Jennifer T. Beach
Jennifer T. Beach
Jennifer T. Beach is Special Counsel at Jenner & Block LLP, in Chicago, where she focuses her practice on business and ERISA litigation. Ms. Beach is a Law360 Editorial Advisory Board Member, Benefits, and is coeditor of her firm’s ERISA litigation handbook. She was a judicial clerk for the Wisconsin Supreme Court. Ms. Beach earned her J.D. magna cum laude from Washington University School of Law, where she was Order of the Coif, Executive Editor for the Washington Law Review, and a teaching assistant for Legal Writing; her M.S. from Washington University George Warren Brown School of Social Work; and her B.A. summa cum laude and Phi Beta Kappa from Washington University.
Nicole C. Berg
Nicole C. Berg
Nicole C. Berg is an attorney in Chicago with experience in a variety of civil litigation matters, both at the trial and appellate level. Prior to joining Keller Postman LLC (formerly Keller Lenkner LLC), Ms. Berg was Vice President at Burford Capital, an analyst at Gerchen Keller Capital, and an associate at Jenner & Block LLP. Ms. Berg served as a law clerk for the Honorable Jay S. Bybee of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit. Ms. Berg received her J.D. summa cum laude from the University of Illinois, her M.S. from the University of Chicago, and her B.S. from the University of California, Santa Barbara. Before law school, Ms. Berg worked as an equity options trader in Chicago.
Laura C. Bishop
Laura C. Bishop
Laura C. Bishop is a Chicago attorney who focuses her practice on litigation. Ms. Bishop is a Board Member of the Domestic Violence Legal Clinic and a Member of the American and Chicago Bar Associations. She earned her B.A. from the University of Chicago and her J.D. cum laude from Harvard Law School, where she served as a Managing Editor of the Harvard Environmental Law Review. Prior to law school, she served as the Chief Research Assistant to Hon. Richard A. Posner at the University of Chicago Law School.
Elizabeth P. Butler
Elizabeth P. Butler
Elizabeth P. Butler is a litigation attorney with the Illinois Department of Children and Family Services in Chicago. Ms. Butler serves on the Board of Directors of the Illinois Appellate Lawyers Association, and she is a member of Chicago Bar Association, where she is Legislative Liaison for the Juvenile Law Committee. She received her J.D. from Loyola University of Chicago.
Stacy E. Crabtree
Stacy E. Crabtree
Stacy E. Crabtree is an attorney with Caterpillar Inc., in Peoria. During law school, Ms. Crabtree served as a law clerk for U.S. District Court Judge Timothy J. Corrigan and interned with the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Middle District of Florida. She also participated on the school’s mock trial team and was an editor for the Florida Coastal Law Review. Ms. Crabtree earned her B.A. summa cum laude from Bradley University and her J.D. summa cum laude from Florida Coastal School of Law.
Karen Kies DeGrand
Karen Kies DeGrand
Karen Kies DeGrand is a Partner at Donohue Brown Mathewson & Smyth LLC, in Chicago, and focuses her practice on appellate, professional liability, and commercial litigation. She is a Fellow of the American Academy of Appellate Lawyers and a Past President of the Appellate Lawyers Association. She is a member and Past Vice-Chair of the Supreme Court Committee on Professional Responsibility. She received her B.S. from the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, where she was awarded the Bronze Tablet, the highest university recognition for academic excellence. She received her J.D. from the University of Illinois College of Law and was an associate editor of the University of Illinois Law Review.
Brad A. Elward
Brad A. Elward
