Barry A. Chatz

Kevin H. Morse

Arnstein & Lehr Chicago Partner Barry A. Chatz (pictured far left) and Associate Kevin H. Morse (pictured near left) have written an article that appeared in the May 10 issue of Thomson Reuters News & Insight Bankruptcy Law. The article, titled “Stern v. Marshall: A narrow ruling creating broad problems in the bankruptcy process,” discusses the US Supreme Court’s decision in a case that may broadly impact the utilization of the bankruptcy process within Federal Courts for years to come. Barry and Kevin explain that the Courts and litigants are using the Stern case as a vehicle to challenge and manipulate the jurisdiction of bankruptcy courts and the bankruptcy process.

To read the article in full, click here.

Michelle G. Novick

Arnstein & Lehr Chicago Partner Michelle G. Novick attended the May 2012 Professional Women’s Club of Chicago (PWCC) networking luncheon on May 9 at The Union League Club of Chicago. The event, titled “Occupy Leadership: When Our Intention Drives Our Attention”, featured Connie L. Lindsey, Executive Vice President of Corporate Social Responsibility of Northern Trust and also National Board President of Girl Scouts of the USA. Ms. Lindsey discussed the state of the economy and the social factors that have led our country to this state. PWCC is a prestigious networking organization for professionals and entrepreneurs in all industries.

For more information regarding the organization, please click here.

John L. Ropiequet

Arnstein & Lehr Chicago Partner John L. Ropiequet delivered two presentations to the 2012 Housing and Auto Finance Workshop on May 8 in Baltimore, Maryland. The first presentation, titled “Hot Topics in Fair Lending: Wal-Mart Stores, Inc. v. Dukes, Government Enforcement Actions and Other Landmines,” discussed the impact of the Supreme Court’s landmark class action ruling last summer on fair lending class actions. The second presentation, “Navigating Ethical Quandaries in the Social Media Age: How Do The Rules Impact a Lawyer’s Favorite Social Media Activities?”, explored how the Rules of Professional Conduct may limit what lawyers can do with the opportunities presented to them by social media and other internet-based forms of communication.

For more information regarding the event, please click here.

Robert T. Cichocki

Kathleen M. Gilligan

Thomas F. McGuire

Tracey A. Salinski

Arnstein & Lehr Chicago Partners Robert T. Cichocki (pictured far left), Kathleen M. Gilligan (pictured near left),  Tracey A.  Salinski (pictured near right) Thomas F. McGuire (pictured far right)  attended an inaugural event for the Anthony Quinn Foundation on May 3 at The Casino in Chicago. Mr. Cichocki, a Silver Sponsor, was the co-chair for the event; Ms. Gilligan and Mr. McGuire were part of the Host Committee. The event included drinks, dinner, live music and a video tribute to actor and artist Anthony Quinn. Ms. Katherine Quinn, widow of Anthony Quinn, spoke at the event and discussed the importance of the foundation, which pays tribute to Anthony Quinn’s legacy as an artist and provides scholarship support to gifted young adults seeking to advance their artistic talents in visual arts and design, performing arts, media arts, and literary arts.

For more information regarding the Anthony Quinn Foundation, please click here.

James A. Chatz

James A. Chatz, of counsel in the Chicago and Miami offices of Arnstein & Lehr LLP, is presenting at the Tuesday, May 8 DePaul University CDR/AAM Illinois Attorney-Mediator Forum. His presentation is entitled “Great Result – A Successful Mediation (The loser can’t pay or perform. What to do – remedies, options for both the debtor and the creditor).” Jimmy is a certified mediator and arbitrator, having completed the Northwestern University Mediation Training Professional Development Program.

Colleen A. Chinlund

Arnstein & Lehr Chicago Partner Colleen A. Chinlund attended the William Blair 2012 Women’s Leadership Forum on May 3 at The Peninsula Hotel in Chicago. The annual women’s event is designed to bring influential women together to engage in a dialogue that addresses a range of financial and interpersonal issues across multiple generations. This year’s forum was titled “Turning a Dream Into a Difference.” It featured guest speaker Lisa Nigro, founder of Inspiration Corporation, a Chicago-based nonprofit that helps people who are affected by homelessness and poverty through the provision of meals, social services, employment training and placement, and housing.

Samuel H. Levine

Arnstein & Lehr Chicago Partner Samuel H. Levine was featured in the May 1 issue of the Chicago Daily Law Bulletin regarding his appointment to Secretary of the Illinois State Bar Association Commercial Banking, Collections & Bankruptcy Law Section Council for the 2012-2013 year. Mr. Levine was also named in the most recent issue of the ISBA Illinois Lawyer Now Weekly regarding his election to a three year term as a member of the ISBA General Assembly.

To read about the Chicago Daily Law Bulletin article in full, click here.

