The Law Firm of SmithAmundsen LLC Promotes Six Lawyers to Partner

March 19, 2012 – CHICAGO – The law firm of SmithAmundsen LLC announces the promotion of six lawyers to partner effective March 16, 2012. These promotions are in furtherance of the firm’s goals of multi-dimensional growth to better serve clients. SmithAmundsen elected the following lawyers in Illinois to the partnership:

Rebecca L. Dobbs is a labor and employment attorney in St. Charles, Ill. She focuses her practice on employment and labor litigation, including employee benefit compliance, employee benefit administration, federal and state employment laws, wage and hour claims and audits, discrimination and retaliation claims and contact disputes. Rebecca is a frequent presenter on management side labor and employment issues around the state of Illinois. She is also a contributing editor to the Labor & Employment Law Update blog. www.laborandemploymentlawupdate.com. Rebecca received her law degree from Northern Illinois University College of Law in DeKalb, Ill.

Jeffrey M. Glass is a business attorney in Rockford, Ill. He handles both litigation and transactional matters including the defense of securities fraud; banking matters; landlord-tenant issues; breach of contract; and emergency injunctive relief, partially involving restrictive covenants, trade secrets, breach of fiduciary duty, unfair competition, and similar claims. In 2009, Jeff was named to the Rockford City Budget and Finance Advisory Group. He serves by appointment on the Intergovernmental Task Force on Government Efficiency convened by the City of Rockford and Winnebago County. He also serves on the Board of Trustees of the Rockford Public Library, on the Strategy Team of Next Rockford, and on the Board of Directors of the Literacy Council of Rockford. Recently, Jeff traveled to China as part of Illinois Governor Pat Quinn’s delegation on trade. Jeff received his law degree from the University of Chicago Law School in Chicago, Ill.

Raymond J. Melton is a trial attorney in Rockford, Ill. His practice involves civil litigation, personal injury defense, product liability defense, commercial litigation, and insurance coverage. As lead counsel, he has tried more than 40 jury trials to verdict in the civil and criminal courts. His success includes handling matters involving personal injury defense, general litigation, debt collection, and criminal defense. Ray serves as an arbitrator in the Winnebago County mandatory arbitration program. Prior to joining SmithAmundsen, Raymond was an Assistant State’s Attorney where he prosecuted both felony and misdemeanor cases. Raymond received his law degree from DePaul University School of Law in Chicago, Ill.

Stepfon R. Smith is a corporate and municipal attorney in Chicago, Ill. The majority of his practice is devoted to the representation of self-insured corporations, municipalities, police departments, fire departments, and public housing agencies. He also devotes time to the representation of land developers, common interest communities, and small to midsize corporate entities in commercial litigation. He is an adjunct professor of business law at North Park University in Chicago as well as an adjunct professor of legal studies at Dominican University in River Forest, Ill. Prior to practicing law, Stepfon spent many years in management consulting with a “Big 6” firm based in Chicago. Stepfon received an M.B.A. from Webster University and his law degree from The John Marshall School of Law in Chicago, Ill.

Jennifer Stuart is a medical malpractice defense attorney in Chicago, Ill. She concentrates on matters involving hospital liability and complex litigation claims at the trial and appellate level. Her experience includes the defense of birth injuries, nursing home and long term care litigation, delayed diagnosis/misdiagnosis claims, premises liability, and wrongful termination actions. Jennifer serves on the Executive Board of the Chicagoland Healthcare Risk Management Society (CHRMS). She received her undergraduate degree in biology and chemistry, a Master of Health Sciences from Duke University, and her law degree from Loyola University of Chicago School of Law in Chicago, Ill.

Daniel R. Whiston is a trial attorney in St. Charles, Ill. He focuses his practice in premises liability litigation, school law matters, construction litigation, and transportation litigation including automobile, trucking, and pedestrian matters. Daniel serves as General Counsel for the Kane County Bar Association and is a member of the Medinah Shriners where he is active in raising funds for Shriners Hospitals for Children. Daniel received his law degree from The John Marshall Law School in Chicago, Ill.

"These attorneys embody the firm’s ideals of professionalism, loyalty, and consistently exceeding client expectations,” said Larry Schechtman, SmithAmundsen’s Managing Partner. “We are excited that the firm continues to grow and anticipate that our new partners will serve as valuable tools for our clients.”

SmithAmundsen LLC is a rapidly expanding law firm comprised of 135 attorneys practicing from offices in Chicago, St. Charles, Rockford and Woodstock, IL; Milwaukee, WI; and St. Louis, MO. The firm represents business entities and individuals engaged in most all commercial endeavors. Major practice concentrations include commercial litigation, labor and employment, banking and financial services, construction, insurance services, commercial transportation, health care and medical devices, and products liability/manufacturing.

Twitter @SmithAmundsen; LinkedIn www.linkedin.com/smithamundsen-llc

SmithAmundsen LLC
150 N Michigan Ave, Suite 3300
Chicago, IL 60601
Contact: Sara Goddard
312-894-3200

This release was published on openPR.