Van Orin Lawyers

Mr. David Caplan is a partner at the law offices of GWC Injury Lawyers LLC and focuses his practice in the area of workers' compensation. With more than 30 years of experience helping to represent injury victims throughout Illinois, David co-manages the workers' compensation section of our law firm and provides comprehensive legal solutions to his clients. If you or someone that you love has been injured at work, contact Mr. Caplan today by calling (312) 464-1234 or toll free at (800) 464-4772.

Laureen Anderson-Stepanek has concentrated her practice in complex immigration matters since 2002. A graduate of Illinois State University with a degree in History and Political Science, Ms. Anderson-Stepanek did post graduate work in International Relations at the University of Wisconsin, Parkside and eventually obtained her Juris Doctorate from the University Of Iowa College Of Law. Ms. Anderson-Stepanek practices all areas of immigration law; she started her career on the corporate side where she advised internal and external clients on matters related to non-immigrant employment based visas, PERM, international relocation as well as general employment matters related to foreign...

Ryan Stephan is a founding partner of Stephan Zouras, LLP. Ryan represents people from all walks of life in class and individual civil litigation. Specifically, Ryan has helped thousands of clients recover damages in cases involving unpaid overtime, employment disputes, business litigation, products liability and personal injury. Ryan has successfully tried cases to verdict including obtaining a $9,000,000 verdict on behalf of 200 employees who were misclassified and denied overtime pay. Ryan has also served as lead or co-lead counsel on numerous complex class and collective action cases involving wage and hour matters and has helped...

I am a founding member of Flachsbart & Greenspoon, LLC. A registered patent attorney, I concentrate my practice in the litigation and trial of patent cases involving computer and electronic technologies. My cases have involved computer, computer network and electronic technologies of the highest complexity, but also simple mechanical devices. I have successfully argued numerous cases before the Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit, including IMS Technology, Inc. v. Haas Automation, Inc., 206 F.3d 1422, 1430 (Fed. Cir. 2000), HyperPhrase Technologies LLC v. Google, Inc. (Case No. 2007-1125), and 1st Technology v. Rational Enterprises (Case No. 2008-1132). I served in...

I've been a trial lawyer for over 30 years. I graduated from Yale and NYU Law School, and my legal career began as a criminal prosecutor in New York City. Then I moved to Chicago and became a partner with a mid-sized litigation firm for 10 years, receiving litigation training from some of the best trial lawyers in the city. I opened my current law office in Chicago in 1998. In addition to practicing law full time, I've also been teaching trial skills to practicing lawyers every year since 1994 as a faculty member with The National Institute for Trial...

Licensed attorney in Illinois since 1984 with an active civil litigation practice relating to complex injuries, premises liability, insurance coverage, construction claims, scaffold, crane and work platform matters, commercial litigation, intellectual property and other legal concerns. Past Chair of the Illinois State Bar Association's Civil Practice and Procedure Section Council. Past Chair of the Illinois State Bar Association's Standing Committee on Professional Conduct. Recipient of Chicago Volunteer Legal Services Foundation's Distinguished Service Award. Frequent lecturer and author.

Attorney Hannah C. Blackwell established Blackwell Law, LLC in 2023 in an effort to better serve the immigrant communities to which she has dedicated her career. Hannah has had a passion for immigration law ever since she witnessed an ICE raid of a work place in her hometown when she was a teenager. Hannah saw first-hand the massive, devastating impact this raid had on her community, and it sparked a fire in her to fight for the rights of the undocumented and their families. Hannah graduated with a Bachelor of Arts in Professional Writing with cum laude honors and a President’s...

Charles is a creative problem solver and long time resident of Illinois. He has lived in Wilmette since 2011 with his wife and their three children. He received his B.A. in History from the University of Kentucky. He has a Juris Doctorate from Chicago's John Marshall Law School and is licensed to practice in Illinois. Charles is a member of the Illinois State Bar Association, the Chicago Bar Association, Phi Delta Phi honorary Legal Society, and the Wilmette/Kenilworth Chamber of Commerce.