Hal R. Morris

Jenifer H. Caracciolo

Julie A. Meyer

Arnstein & Lehr Chicago Partners Hal R. Morris (pictured far left) and Jenifer H. Caracciolo (pictured center) and Chicago Associate Julie A. Meyer (pictured near left) secured an important victory for one of the firm’s municipal clients. The firm represented an Illinois municipality and one of its police officers. In the case, it was alleged that five minor, handicapped girls were allowed to be repeatedly assaulted and raped because of a failure of school officials to take any action to prevent the illegal activity and the failure of our clients (and of others) to inform the school of the perpetrator’s arrest by another municipality. Previously in the case, the firm was successful in having all claims against our clients dismissed on the basis of tort immunity. However, the plaintiffs sought were given leave to amend, after judgment, to name the client’s police officer as an agent of the school district, although he was an on-duty police officer at the time. The firm’s Municipal Group successfully argued that the prior dismissal, which they defended on appeal before the Illinois Appellate and Supreme Courts, barred the newly asserted claims based on the alleged capacity as an agent of the school district. In addition, the judge agreed that even if not barred, the claims could not proceed as a police officer cannot serve two different principals while on duty.

Joel B. Rothman

Civics awareness and education continues to be a pressing issue in the United States.  The Pew Research Center recently found that 53% of the public cannot identify the Chief Justice of the Supreme Court.  The Annenberg Public Policy Center at the University of Pennsylvania has found a full third of those polled could not name a single branch of the U.S. Government and that more than half didn’t know a two-thirds majority vote in Congress can overturn a veto.  An unintended consequence of No Child Left Behind has been a decrease in civics education at the K-12 level and it shows in polls like this.

“We can no longer turn a blind eye to the deplorable state of civics education in our country,” explains Arnstein & Lehr West Palm Beach Partner Joel B. Rothman.  “We see this story play out every day in the news as politicians drag judges and court decisions they disagree with onto the political stage and whip the voting population into a frenzy for political gain. This strategy succeeds because it exploits the electorate’s lack of basic civics knowledge about judicial review and the role judges play in our society.”

Joel Rothman and Stacey Ballis are doing something about this problem.  Mr. Rothman is a former assistant district attorney and Ms. Ballis, author of six books and former high school English teacher, are currently writing Wainright for the People.  Wainwright is a young adult legal thriller scheduled to be published by the American Bar Association Publishing Company.  Touted as “Law & Order meets Encyclopedia Brown,” this novel follows the adventures of Gideon Wainwright, a high school sophomore forced to intern for his assistant district attorney mother during his suspension after taking the fall for a pulled fire alarm while interrupting a bully attack.  Gideon finds himself in the middle of a DA investigation into a crime that’s just a little too close to his troubles at school.  The investigation propels him through the justice system as he, and readers, learn the fundamental concepts behind the Bill of Rights and our system of justice.

Intended to explore concepts of civics education through literary exploration, much like To Kill a Mockingbird explores concepts of social justice and racism, Mr. Rothman and Ms. Ballis are independently producing classroom materials to supplement the novel’s release.  Mr. Rothman and Ms. Ballis are currently raising funds on Kickstarter to help pay for the development of the extra educational material and for marketing directly to the educational market.  Kickstarter is the world’s largest funding platform for creative projects

For more information on Mr. Rothman’s Wainright project, click here.

Colleen Chinlund

Arnstein & Lehr Chicago Partner Colleen Chinlund attended the 4th annual Girl Power Benefit Luncheon on April 24 at the Fairmont hotel in Chicago. The luncheon supports the Young Women’s Leadership Charter School of Chicago and featured keynote speaker Laura S. Washington, a Chicago Sun-Times columnist and political analyst for ABC. Ms. Chinlund also attended the second annual Lunch and Learn event at the Chicago Children’s Theatre on April 25, featuring keynote speaker Marc Kielburger, author of “The World Needs Your Kid.”

Samuel H. Levine

Arnstein & Lehr Chicago Partner Samuel H. Levine gave a presentation at the Greater Illinois Title Company’s CLE seminar on May 2 in Chicago. The program, titled “Real Estate for Changing Times,” was held at Petterino’s Banquets in downtown Chicago and offered 3 hours of CLE credit. Mr. Levine’s talk was titled “Receiverships: Effective Remedy for Distressed Commercial Real Estate.”

To learn more about the event, click here.

Mary Cannon Veed

Arnstein & Lehr Chicago Partner Mary Cannon Veed spoke on a panel at the American Conference Institute’s Advanced Forum on Reinsurance Disputes in Litigation and Arbitration. The conference was held April 30 – May 1 at the Flatotel hotel in New York, New York. Ms. Veed’s panel was titled “Procedural Challenges to Arbitration Proceedings and Federal Arbitration Act Disputes: Incorporating the Latest Developments Into Your Reinsurance Dispute Strategy.”

For more information about the conference, please click here.

Arthur L. Janura

An article entitled “PSEBA Benefits; Who Decides?” by Legal Analysis Jerry Zarley appears in the May 2012 issue of the Illinois Municipal Review. Arnstein & Lehr Hoffman Estates Partner Arthur L. Janura is listed as a contributing author of the piece. The article reviews and analyzes when the Public Safety Employees Benefits Act (PSEBA) should come in to play. The PSEBA requires a municipality to pay the full cost of health-insurance for a former firefighter or police officer if that employee was catastrophically injured in the line of duty while responding to what is reasonably believed to be an emergency. The Illinois Municipal Review is a monthly publication on municipal government published by the Illinois Municipal League.

