Firm News

C. Barry Montgomery Recognized as One of the Top Ten Business Lawyers and One of the Top Ten Commercial Litigators in the State

Founding partner C. Barry Montgomery, who concentrates his practice on the defense of high stakes commercial cases, was recently recognized as one of the top ten Leading Business Lawyers and one of the top ten Commercial Litigators in the state of Illinois, based upon surveys of thousands of lawyers conducted by the Leading Lawyers Network.  Montgomery, who has been a member of the Leading Lawyers Network since its inception, was consistently recognized for his experience, skill and dedication in the fields of business law and commercial litigation when the lawyers surveyed were asked to recommend a business lawyer if a family member or friend needed help and the surveyed lawyer could not take the case.

Peter C. John Appointed to the Board of Governors of the International Society of Barristers

Name partner Peter C. John was recently appointed to the Board of Governors of the International Society of Barristers.  The International Society of Barristers is a society of outstanding trial lawyers chosen by their peers on the basis of excellence and integrity in advocacy.  It seeks to preserve trial by jury, the adversary system, and independence of the judiciary.  As individuals, the Fellows of the Society are committed to the highest of ethical standards and to civility in all their personal and professional relationships.  With a limited membership, the Society has Fellows from every state, the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico, the Virgin Islands, Australia, Canada, England, Scotland and Mexico.

Seventeen Partners Named to the Leading Lawyers Network

Seventeen of the Firm's partners have been selected by their peers to be listed by the Leading Lawyers Network as being among the top lawyers in the State of Illinois.  These partners have been named as leading lawyers in several specialty areas including commercial litigation, intellectual property law, civil appellate law, products liability, professional liability and insurance coverage.  Nominations for this honor were obtained by surveying all Illinois lawyers and asking the question: "If a family member or friend needs legal help and you cannot take the case, which lawyers would you recommend within your area of law or geographic area?"  Lawyers could not nominate themselves or anyone at their firm.  All nominations were subjected to three additional phases of review before the final selection for the listings were made.  The total number of members in the Leading Lawyers network will never exceed five percent of the total number of lawyers in the state.

The following partners were recommended by their peers to be among the top lawyers in the State of Illinois:

David L. Applegate (commercial litigation; intellectual property law)

Deborah H. Bornstein (commercial litigation)

Michael C. Bruck (commercial litigation, professional liability, insurance/insurance coverage/reinsurance law)

Alyssa M. Campbell (civil appellate law)

Peter C. John (commercial litigation, professional malpractice, products liability; general personal injury defense)

Brigid E. Kennedy (commercial litigation, professional malpractice)

Jeffrey H. Lipe (commercial litigation, products liability, general personal injury defense)

Theodore J. Low (commercial litigation)

Raymond Lyons, Jr. (transportation, general personal injury defense)

C. Barry Montgomery (commercial litigation, products liability, class actions/mass torts, professional malpractice, general personal injury defense)

Edward J. Murphy (products liability)

Bradley C. Nahrstadt (products liability)

Thomas H. Neuckranz (commercial litigation, products liability, toxic torts, class actions/mass torts, employment discrimination, general personal injury defense)

Thomas J. Pontikis (commercial litigation; products liability; general personal injury defense; insurance/insurance coverage/reinsurance law)

Steven J. Roeder (commercial litigation, products liability, class actions/mass torts)

David E. Stevenson (commercial litigation, insurance/insurance coverage/reinsurance law)

Lloyd E. Williams, Jr. (products liability, toxic torts, class actions/mass torts, professional malpractice, general personal injury defense)

Seven Partners Named as Super Lawyers

The publishers of Law & Politics and Chicago Magazine recently announced that seven of the firm's partners have been named Illinois Super Lawyers.  In September 2006, Law & Politics mailed more than 47,000 ballots to Illinois attorneys who have been licensed to practice for five years or more.  Law & Politics asked the attorneys to name the best lawyers they had personally observed in action.  Each lawyer who was nominated was given a score based on the number and type of votes received.  The research staff of Law & Politics then reviewed the credentials of each attorney nominated in the general survey and assigned points based upon defined evaluation criteria.  A blue ribbon panel consisting of the top point-getters from the general survey and research process was then assembled for each area of practice. The blue ribbon panel members reviewed the list of nominees in their area of practice and produced a point total for each nominee.  The point totals from the general survey, research process and blue ribbon panel review were then added together to arrive at a final point total for each candidate.  Those with the highest point totals in each area were named Super Lawyers.

