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David A. Berek is a Partner at Mayer Brown LLP in Chicago, where he focuses his practice on private clients, trusts, and estates. He is a certified public accountant, as well as a certified financial planner. Berek is also a member of the American College of Trust and Estate Counsel (ACTEC). He received his B.S. from DePaul University, his J.D. and an LL.M. from University of Illinois at Chicago, and another LL.M. from New York University.
David C. Blickenstaff is a Partner at ArentFox Schiff LLP in Chicago, where he focuses his practice on trust and estate disputes. He is a Fellow and member of the American College of Trust and Estate Counsel’s Fiduciary Litigation Committee. Blickenstaff has been recognized as Band 1 Rated for Private Wealth Disputes, Illinois (2022) by Chambers High Net Worth and also by Best Lawyers in America (2015 – 2023). He received his A.B. cum laude from Princeton University and his J.D. magna cum laude from Northwestern University.
John T. Brooks is a Partner at Foley & Lardner LLP in Chicago, where he focuses his practice on estate, trust, and fiduciary litigation. He has been elected by his peers for inclusion in The Best Lawyers in America since 2007 in the field of trusts and estates; was named the Chicago Litigation — Trusts and Estates Lawyer of the Year by Best Lawyers in America in 2015, 2019, and 2022; and was selected for inclusion in the 2005 – 2018 Illinois Super Lawyers and 2003 – 2022 Leading Lawyers lists. He is a member of the Chicago Bar Association and the American College of Trust and Estate Counsel. Brooks earned both his B.S. and J.D. (magna cum laude) from the University of Illinois.
James A. Casey is a Partner at Mayer Brown LLP in Chicago, where he focuses his practice on trusts, estates, and charitable foundations. He is a member of the Bar in Illinois and Michigan and is a certified public accountant. Casey received his undergraduate degree from Western Michigan University and his J.D. from The John Marshall Law School.
Katy Crafton Fluet is a Partner at McDermott Will & Emery LLP in the Chicago and Silicon Valley, California, offices, where she focuses her practice on private clients, trusts, and estates. Fluet has been ranked for California (Northern): Private Wealth Law in Chambers High Net Worth 2020, 2021, 2022. She received her B.S. from the University of Illinois and her J.D. magna cum laude from the University of Illinois College of Law.
William R. Franzen is Counsel to ArentFox Schiff LLP in Chicago, and focuses his practice on private clients, trusts, and estates. Franzen and his coauthors were awarded PROBATE & PROPERTY's Excellence in Writing Award, Best Overall Article Probate & Trust (1999). He is a certified public accountant. Franzen received his B.A. from the University of Illinois and his J.D. magna cum laude from Syracuse University College of Law, where he was Associate Editor of the Syracuse Law Review.
Eric Huang is an associate at Kozusko Harris Duncan LLP in Chicago, where he concentrates his practice in domestic and international tax and estate planning. He is a member of the Chicago Bar Association, and he is a volunteer attorney for both the Chicago Volunteer Legal Services’ Probate Court Assistance Program and the Chinese American Service League’s Chinatown Pro Bono Legal Clinic. Huang received his B.S. cum laude from Georgetown University’s Edmund A. Walsh School of Foreign Service and his J.D. cum laude from Northwestern University Pritzker School of Law.
Jeanette S. Hunter is a Partner at McDermott Will & Emery LLP in Chicago, where she focuses her practice on private clients, trusts, and estates. She is listed in Best Lawyers in America — Trusts and Estates (2018 – 2023) and was selected by Law Bulletin Publishing Company’s Leading Lawyers Division for the 2015 – 2017 Lists of Emerging Lawyers Under Age 40 — Trust, Will, and Estate Planning Law. Ms. Hunter received her J.D. cum laude from Northwestern Pritzker School of Law and her BBA manga cum laude and with honors from the University of Georgia.
Neil T. Kawashima is a Partner at McDermott Will & Emery LLP in Chicago, where he is a member of the firm’s Private Client Practice Group. He is a member of the American Bar Association and is a Fellow of the American College of Trust and Estate Counsel. Mr. Kawashima received his A.B. from the University of Chicago and his J.D. from Cornell Law School.
Agnieszka Kawecki is a Partner at McDermott Will & Emery LLP in Chicago, where her practice is focused on estate planning. She received her B.A. summa cum laude from St. Xavier University and her J.D. cum laude from Northwestern University School of Law.
Laurence J. Kline is a Partner at Hoogendoorn & Talbot LLP in Chicago, where he concentrates his practice in estate planning and estate and trust administration. Mr. Kline is Past Chair of the Trust Law Committee of the Chicago Bar Association, a member of the Chicago Estate Planning Council, and the author of DISINHERITING UNCLE SAM — AN ESTATE PLANNING GUIDE FOR ILLINOIS RESIDENTS (1999). Mr. Kline received his B.S.B.A. from Northwestern University and his J.D. from the University of Michigan Law School.
