Family Law

• Divorce
• Child Custody and Visitation
  Colleen McMahon, Due Process:Constitutional Rights and the Stigma of Sexual Abuse Allegations in Child Custody Proceedings, 39 Cath. Law. 153, 153 (1999) (discussing due process concerns of a parent accused of sexual abuse in family courts).
• Adoption
• Paternity
• Premarital Agreement
• Guardianship
• Spousal Support
• Legal Separation
• Child Abuse
  In the 1970’s and 1980’s, an increasing awareness of our children falling prey to abuse and neglect spawned a line of Federal and Illinois legislation that was both justified and necessary. Since such legislation, incidences of child abuse have decreased tremendously and the safety of children has been thereby enhanced. In the process of securing the much needed protection of children, parental due process rights have been lost in the mix and severely jeopardized. One such procedural right is that of the Fifth Amendment right against self incrimination. Due to the exigencies present, the legislature has enacted a statutory scheme that expedites the juvenile proceeding, causing shelter care and adjudicatory hearings to generally come well before any criminal counterpart. The result is that the parent and his/her lawyer are faced with a complexing dilemma: should the respondent testify at the juvenile proceeding and waive his Fifth Amendment right against self incrimination or not testify and allow the court to draw a negative inference during the adjudicatory stage. Once the children are removed, re-unification becomes difficult without during these initial probable cause determinationand 2) trouble completing Court ordered service and therapy goals.

Criminal Law

• Criminal Defense
  Mrs. Harris primarily concentrates her practice in family law, adoptions, wills, estate planning, probate and criminal law. Her experience and reputation as a successful litigator, as well as her demonstrated concern and caring regarding her client's want and needs, has rapidly expanded the demand for her counsel in many areas of law, including especially dissolution of marriage and custody cases.
• DUI/DWI
  In the criminal area, Mr. May, whether as prosecuting/plaintiff's attorney or defense attorney, has handled jury as well as bench trials in both felony and misdemeanor cases involving murder, drugs, sex crimes, burglary, DUI, domestic and aggravated battery, and many other criminal and traffic offenses. He is often hired as co-counsel by attorneys outside of the Bureau County area.
• Wrongful Death
• Traffic Violations
  Child’s Interest in Family Integrity – Just as the parent has a fundamental right to associate and rear his children, children have a fundamental interest in the association with their parents. While providing for the health and safety of the child, the least disruptive measures available should be heeded. “’[E]ach child’s biological and psychological need for unthreatened and unbroken continuity of care by his parents’ is essential in the child’s best interest and is ‘vital to a child’s sense of becoming and being an adult in his own right.’” But for a child, his interest is not only concerned as to what he might lose if the parent is adjudged to be abusive, but also as to what he will receive through permanent placement. “A very large percentage of children removed from their homes based upon abuse or neglect will neither be returned home nor adopted.” “Children thus have an especially heightened interest in procedures which will possibly sever their family ties.” Compelling testimony through immunity, as mentioned earlier, will assist in reducing false accusations and speeding up the process towards reunification, both of which would assist the child in retaining his fundamental right of familial association.
• Sex Crimes
  The Supreme Court first looked at such an issue in In Re A.W. In this case, the parent was adjudged unfit and as part of the service plan, wasordered to undergo sex abuse counseling. The parent was told by the counselor he would not be allowed to continue the therapy program unless a full admission to committing a sex offense was made. The parent stopped going for treatment and was later found to be unfit for failure to complete sex offender counseling. The court ruled that this parent’s Fifth Amendment privelege was not violated because the father was not required to complete a specific program requiring an admission of guilt and the father failed to present evidence that there were no programs available for therapy without such an admission. In summary, the court held that a trial court may order a service plan that requires a parent to engage in “effective counseling or therapy, but may not compel counseling or therapy requiring the parent to admit to committing a crime.” Further, the burden shifted to the parent to prove no such option existed, further burdening reunification of the family unit. The Appellate Court for the Fifth District, in In Re P.M.C. and J.L.C., went so far as to say that although the court could not terminate parental rights specifically on a refusal to admit that which the parent denies, parental rights may be terminated “based upon a parent’s failure to comply with an order to undergo meaningful therapy or rehabilitation, because a parent’s refusal to admit sexual abuse inhibits meaningful therapy.”
• Burglary
• Theft
• Misdemeanors
  Under Illinois law, assault and battery are separate crimes. Assault is generally when one causes someone to fear receiving a battery. A person commits an assault when, without lawful authority, he engages in conduct which places another in reasonable apprehension of receiving a battery. This means that if you do something to cause another to have a reasonable fear that you would cause bodily harm to them, or cause an insulting or provoking physical contact with them, then you have committed the crime of assault. The crime of assault is punishable as a class C misdemeanor. This means that if the person is found guilty, they may be sentenced to jail for up to 30 days and be required to pay a fine of up to$ 2,500. In Illinois however, we even have different levels of assault and as a result, you can be punished differently depending upon the circumstances surrounding the offense. For instance, an assault upon certain types of people or in protected areas increase the offense from general assault to aggravated assault, which brings with it a more severe punishment. A few common situations that may cause an assault to be increased to aggravated assault would be if the person committing the assault...
• Assault
  Battery, on the other hand, is when a person intentionally or knowingly and without legal justification causes bodily harm to another person, or makes an insulting or provoking physical contact with a person. The key point here is that there is contact between the victim and the defendant. Without the contact there cannot be a battery. Contact, however, does not necessarily mean that the defendant’s body must come in contact with the victim. If the Defendant were to cause an object such as a bat, stick, spit, etc…, to come in contact with the victim in an insulting or provoking way, or in a way that causes bodily harm, then that person may be charged with a battery. Battery is generally charged as a Class A Misdemeanor, however, just like assault, there are circumstances that raise a battery to aggravated battery. Aggravated battery is a battery committed under the same particular circumstances as aggravated assault mentioned above. Other laws also make battery of particular people, such as family members, criminal acts of an aggravated nature. These laws include domestic battery, battery or aggravated battery of an unborn child, aggravated battery of a child or institutionalized mentally retarded person, and aggravated battery of a senior citizen. There is also a statute that makes transmission of HIV a crime assuming the person knows he or she is infected with HIV and contaminates another person through sexual contact, donation of blood or other body fluids, or sells or shares drug paraphernalia.
• Murder