Brad A. Elward is currently a law clerk with the Appellate Court, Fourth District. He is a former Partner with Heyl, Royster, Voelker & Allen, P.C., in Peoria, where he concentrated his appellate work on handling appeals in workers’ compensation cases before the Illinois Workers’ Compensation Commission, circuit court, Appellate Court, Workers’ Compensation Commission Division, and Illinois Supreme Court. He has authored more than 325 appellate briefs and argued more than 225 appellate court cases, resulting in more than 100 published decisions, and numerous unpublished appellate court orders. Mr. Elward is a Past President of the Illinois Appellate Lawyers Association (2013 – 2014) and Past Chair of the Peoria County Bar Association CLE Committee. He has been named as an Illinois Super Lawyer for appellate practice from 2008 through 2020 and an Illinois Leading Lawyer from 2014 – 2020. He worked as an adjunct professor at the University of Illinois College of Law teaching advanced appellate practice. Mr. Elward received his B.S. from the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign and his J.D. magna cum laude from the Southern Illinois University School of Law, where he was the Survey Editor of the Southern Illinois University Law Journal and a teaching assistant for legal writing and legal research. The opinions and comments expressed herein and within Mr. Elward's chapters are his and are not those of the Appellate Court.
Sabrina N. Guenther
Sabrina N. Guenther
Sabrina N. Guenther is a litigation associate at Jenner & Block LLP, in Chicago. She has experience in complex civil litigation, privacy and information governance counseling, and international and national internal investigations. Ms. Guenther has assisted in all aspects of commercial contract and insurance coverage litigation. She also advises businesses on a variety of privacy and information governance issues. Ms. Guenther maintains an active pro bono practice. She has represented indigent clients both at the trial and appellate levels. During law school, Ms. Guenther worked in the Supreme Court Litigation Clinic, where she helped research and draft petitions for certiorari and merits briefs for cases pending in the U.S. Supreme Court.
William P. Hardy
William P. Hardy
William P. Hardy is a Partner with Hinshaw & Culbertson LLP, in Springfield, focusing on civil appeals before Illinois intermediate appellate courts, the Supreme Court of Illinois, and the United States Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit. Mr. Hardy is a Past President of the Appellate Lawyers Association and remains active as Cochair of the Past Presidents Committee. From 1994 to 2002, Mr. Hardy served as a contractual administrative law judge for the Illinois Department of Public Health, where he presided over more than 50 administrative hearings in cases involving alleged abuse and neglect in nursing homes. He received his J.D. cum laude from Southern Illinois University School of Law, where he served on the Law Review and as President of the Moot Court Board.
Kara L. Kapp
Kara L. Kapp
Kara L. Kapp is a Partner with Cozen O’Connor, in Chicago, where she concentrates her practice in white collar and civil and criminal appeals. Ms. Kapp has been honored with a National Law Journal’s Rising Stars Award, her firm’s Pro Bono Lawyer of the Year Award, and the Seventh Circuit Bar Association’s Pro Bono and Public Service Award. She earned her J.D. from Stanford Law School, her M.A. from Stanford University, and her B.A. summa cum laude from Dartmouth College.
Jason F. Krigel
Jason F. Krigel
Jason F. Krigel is an Assistant Attorney General in the Office of the Illinois Attorney General, in Chicago. Mr. Krigel is a member of the Illinois Appellate Lawyers and the Chicago Bar Associations. He served as a law clerk to U.S. District Court Judge Joan B. Gottschall in the Northern District of Illinois, and he received his J.D. from the University of Chicago Law School.
Brett E. Legner
Brett E. Legner
Brett E. Legner is Of Counsel at Mayer Brown LLP, in Chicago, and focuses on Supreme Court and appellate court litigation. Mr. Legner is an Adjunct Profess of Law at Loyola University Chicago School of Law and a lecturer at the University of Chicago Law School. Mr. Legner graduated from DePaul University College of Law with honors and as a member of the Order of the Coif. He earned his B.A. with honors from Northwestern University.
Barry Levenstam
Barry Levenstam