Following his entrepreneurial spirit he has had since a child, Charles started his firm right...

Craig D. Pierson has been practicing law in Illinois for 20 years. Craig focuses on estate planning, real estate, and business law. As an estate planning attorney, Craig has advised clients on sophisticated estate tax planning techniques, including GRATs, QPRTs, family limited partnerships, generation-skipping tax, charitable remainder trusts, and insurance trusts. In his practice as a real estate lawyer, Craig has advised clients on condominium conversion, environmental concerns, tax challenges, and has created appropriate corporate and other companies with which to hold real estate. His real estate practice includes the representation of general contractors, construction managers, real estate...

Upon his graduation from Drake Law School in 1977, Vernon E. Morgan began his professional career as legal counsel to the Director of the Iowa Department of Revenue from 1977 to 1979, litigating tax cases. He served as in-house counsel for American Hospital Supply Corporation working on a broad range of general corporate transactional and litigation matters from 1979 to 1985 and Bristol Meyers Corporation as associate general counsel for Zimmer Corporation from 1986 to 1988.

Since 1988, Vernon Morgan has been in private practice in Lake County, providing a wide range of general legal services. He has successfully litigated commercial...

Nicole M. Soltanzadeh is a principal at The Law Office of Nicole M. Soltanzadeh, where she advises clients in estate planning, estate and trust administration, and real estate negotiations. She works with clients of large, medium, and small estates, providing each client with high-quality and practical representation.

Early in her career, Nicole earned substantial experience as a litigator, advocating for her clients routinely in state and federal court, and at the trial and appellate levels. She has skillfully brought hundreds of cases to closure through mediations, settlement conferences, and trials.

Nicole graduated with honors from The George Washington...

Attorney David Bryant is a partner of the firm and has been named as a rising star in the areas of Employee Benefits and ERISA by Super Lawyers magazine. He is also proud to have been recognized by his peers with the coveted AV Preeminent Peer Review Rated SM by Martindale-Hubbell.

Attorney Melvin L. Sims III is a Commercial and Residential Landlord-Tenant & Real Estate Attorney, a Realtor and a Title Agent with 18 years of experience in the practice of law. Mr. Sims' Landlord-Tenant practice focuses on defending and prosecuting Commercial and Residential Landlord-Tenant actions, including Evictions, Lease Terminations, Lease Arbitrage, as well as pre-litigation Commercial and Residential Lease Dispute Resolution throughout Northern Illinois. Attorney Sims' General Real Estate Practice includes representing both Sellers and Buyers in Commercial and Residential Conveyances through Closing, with an emphasis on Multi-Family assets of 10 units or more. Attorney Sims also provides Title...

Stacy founded Bardo Law, P.C. in 2015 to provide effective, zealous legal representation to consumers, while maintaining empathy and compassion for her clients. Prior to Bardo Law, P.C.’s inception, Stacy was an attorney at the Consumer Advocacy Center, P.C., where she exclusively practiced consumer law. Stacy has been principally involved in more than 275 cases for the victims of harassing debt collection practices, consumer fraud, bait and switch advertising, predatory lending, automobile financing and odometer fraud, wrongful repossessions, unfair mortgage foreclosures, incorrect credit reporting, and violations of the federal Truth in Lending, Telephone Consumer Protection, Fair Debt Collection...

Keith concentrates on complex class action and individual suits involving unwanted robocalls to your cell phones under the Telephone Consumer Protection Act. Keith has been selected as a Illinois SuperLawyer for 2013-2018 and Rising Stars for 2008-2013. He was also named the 2015 Consumer Attorney of the Year by the National Association of Consumer Advocates. He has extensively lectured on the Telephone Consumer Protection Act.

Joseph D. Parente is a Chicago personal injury attorney with extensive litigation experience. He has represented injured persons in the Chicago area for many years, including injured members of the Cook County Forest Preserve, the Fraternal Order of the Police, Electrician’s Union, Carpenter’s Union, Plumber’s Union, and Pipefitter’s Union.

