Practice areas
Three fields, chosen because owner-run companies need them together: disputes, employees and property. If your matter is outside them, we say so on the first call and suggest where to go.
Commercial litigation
Business disputes in the Circuit Court of Cook County, the federal court in Chicago and commercial arbitration. We represent companies, and we tell you early, in writing, what a case is likely to cost.
Clients Owner-run companies with 20 to 500 employees: manufacturers, distributors, software and service firms.
- Contract disputes
- Supply, distribution, services and software agreements between businesses, from the demand letter to trial.
- Disputes between owners
- Partners and shareholders who disagree about money, control or an exit, including buyouts and deadlocks in closely held companies.
- Trade secrets and non-competes
- Former employees or partners who take customers or confidential information. We act for the company enforcing an agreement and for the company accused of breaking one.
- Emergency motions
- Temporary restraining orders and preliminary injunctions, when waiting weeks would cost the business more than the case.
- Commercial collections
- Unpaid invoices and personal guaranties above $50,000, and enforcement of judgments.
- Arbitration
- Hearings before a single arbitrator or a panel, when your contract requires it.
Employment law for employers
Advice before a decision, and a defense when a claim arrives. We represent Illinois employers with 10 to 500 employees. We don’t represent individual employees against their employers.
Clients Manufacturers, distributors, restaurant groups, clinics and professional firms in Chicagoland.
- Handbooks and policies
- Written for Illinois and Chicago rules, reviewed every year, and short enough that supervisors read them.
- Hiring and terminations
- We review the file before you act: performance records, leave status, timing and the paperwork you hand over.
- Restrictive covenants
- Non-compete and non-solicitation agreements written to meet the Illinois Freedom to Work Act.
- Workplace investigations
- Harassment and discrimination complaints, investigated promptly and written up so the report holds up later.
- Charges and lawsuits
- Position statements before the Illinois Department of Human Rights and the EEOC, mediation and defense in court.
- Pay practices
- Overtime, exempt classification, final pay and deductions, audited before an employee or an agency raises them.
- Training
- Annual harassment prevention training for employees and supervisors, on site or by video.
Commercial real estate
Leases, purchases, sales and financing of commercial property in Chicago and the suburbs: offices, storefronts, restaurants, warehouses and small industrial buildings.
Clients Businesses that buy or lease the building they work in, and families who own a few commercial properties.
- Leases
- Office, retail, restaurant and industrial leases, for tenants and for landlords, with a one-page summary of what matters.
- Purchases and sales
- Commercial buildings up to about $25 million, from the letter of intent to the closing table.
- Due diligence
- Title commitment, ALTA survey, zoning report and environmental review, read line by line.
- Financing
- Loan documents and guaranties for borrowers who buy or refinance.
- Build-outs
- Work letters, contractor agreements and the lease terms that decide who pays for what.
- Property owners
- Small portfolios of storefronts and flex buildings: leasing, estoppel certificates and the paperwork of a sale.
No specialists, by rule
The Supreme Court of Illinois does not recognize certifications of specialties in the practice of law. Illinois lawyers may say which fields they practice in, but may not call themselves certified, specialists or experts except when they name a certificate or award and add that disclaimer. Our lawyers describe what they do and leave it there.
Source: Illinois Rule of Professional Conduct 7.4, Communication of Fields of Practice and Specialization.
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