Barry Levenstam is a Partner at Jenner & Block LLP, in Chicago, where his practice emphasizes civil and criminal appellate litigation, as well as complex civil litigation. He has served as counsel for parties or amici in more than 100 appeals in the U.S. Supreme Court, U.S. Courts of Appeals across the country, the Illinois Supreme Court and appellate courts, and various other states’ appellate and supreme courts. During law school, Mr. Levenstam served as a judicial extern for the Hon. Robert J. Steigmann. Mr. Levenstam clerked for Judge Philip W. Tone on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit. Mr. Levenstam is AV Peer Review Rated, Martindale-Hubbell’s highest peer recognition for ethical standards and legal ability. He maintains an active pro bono practice and undertakes appointments from the Seventh Circuit frequently. The Federal Bar Association recognized Mr. Levenstam with the Walter J. Cummings Award “for excellence in advocacy on the part of appointed counsel” before the Seventh Circuit (1995), and the Seventh Circuit Bar Association honored him with its First Annual Justice John Paul Stevens Pro Bono Award (2010). Mr. Levenstam has lectured for the Seventh Circuit Bar Association, the Federal Bar Association, the Illinois Institute for Continuing Legal Education, and the DuPage County Bar Association on preserving error for appeal and on appellate practice generally.
Sarah A. Palmer
Sarah A. Palmer
Sarah A. Palmer is an attorney focused on appellate and commercial litigation. She graduated from the University of Missouri with a bachelor’s degree. She received her J.D. from the University of Michigan Law School, where she served on the board of the Michigan Law Review. Ms. Palmer was an associate at Jenner & Block LLP until September 2014, when she began practicing in Atlanta, Georgia.
Brij B. Patnaik
Brij B. Patnaik
Brij B. Patnaik is an associate in Jenner & Block LLP’s litigation department, in Chicago, where he has represented clients in complex commercial litigation, securities litigation, internal investigations, and a variety of appeals. He graduated from Grinnell College and the University of Iowa College of Law with distinction.
Emily Perkins
Emily Perkins
Emily Perkins is an associate at Heyl, Royster, Voelker & Allen, in Peoria, where she concentrates on employment/labor law, governmental law, Section 1983 civil rights litigation, and medical malpractice. Ms. Perkins was named to the Law Bulletin Publishing Company's list of Illinois Emerging Lawyers (2018) and has won the Winter National Law Review 2014 Writing Competition. She is received her J.D. from Northern Illinois University College of Law, her M.B.A. from Bradley University, and her B.S. from Illinois State University.
Hon. Clare J. Quish
Hon. Clare J. Quish
Hon. Clare J. Quish is a judge in the Circuit Court of Cook County. Judge Quish is a member of the Appellate Lawyers Association and the Illinois Judges Association. She is also on the Illinois Supreme Court Commission Rules and Policy Review Committee, a subcommittee of the Access to Justice Committee. Judge Quish received her B.A. from Northwestern University and her J.D. cum laude from Loyola University Chicago School of Law, where she was Executive Publications Editor of the Loyola University Chicago Law Journal.
Michael A. Scodro
Michael A. Scodro
Michael A. Scodro is a Partner in the Supreme Court and Appellate Practice at Mayer Brown LLP in Chicago. Mr. Scodro previously served as the Illinois Solicitor General, overseeing the civil and criminal appeals divisions in the state Attorney General’s Office and advising the Attorney General on significant litigation. An experienced appellate lawyer, Mr. Scodro has argued dozens of cases in federal and state supreme and appellate courts, including three in the U.S. Supreme Court. He is Chair of the Illinois Supreme Court’s Committee on Professional Responsibility, Past President of the Seventh Circuit Bar Association, Past Chair of the ABA’s Council of Appellate Lawyers, and Past President of Illinois’ Appellate Lawyers Association. He also was selected for membership in the American Law Institute and the American Academy of Appellate Lawyers. Mr. Scodro teaches courses on the U.S. Supreme Court and the role and practice of state attorneys general as a Lecturer in Law at the University of Chicago Law School and speaks frequently on the Supreme Court and appellate practice. After graduating from Yale Law School, Michael served as a law clerk to the Honorable José A. Cabranes of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit and the Honorable Sandra Day O’Connor of the U.S. Supreme Court.
