Experience

Illinois Appellate Court, First District

• Law Practice
• 1 - 100 Employee

• Judicial Law Clerk

  • Sep 2021 - Present



Cook County State's Attorneys Office

• Assistant State's Attorney

  • Aug 1991 - Apr 2021

  Significant research skills and understanding of both substantive legal principles and the legal process, combined with the evaluation of the facts critical to the legal analysis and the development of an effective legal argument. Impeccable written and oral communication skills. Written over 500's appellate briefs, petitions for rehearing, and petitions for leave to appeal regarding a wide variety of issues related to criminal and civil proceedings, including motions to suppress, jury instructions, discovery motions, evidentiary rulings, constitutional issues, statutory interpretation and sentencing, Argued over 70 times before the Illinois Supreme Court and the Illinois Appellate Court. Prepared various detailed research memorandum. Supervised and trained over 100 experienced attorneys, newly-hired attorneys, and interns in brief preparation. Prepared experienced attorneys, as well as newly-hired attorneys, for oral arguments before the Illinois Appellate Court. Developed and presented at internal Continuing Legal Education training sessions relating to various criminal procedure issues. Highly knowledgeable in direct appeals, post-conviction petitions, Section 2-1401 petitions, and habeas petitions. HIghly knowledgeable in the Illinois Supreme Court Rules relating to appellate procedure and criminal procedure. Highly knowledge of the appellate process and familiarity with the justices who could hear a particular appeal. Highly effective in collaborating with other supervisory staff in order to present an effective, overall strategy in determining the best issues to pursue and arguments to make. First-chaired numerous bench and jury trials , as well as pre-trial motions, in a high-volume courtroom. Conducted numerous interviews of witnesses and plea negotiations related to these cases. Show less