Business and Corporate Law

• Business Disputes
  James R. May, one of the senior founding partners of the firm, received his Doctorate of Jurispurdence from the University of Houston, Bates College of Law, in 1974. He has practiced in Princeton, Bureau County, Illinois, along with his wife and partner, Mary Lynn Angel May, since 1977. Mr. May is a Vietnam veteran having served in the Army as an EOD (Explosive Ordinance Division) specialist. Has has also served as Bureau County State's Attorney, Assistant Bureau County Public Defender, President of the Bureau County Bar Association, and as a business law instructor at Northern Illinois University.
• Antitrust

Employment Law

• Workers Compensation
  Our firm was established in 1977 and is located in Princeton, Bureau County, Illinois. We provide legal services in Bureau County and surrounding counties within a 100 mile radius. Our areas of practice are numerous, and include Personal Injury, Worker's Compensation, Criminal Defense, DUI & Traffic Defense, Family Law - Divorce, Custody and Paternity, Real Estate Transactions, Estate Planning - Wills, Trusts & Estates, Business Planning, Social Security Disability and other areas of legal practice. Please see our Services section for more information.
• Employment Discrimination

Property Law

• Premises Liability
  Mr. Angel returned to Princeton, Illinois and joined the firm in 2004. Since returning to Illinois, Mr. Angel has handled various areas of law, including probate, real estate, insurance, contracts, personal injury, criminal, social security disability, and domestic relations. Additionally, Mr. Angel has handled appeals involving various topics, including performing contract work for the Office of the State Appellate Defender on criminal appeals, as well as work for outside law firms. Aside from his appellate work, Mr. Angel has obtained successful dismissals-summary judgments for clients at the trial court level on various matters, including construction disputes, DUI charges, premises liability, probate claims and collection actions.
• Construction Litigation
• Real Estate Transactions
  Mrs. May is one of the top attorneys in the Bureau County area in relation to the real estate transactions and estate and trust administration. Due to her knowledge, skills, and experience as a transactional attorney, she is greatly relied upon by the firm, its clients, and other counsel throughout the area.

Health Law

• Personal Injury
  Mr. May primarily concentrates his practice in the filed of personal injury litigation and criminal defense. His work in the personal injury field includes accident cases, work related injuries, product liability, slip-fall cases against major corporations, and malpractice. Mr. May has litigated a multitude of cases involving automobile accidents, motorcycle accidents, semi-truck related accidents and other incidents that causes serious bodily injury or death. He has argued before the Illinois Appellate Courts and the Illinois Supreme Court. He is licensed in both the Illinois and federal court systems.
• Medical Malpractice
  Since joining the firm, Mr. May concentrates his practice in criminal, traffic, personal injury, worker's compensation, medical malpractice, estates, LLC and S-Corporations. May also serves as an assistant Bureau County Public Defender and as an Illinois certified mediator. He is a member of the Bureau County Bar Association and the Illinois State Bar Association. Mr. May's ability and experience to get positive results through the pursuit of discovery, depositions, negotiations, and trial, along with his business background, have made him a valuable asset the the firm and his clients.
• Social Security Disability
  After law school, Mr. Angel was admitted to the Colorado Bar and practiced in Grand Junction, Colorado, handling employment discrimination (Title VII and Americans With Disabilities Act), personal injury, and social security disability claims, as well as appeals. While in Colorado, in addition to winning 37 cases, Mr. Angel Successfully reversed the decisions of administrative law judges all eight times he handled and appeal, often taking over for other counsel on appeal. Mr. Angel was also admitted to the United States District Court for the State of Colorado and the United States Court of Appeals for the Tenth Circuit.

Trusts and Estates

• Estate Planning
  I. Chaos. Time delay. Needless costs. Unnecessary taxes. Frustration. Fear. Insecurity. Litigation. Too often such is what people leave their loved ones. We’ve seen it all.
• Wills
• Trusts
• Power of Attorney
  Reluctant to make a will or execute powers of attorney, Husband, a healthy, elderly man, finally did do so at the urging of his family members. He refused, however, to inform his family that he had in fact done so and insisted that our firm hold the documents in safe-keeping. One Saturday as a life-death decision had to be made for the Husband who had suffered a severe stroke, only the son-in-law’s recollection of Husband having mentioned being in our office allowed the family to reach us and locate Husband’s Health Care Power of Attorney.
• Probate