" caption="J. Patrick Fitzsimmons"][/caption] J. Patrick Fitzsimmons and Brenda J. Robinson have joined Baker & Daniels LLP as new partners in the law firm's Chicago office. Fitzsimmons concentrates his transactional practice in health care, medical device, biotech and life sciences.