Our latest Featured Speaker is Marketa Lindt from Sidley Austin!

Jonathan Amarilio regularly represents individuals, small businesses, state and local governments, and Fortune 500 companies before state and federal appellate courts, primarily the Illinois Appellate Court, the Illinois Supreme Court and the United States Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit. Jonathan has also served as a Special Assistant Attorney General for the State of Illinois and as a Special Assistant Corporation Counsel for the City of Chicago in a number of matters.

Jonathan has been honored as an Emerging Lawyer in 2015 – 2016 by the Leading Lawyers Network, and as a Rising Star by Illinois Super Lawyers in 2014 – 2017.

Before joining Taft Stettinius & Hollister, Jonathan clerked for Justice James R. Epstein on the Appellate Court of Illinois, First District, and for Justice James R. Epstein and Justice Michael B. Hyman in the General Chancery Division of the Circuit Court of Cook County.

Jonathan received his B.A., cum laude, from American University and earned his J.D. from the University of Iowa College of Law. During law school, he was captain of the school’s National Trial Advocacy Team and was the recipient of the International Academy for Trial Lawyers Award for Distinction in Trial Advocacy Skills.

Jonathan is a contributor to the Illinois Appellate Lawyer Association’s blog “The Brief” on topics such as recent rule changes, developments in appellate law and other issues of interest to appellate practitioners.

Our latest Featured Speaker is Kelly O’Keefe from Stearns Weaver!

We are excited to have Kelly speak for us at our upcoming Probate Litigation 101: The Nuts and Bolts seminar in Fort Lauderdale on April 13, 2018! Kelly brings with her a wealth of knowledge, and we know our attendees will benefit greatly from the information she’ll share.

Kelly is AV rated by Martindale-Hubbell and represents persons and entities involved in business disputes and trust and estate matters.

She has represented both trustees in defending and beneficiaries in pursuing various breach of fiduciary duty claims, including challenges to investment management decisions, challenges to discretionary decisions, claims of self-dealing and conflict of interest, removal claims and claims for accounting. Kelly has litigated over the scope of creditor protection that certain trusts afford beneficiaries and she has experience in often emotionally-charged will contests and will construction matters, including determination of heirs, undue influence and lack of capacity matters.

A large portion of her practice involves litigating real estate matters, including commercial foreclosures, which involve guaranty, deficiency, lender liability and fraudulent transfer issues. In addition, she arbitrated one of the first cases against Bear Sterns, challenging its process for valuing collateralized mortgage obligations. She also litigates condominium and community association disputes, commercial landlord/tenant disputes, real estate purchase-related disputes, and disputes among business partners.

Kelly has also served as counsel to an array of Florida businesses, appearing before the Florida Division of Administrative Hearings to challenge government decisions, including licensure and permitting decisions, as well as the award of state contracts.

She has experience handling these matters in Florida’s probate, civil and federal courts at the trial level, and throughout appellate review. When cases require creative solutions that cannot be achieved in court Kelly has experience handling the matters via negotiation, mediation, arbitration, and the legislative process.

Our latest Featured Speaker is Noelle Brennan from Noelle Brennan & Associates!

We are excited to have Noelle speak for us at our upcoming Federal Court and Litigation Boot Camp in Chicago on April 6, 2018! Noelle has been a pleasure to work with while planning the program and we are excited to have her speak.

Called a “bulldog fighter for civil rights and fairness in the workplace” by The Chicago Tribune, Noelle Brennan is a veteran employment attorney and litigator with a long track record of success.

A 1995 graduate of DePaul University College of Law, Noelle spent seven years as a trial and supervisory attorney at the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC), where she litigated major class actions including EEOC v. Dial Corporation and EEOC v. Misubishi, the latter being the largest sexual harassment settlement ever reached by the EEOC. Noelle also served as co-counsel in a race discrimination case against Nike Retail Services, Inc. that eventually settled for $7.6 million dollars and in a disability and age discrimination case that resulted in one of the highest jury verdicts in an individual disability discrimination case in Illinois history.

In 2005, Noelle Brennan was selected by a federal judge to monitor the city of Chicago’s compliance with the Shakman Decree.  In that role she works with the city to identify, address and prevent employment discrimination on the bases of political affiliation.

Noelle was recognized in Crain’s Chicago Business’ annual top “40 under 40” in 2005.  This honor is bestowed each year upon 40 individuals who are “rising stars” in Chicago and under 40 years old.