Lawyers and Law Firms

We have significant experience in the law governing lawyers, including representing lawyers in disciplinary matters, handling issues arising out of lawyer departures and law firm dissolutions, and prosecuting and defending legal malpractice claims. We bring that experience to the table when representing clients in the law governing lawyers.

Our experience in this area includes:

• Successfully representing a former client of a lawyer in a claim against that lawyer for forging his client's signature as part of a conspiracy to defraud the client out of several hundred thousand dollars in a real estate transaction.

• Representing law firms in dissolution proceedings, including representation of a law firm in a bench trial of more than 30 days, where at issue was more than $30,000,000 in contingent fee income for cases pending at the time of dissolution.

• Defending numerous attorneys in disciplinary matters, including allegations of conversion, conflict of interest, improper advertising, plagiarism, sexual misconduct, neglect, and misrepresentation.

• Defending a law firm in a 20-day arbitration involving claims by a former client alleging breach of fiduciary duty in the transfer of the client's assets to a former partner of the law firm.

• Negotiating the terms of the dissolution of law firms.

• Representing the City of Chicago and City attorneys in defending claims of improper use of the judicial process.

• Negotiating the splitting of attorneys' fees on cases active at the time of the lawyers' departure.

• Advising a client with regard to purchase of a portion of another lawyer's practice.

• Representing lawyers or clients in various fee disputes.

Chris Kendall has co-authored with Michael W. Coffield an article on representing attorneys in disciplinary proceedings, which was originally published in the ABA's prestigious "Litigation" magazine, and reprinted with permission in the American Trial Lawyer's Association's "Trial" Magazine. The article was also republished in the ABA’s Litigation Manual, third edition pp. 1121-1129 (2007 1^st Supp.)

Chris also co-authored with Mr. Coffield a chapter on Attorney Liability that appeared in the Illinois Institute of Continuing Legal Education's Attorneys' Legal Liability.

The Chicago Daily Law Bulletin has published Chris' commentary on the United States Supreme Court.

Chris Kendall has served as a member of the Illinois State Bar Association's Professional Responsibility Committee and is a past-chair of the Illinois State Bar Association's Standing Committee on Legal Education Admission and Competence, as well as past chair of the sub-committee on the multi-jurisdictional practice of law.