Criminal Law

• DUI/DWI
  DUI stands for "driving under the influence" of drugs and/or alcohol and is typically a misdemeanor but sometimes it is a felony. There are many defenses to a DUI and hiring an experienced lawyer is the best way to defend the case. Traffic offenses also have defenses, rules, and procedures in court that an experienced lawyer can negotiate on behalf of a client to minimize the impact of a traffic ticket or successfully defend the ticket.
• Wrongful Death
  Wrongful death case arises when a person dies as the result of the negligence of another person or corporation. A survival action usually accompanies this type of case if the deceased person experienced conscious pain and suffering before the death.
• Traffic Violations
• Misdemeanors
  There are many type of criminal cases including felony, misdemeanor and ordinance violation matters. When a person is arrested for allegedly committing a crime, hiring an attorney to represent the arrested person in court is very important to protect the accused constitutional rights. Everyone arrested is presumed innocent and deserves a legal defense. It is important to protect the constitutional rights of the accused and hiring a lawyer to do this is imperative.

Employment Law

• Workers Compensation
  Physical and psychological Injuries related to work are considered workers compensation cases. Typically these are trauma type injuries including repetitive trauma. All Illinois employers are required to have insurance to cover work related injuries. It is the workers' legal right to make a claim for work injury without retaliation by the employer. The claim covers wages, medical, and lump sum settlements for the nature and extent of the disability.

Property Law

• Premises Liability
  Premises liability cases arise when a person is injured as the result of a condition or activity on someone's premises. Trip on a hole, slip on a wet floor, slip on improperly shoveled parking lot, or fall as the result of some activity on the premises are examples of injuries on a premises. The condition or activity must have been created by the negligent act or omission of the owner, possessor, or manager of the premises.

Health Law

• Personal Injury
  Personal injury is a general term that includes almost any type of case involving bodily injury or defamation of character. This category of cases includes car and truck accidents, train accidents, dog bites, construction accidents, premises cases, malpractice, products liability and any other type of injury case except workers compensation and occupational disease cases.
• Medical Malpractice
  Nursing home injures happen when patients in the nursing home are mistreated and injured through the negligence of the nursing home employees. This is not necessarily medical malpractice but could be ordinary negligence if a patient falls out of bed or some other accident and failure to properly care for the patient.
• Auto Accidents
• Social Security Disability
  If a person is unable to work and applies for Social Security Disability and is denied benefits there is a right to appeal. The appeal can be handled on a contingency basis depending on the case and back benefits can be awarded.
• Dog Bites
  Dog bite (or attack in some cases) can be compelling cases because of the horror of dog attacks especially involving children. Interestingly, homeowners insurance covers dog bites so its important to know who the owner of the dog is in order to make the claim against the proper person's insurance company.

Trusts and Estates

• Wills
  Probate involves a court proceeding to administer the last will and testament of the deceased person. Estates valued under $100,000 need not be probated in court but a lawyer must evaluate the value of the estate and the evaluate the heirs of the estate to avoid probate. Only a lawyer may prepare a small estate affidavit. Probate administration of an estate is helpful because it bars of claims of creditors against the estate after a six-month waiting period. The executor marshals the assets of the estate, inventories those assets, pay the final expenses of the decedent, makes a final account, and then distributes the money remaining to the beneficiaries of the estate.
• Trusts
  This area of practice involves drafting wills and trusts to dispose of the client's personal and real property at the time of the client's death.
• Probate

Finance Law

• Bankruptcy
  Bankruptcy is a federal law that allows people to discharge their debts when they can no longer afford to pay their bills. The filing of a bankruptcy triggers the "automatic stay" which immediately stops the creditors from contacting the debtor/client to collect any debts. A Chapter 7 bankruptcy is considered a "liquidation"; this means that all non-exempt assets of value are sold and distributed among the unsecured creditors. A Chapter 13 bankruptcy is considered a "pay-back plan" that allows the debtor/client to pay-back a small portion of the unsecured debts over a three to five year plan and also allows the debtor/client to keep their home, save it from foreclosure, keep their cars by saving them from repossession. The bankruptcy laws are complex but very helpful to a person experiencing too much debt. The new bankruptcy law requires that each client be evaluated with the "means test" to determine if they earn too much money to file Chapter 7 bankruptcy. This rule was lobbied by the credit card companies to prevent people from discharging credit card debt in some circumstances. A discussion with a lawyer will help determine whether the means test has an impact on each client.
• Foreclosure
  Real estate practice involves many different aspects such as real estate closings, real estate title examinations, mortgage loans, drafting contracts, drafting leases, and sometimes litigation such as foreclosures and defense of foreclosures.