Jena L. Levin is Senior Counsel to Foley & Lardner LLP in Chicago, where she focuses her practice on estate and trust litigation. She has been recognized as a Super Lawyers Rising Star — Estate and Trust Litigation (2019 – 2022) and as a Leading Lawyers Emerging Lawyer Trust & Estate Law (2015 – 2022). Levin received her B.A. with highest distinction from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and her J.D. from Duke University School of Law.
John C. Luchristt is an associate at Chapman and Cutler LLP in Chicago, where he focuses his practice on trusts and estates. He is a member of the ABA’s Real Property, Trust, and Estate Law Section. He received his B.A. from Rutgers University, his M.B.A. from American University Kogol School of Business, and his J.D. cum laude from American University Washington College of Law.
Elise J. McGee is a Partner at McDermott Will & Emery LLP in Chicago, where her practice focuses on private client and wealth management, closely held businesses, and family office and private trust companies, as well as financial technology and blockchain. She is a Fellow of the American College of Trust and Estate Counsel, is a member of the Chicago Bar Association’s Executive Committee of the Trust Law Committee, and has been ranked in Chambers High Net Worth 2022, Illinois: Private Wealth, Up and Coming. McGee received her B.A. with honors from the University of Chicago and her J.D. from the University of Michigan Law School, where she was the Executive Editor of the Michigan Journal of Race and Law.
Jonathan W. Michael is a Partner at The Michael Law Group, P.C., in Chicago, where his practice focuses on estate planning and wealth transfer planning. Jonathan is a Fellow of the American College of Trust and Estate Counsel and a member of the Greater North Shore Estate and Financial Planning Council. He received his B.S. from Miami University, his J.D. cum laude from the University of Miami, and his LL.M. from New York University.
Thomas A. Olson is a Partner at McDermott Will & Emery LLP in Chicago, where his practice is focused on estate planning. He received his B.A. from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign and his J.D. magna cum laude from University of Illinois College of Law.
Victoria Pambianco Ose is a Partner at McDermott Will & Emery LLP in Chicago, where she focuses her practice on private clients, trusts, and estates. She is Chair of the American Bar Association’s Charitable Planning and Organizations Group’s Charitable Planning Committee (2022 – 2023). She received her B.A. magna cum laude from the University of Notre Dame and her J.D. magna cum laude from the University of Illinois College of Law.
Melisa Seyhun is an associate at ArentFox Schiff LLP in Chicago, where she focuses her practice on private clients, trusts, and estates. She is a Young Leader in ACTEC’s Dennis I. Belcher Young Leaders Program (Class of 2021 – 2023) and a Fellow of the ABA’s Real Property, Trust, and Estate Law Section (Class of 2019 – 2021). Seyhun is also coauthor of Probate & Property magazine’s Best Overall Article in the Trust and Estate category in the 2020 Excellence in Writing Awards for the article, Life Insurance: What Attorneys and Trustees Should Know. She received her B.A. from George Washington University, her J.D. from George Washington University Law School, and her LL.M. from Loyola Marymount University, Loyola Law School. Seyhun is also a member of the Illinois Bar.
Meika B. Slotsema is a senior associate at Hoogendoorn & Talbot LLP in Chicago, where she focuses her practice on estate planning. She is a member of the Chicago Estate Planning Council, and she is also the board secretary of the Unity Christian Academy. Slotsema is a past volunteer COO of Pivot Consulting (a volunteer consulting organization that assists small nonprofit organizations making a social impact), among many other past and present nonprofit board and volunteer positions. She received her B.A. from Trinity Christian College and her J.D. from Chicago Kent College of Law.
Rebecca Wallenfelsz is a Partner at Chapman and Cutler LLP in Chicago, where she focuses her practice on trusts and estates. She is a member of the American College of Trust and Estate Counsel and the American Bar Association’s Section on Real Property, Probate, and Trust Law, and she was named to the Law Bulletin Publishing Company’s 40 Illinois Attorneys Under Forty to Watch list (2011). Wallenfelsz received her B.A. cum laude from the University of Notre Dame and her J.D. cum laude from Loyola University Chicago School of Law.
Sophia M. Yanuzzi is an associate at Mayer Brown LLP in Chicago, where she focuses her practice on estate planning, estate and trust administration, federal and state transfer tax planning, and charitable giving. She is a member of the Illinois Bar. Yanuzzi received her undergraduate degree from Northern Illinois University and her J.D. from DePaul University College of Law.
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