EXPERIENCE
Michael manages the litigation practice at Jeep & Blazer. Michael is a trial lawyer experienced in State and federal trial and appellate matters throughout the United States. He has handled multi-million dollar lawsuits, arbitrations and appeals on both the federal and state level. In a career devoted entirely to litigation, Michael has tried both jury trials and bench trials covering most types of complex commercial matters, including construction, contract, corporate, real estate, partnership, employment, insurance, business torts, franchising, securities, antitrust, stockholder and derivative suits.
Michael has also represented a variety of clients, both public and private, in a wide array of environmental litigation. With Jeep & Blazer, Michael has been involved in a variety of environmental and municipal matters, including pollution control facility siting proceedings, zoning and land use litigation, cost recovery actions, administrative proceedings and enforcement of environmental liabilities under CERCLA, RCRA and local ordinances.
Michael has a pragmatic, results-oriented perspective on litigation. Lawyers have always been fiduciaries -- actors on behalf of others -- who should put the interests of those others ahead of their own. This philosophy sets the tone for a "less is more" approach. All too often, the client's main interest is lost at the expense of time consuming and wasteful discovery and other "scorched earth" tactics. The focal point of litigation should be to obtain a satisfactory result for the client as quickly and economically as possible, and not to engage in endless discovery and other tactical maneuvers for their own sake.
EDUCATION
Bachelor of Arts, Loyola University of Chicago, 1979.
Loyola University Law School, J.D., Cum Laude, 1982.
ADMISSIONS
Illinois, 1982; New York, 1993.
COURTS
Admitted to Federal Courts in the Northern and Central Districts of Illinois, Southern District of New York, Eastern District of Virginia, Western District of Michigan and Fourth, Seventh and Tenth Circuit Courts of Appeals.
AFFILIATIONS
American Bar Association, Illinois State Bar Association, DuPage County Bar Association, Chicago Bar Association, ISBA Environmental Law Section Council.
PRESENTATIONS
November 2005
Exercising Municipal Power: Brownfield Redevelopment as a Contact Sport,
USEPA Brownfield Conference, Denver, Colorado
January 2005
How to Avoid Mold Litigation: Advances in Environmental Mold Issues in Illinois
Southwest Side Association of Realtors
December 2003:
Zoning Process and Judicial Challenges,
Lorman Education Services Seminar: Zoning and Land Use in Illinois.
September 2003:
Maximizing Opportunity:Taking Advantage Of Bankruptcy As A Vehicle For Brownfield Redevelopment
Illinois Environmental Conference