To read the article, please click here.

David Shear

Arnstein & Lehr Miami Partner David Shear and his wife Hannah are taking part in the Greater Miami Jewish Federation’s “Miami Mega Mission,” a 10-day trip to Jerusalem. With 700 plus participants, it is one of the largest ever organized by the Federation. The mission spans all ages and includes students, professionals and Holocaust survivors and their children as an opportunity to come face to face with their history and experience their heritage. This past weekend the group toured Yad Vashem, the world’s largest Holocaust memorial. Hannah Shear is the daughter of a Holocaust survivor. She was interviewed by Miami TV station WSVN while visiting the museum. The TV segment and stories about the mission trip with her interview and quotes can be found here.

Robert E. McKenzie

Arnstein & Lehr Chicago Partner Robert E. McKenzie was quoted in two April 25 articles and an April 27 article in the Forbes website. The articles, titled “Supreme Court Takes Break From Obamacare To Bail 1% Out Of Abusive Shelters,” “Huge Taxpayer Win: Supreme Court Tells IRS 3 Years To Audit Is Plenty,” and “Supreme Court Has Taken Ammunition From IRS in Son of Boss Cases – Time To Fix Bayonets,” discuss the Supreme Court’s ruling that the three-year statue of limitations period for the IRS to assess a deficiency against a taxpayer is extended to six years when a taxpayer “omits” more than 25% of their gross income, however the extended limitations period is not triggered if a taxpayer overstates their basis, thereby understating their gross income. Mr. McKenzie comments that four of his clients with similar issues would likely reap tax savings of almost $40 million as a result of this case.

To read “Supreme Court Takes Break From Obamacare To Bail 1% Out of Abusive Shelters,” click here.
To read “Huge Taxpayer Win: Supreme Court Tells IRS 3 Years To Audit Is Plenty,” click here.
To read “Supreme Court Has Taken Ammunition From IRS in Son of Boss Cases – Time to Fix Bayonets,” click here.

John Ropiequet

Katelyn Letizia

Arnstein & Lehr Chicago Partner John L. Ropiequet and Chicago Associate Katelyn Letizia have published an article entitled “Current Issues Under the Electronic Fund Transfer Act in ATM Litigation” in the Consumer Finance Law Quarterly Report.  The article outlines recent class action litigation against owners of automated teller machines who have run afoul of the EFTA’s fee notice posting requirements or other EFTA requirements for ATMs, and the available defenses to such cases.  This includes discussion of a class action case where the firm won a dismissal of the case for the ATM owner through an offer of judgment.

To read the article in full, please click here.

Justin L. Weisberg

Arnstein & Lehr Chicago Partner Justin L. Weisberg gave a presentation at the ABA Forum on the Construction Industry Division 3/Design at the Bellagio hotel in Las Vegas on Friday, April 27. The program was titled “The Uncharted Road from Design-Bid-Build to P3 and Lean Construction.” Mr. Weisberg was part of a panel discussion regarding the challenges and changes faced by architects and engineers who embark on a P3 or Lean Construction Project. On April 20, Mr. Weisberg also spoke at the Building Information Modeling Education Program on “Contract Negotiation & Risk Allocation” in Elk Grove Village.

Robert E. McKenzie

Arnstein & Lehr Chicago Partner Robert E. McKenzie was quoted in an April 25 article published on the CNBC website. The article titled “Supreme Court restrains IRS in tax shelter case” discusses a recent Supreme Court ruling in favor of Home Concrete & Supply LLC, stating the Internal Revenue Service could not collect back taxes from the business in a tax shelter case since it was outside the three-year statue of limitations. Mr. McKenzie comments that the court’s decision that the IRS could not use an extended, six-year statute of limitations period to collect back taxes was a good result for a client he represented in the Seventh Circuit Court of Appeals, where he lost to the government in a separate case.

To read the article in full, please click here.

Jerold I. Schneider

Arnstein & Lehr West Palm Beach Partner Jerold I. Schneider gave a presentation on April 24 at the Rinker College of Business at Palm Beach Atlantic University. The talk was titled “Intellectual Property for the Entrepreneur” and identified various types of intellectual property. Mr. Schneider discussed how to generate revenue from investments in intellectual property.

Charles W. Pautsch

Jesse R. Dill

Arnstein & Lehr Milwaukee Partner Charles W. Pautsch (pictured far left) and Associate Jesse R. Dill (pictured near left) have written an article that appeared in the April 24 issue of Thomson Reuters News & Insight Legal. The article, titled “Social media and Section 7: Why companies should think N-L-R-A when employees p-o-s-t,” discusses a memorandum report issued by the National Labor Relations Board, Office of the General Counsel, emphasizing that employee rights under Section 7 of the NLRA must be at the forefront of considerations when creating a social media workplace policy or disciplining an employee for social networking activity. Section 7 of the NLRA grants employees the right to engage in “concerted activities for the purpose of collective bargaining or other mutual aid or protection.” The report also states that employers should be careful in how they discipline an employee’s social media activity.

To read the article in full, please click here.