The Williams Montgomery & John partners who were named Super Lawyers, and their areas of expertise, are:

Barry Montgomery and Peter John were named to the list of the Top 100 Super Lawyers in the state, based on receiving the highest point totals in the 2007 Illinois Super Lawyers balloting, research and blue ribbon review process.

Firm Lawyers Team Up to Win an Impressive Victory

On July 5, 2007, Barry Montgomery, Alyssa Campbell, and Ed Murphy won an appeal in the Seventh Circuit in Alcala v. Emhart Industries, Inc. Alcala sued Emhart for negligence after he injured his hand in a machine manufactured by Emhart's predecessor. The Seventh Circuit affirmed a jury verdict that Montgomery and Murphy had obtained in favor of Emhart. The court rejected Alcala's argument that the district court should have asked the jury specific tort-reform questions during voir dire. The court also found no error in the jury instructions, finding that the negligence instruction properly instructed the jury to judge Emhart's conduct by a "reasonably careful person" standard, as opposed to a "reasonable manufacturer" standard, and that plaintiff's instructions improperly intertwined concepts of strict liability with negligence concepts.

Firm Wins Another Major Appeal

Alyssa Campbell, the head of the firm's appellate practice group, recently won an appeal in the Appellate Court, Third District, in Polivka v. Atlantic Mutual Companies. Following an arbitration award for the insurer on a fatality/underinsured motorist claim, the plaintiff appealed, contending that the neutral arbitrator committed misconduct by discussing the arbitration with one of his partners at his law firm. The trial court entered summary judgment for the insurer and the appellate court affirmed, holding that the plaintiff had not satisfied his evidentiary burden of proving misconduct.

Montgomery Recognized in Who's Who Legal Illinois 2006

C. Barry Montgomery was recently recognized in Who's Who Legal Illinois 2006.  Mr. Montgomery was identified as an outstanding lawyer in two separate areas of practice: commercial litigation and products liability.  According to the publication, "He shows all the qualities of an outstanding trial lawyer and a willingness to accept some of the more challenging cases."

Nahrstadt Named One of the 40 Illinois Attorneys Under Forty to Watch

Bradley C. Nahrstadt was recently named one of the 40 Illinois Attorneys Under Forty to Watch by the Law Bulletin Publishing Company.  Nahrstadt was selected from among hundreds of nominees based on his career achievements, how quickly and how far he has risen within his area of practice and the contributions he has made to his community and the profession.

    Williams Montgomery & John Joins Primerus          
                                                                     
Williams Montgomery & John has been selected for membership in the Primerus nationwide alliance of independent law firms.   Since 1993, through careful research and thorough background checks, Primerus has built a network of almost 100 small to medium sized law firms in every part of the country.  All Primerus firms must have earned the maximum “AV” rating from Martindale-Hubbell prior to applying for membership.  From that elite group, Primerus begins its rigorous screening process.  Judges, fellow lawyers, current and former clients, bar associations and insurance carriers are all contacted for candid assessments of the firm’s quality of work, commitment to professional ethics and civility.  No firm is accepted into the Primerus network unless the group is confident that the firm will be committed to the Six Pillars of Primerus: Integrity, Excellence of Work Product, Reasonable Fee Structure, Continuing Legal Education, Civility to Bench and Bar and Community Service.  For more information on Primerus, please see http://www.primerus.com/ .