Personal injury attorney Joseph Parente earned his law degree from Loyola University School of Law in Chicago, Illinois. Attorney Parente was awarded his Bachelor of Arts degree magna cum laude from the Loyola University in Chicago.

He has represented injured persons in the Chicago area for many years, including injured members of the...

Brian LaCien, a founding partner at Smith LaCien LLP with Todd A. Smith, leads a Chicago-based personal injury law firm dedicated to serving clients throughout the metropolitan area. Brian specializes in cases involving aviation negligence, class actions and mass torts, medical malpractice, wrongful death, premises and product liability, professional negligence, and trucking litigation. With over 25 years of experience, Brian has a proven track record of resolving complex injury cases through both negotiation and litigation, working tirelessly to secure fair compensation for Illinois residents impacted by catastrophic injuries due to negligence. His commitment to exceptional representation and aggressive advocacy consistently yields...

Dragan is an Illinois-licensed attorney with international reach and experience. Driven to study law to help people, Dragan is licensed to practice in the state court of Illinois, as well as the US District Court for the Northern District of Illinois. For his trademark clients, Dragan is authorized to represent them before the USPTO Trademark Office as well as the TTAB. He also is authorized to practice before the International Criminal Court, the United Nations International Residual Mechanism for Criminal Tribunals, and the State Court of Bosnia-Herzegovina. He has been authorized to appear pro hac vice...

Gregg focuses his practice in the areas of probate administration and litigation, estate planning, elder law, and real estate. In addition, Gregg is a guardian ad litem appointed by the Circuit Court of Cook County, not only in the probate area, but other divisions including domestic relations division and law division.

Gregg is an active member of the legal community, where he is serving or has served in several leadership roles within the Illinois Bar Association and the Chicago Bar Association. Gregg is a past Chair of the Chicago Bar Association’s Probate Practice Committee, where he served two years as Chair....

• Practicing 48 years, Attorney Steven H. Jesser is the founder of Steven H. Jesser, Attorney at Law, P.C. He practices in health care law; appellate law (130 state/federal-civil-felony) appeals; administrative law; schools and education; state, local and municipal law; business and commercial law; probate, wills, trusts and estate administrations and government contracts. For his high ethical standards and long list of successful results, he holds the highest peer rating possible of AV Preeminent* from Martindale-Hubbell. • After earning a Bachelor of Arts from Northwestern University, Mr. Jesser attended the Illinois Institute of Technology Chicago-Kent College of Law, where he obtained a Juris...

Chris graduated from the University of Tennessee – Knoxville, in 2012 with a Bachelors of Science in Education degree in Sports Management and minors in Business and Political Science.
Chris graduated from IIT Chicago-Kent College of Law in May of 2016 and sat for the Bar Examination in July of 2016. Chris was admitted to the Illinois Bar in November of 2016. During law school, Chris held several internships: one with a Civil Litigation firm in Glenview; another with the City of Naperville, where he had his 7-11 License and assisted the City Prosecutor in Traffic Court and DUI Court; and...

I am Toma Makedonski, and I have been practicing law in Chicago, Illinois, for over 22 years. Since I opened my private practice in September 2000, I have committed myself to assisting clients with a variety of legal issues, including criminal and traffic defense, real estate transactions, family law, and immigration law. I am passionate about offering personalized, results-driven representation that is tailored to the unique circumstances of each client. My extensive experience in these areas ensures that my clients receive high-quality legal support when it is most crucial. One common concern for clients seeking legal representation is the uncertainty surrounding...

Margaret Galka joined the Collins Law Firm in 2018 as an associate attorney. She focuses her practice in environmental litigation and personal injury.

Margaret graduated Magna Cum Laude from Vermont Law School, where she concentrated on environmental and energy law. While attending law school, Margaret worked as a clinician in the Environment and Natural Resources Law Clinic and clerked for a prominent law firm in Burlington, Vermont. Margaret also served as a Co-Chair of the Women's Law Group and as an editor of the Vermont Journal of Environmental Law.

Prior to law school, Margaret graduated from the University of Vermont with a...