Brian M. Smith
Brian M. Smith
Brian M. Smith is a Partner at Heyl, Royster, Voelker & Allen, P.C., in Urbana, where he concentrates his practice in the areas of civil rights, professional liability, employment law, education, and trucking/motor carrier litigation. Mr. Smith has been named to the Law Bulletin Publishing Company’s list of Illinois Emerging Lawyers (2015 – 2018) and as an Illinois Super Lawyers Rising Star (2012 – 2017). He received his B.A. from the University of Illinois and his J.D. from the University of Illinois College of Law.
Gretchen Harris Sperry
Gretchen Harris Sperry
Gretchen Harris Sperry is a Partner at Hinshaw & Culbertson LLP, in Chicago, and focuses on appellate practice and civil litigation. Ms. Sperry is Chair of her firm’s Appellate Practice Group and Commissioner of the Character & Fitness Committee of the Illinois Board of Admissions to the Bar. Ms. Sperry received her B.S. from the University of Wisconsin-Madison and her J.D. from Loyola University Chicago School of Law.
Natalie Thompson
Natalie Thompson
Natalie Thompson is an associate at Heyl, Royster, Voelker & Allen, P.C., in Peoria. She represents corporate and individual clients in the areas of tort, commercial, and contract law. She handles a variety of cases from automobile accidents to professional liability. She also practices in appellate advocacy and handles cases in the Illinois Appellate Courts and the Seventh Circuit Court of Appeals. Ms. Thompson also handles workers’ compensation appeals before the circuit courts and the Appellate Court, Workers’ Compensation Commission Division. She is on the Board of Directors of the Appellate Lawyers Association and is a member of the Appellate Lawyers Association’s Seminars Committee.
Craig L. Unrath
Craig L. Unrath
Craig L. Unrath is a Partner at Heyl, Royster, Voelker & Allen, P.C., in Peoria, and is Chair of the firm’s Appellate Practice Group and Vice Chair of the Professional Regulation/Licensure Practice Group. Mr. Unrath is Chair of the Amicus Committee for the Illinois Association of Defense Trial Counsel and has been named to the Illinois Super Lawyers list (2008 – 2018). He earned his J.D. from the University of Illinois and his B.A. from Shimer College.
Nadine Jean Wichern
Nadine Jean Wichern
Nadine Jean Wichern is Chief of the Office of Civil Appeals Division of the Attorney General of Illinois, in Chicago. Ms. Wichern is a member of the Appellate Lawyers Association and a writing and advocacy instructor at local law schools. She was an NAAG United States Supreme Court Fellow (2005) and was a law clerk for the Honorable William J. Bauer for the United States Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit (2000 – 2001). She graduated with honors from the DePaul College of Law and from Indiana University.
Jonny A. Zajac
Jonny A. Zajac
Jonny A. Zajac is a fourth-year associate at Jenner & Block LLP in its Chicago litigation department. Mr. Zajac has experience in all stages of litigation with a focus on commercial litigation and white collar practice. He also maintains an active pro bono practice in both civil and criminal proceedings. Mr. Zajac received his law degree cum laude from the Northwestern University School of Law and his undergraduate degree with high honors and high distinction from the University of Michigan.

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Civil Appeals (Illinois): State and Federal (ARCHIVED 2015 EDITION)

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Jennifer T. Beach

Nicole C. Berg

Laura C. Bishop

Elizabeth P. Butler

Stacy E. Crabtree

Karen Kies DeGrand

Brad A. Elward

Sabrina N. Guenther

William P. Hardy

Kara L. Kapp

Jason F. Krigel

Brett E. Legner

Barry Levenstam

Sarah A. Palmer

Brij B. Patnaik

Emily Perkins

Hon. Clare J. Quish

Michael A. Scodro

Brian M. Smith

Gretchen Harris Sperry

Natalie Thompson

Craig L. Unrath

Nadine Jean Wichern

Jonny A. Zajac

Civil Appeals (Illinois): State and Federal (ARCHIVED 2015 EDITION)