I’m a Midwesterner, born and raised. I received a J.D. from St. Louis University School of Law in St. Louis, Missouri in 1983 and my undergraduate degree (a B.A. in United States History) from Purdue University in West Lafayette, Indiana in 1978.
In 1984 I received my license to practice law in Illinois. I worked for a small, general practice firm and then opened a solo practice in the greater Chicago area. In 1990 my husband and I decided we’d had enough of the suburbs and moved to Rockford.
I worked as an associate at Morrissey Law Offices from 1991 to 2000. I gained invaluable experience in not only how to practice personal injury and trial law but in how to be a better human being.
My parents moved to Rockford in 1996, and my mom died of cancer the following summer. A few years later, my dad became terminally ill, and in early 2000 I left law in order to work toward a healthier life balance. The most powerful gift of the next year and a half was caring for my terminally ill father. After he died in the fall of 2001, I chose to be a full-time mom for a while before returning to law.
The “for a while” part lasted seven years. After concluding that my teenagers were minimally self-sufficient, I embarked upon a diversity of ventures, including writing, substitute teaching and giving unsolicited advice.
In the fall of 2007, I opened this practice.
I’m a member of the Illinois State Bar Association (including the Standing Committee on Sexual Orientation and Gender Identity) and the Winnebago County Bar Association (including the Estate Section.) I’m also an approved Arbitrator for the 17th Judicial Circuit.
I live in Rockford, a great northern Illinois town of about 152,000. Residing there with me are one husband of thirty-one years, one twenty-one-year-old son and twenty-year-old daughter, both in college. Also taking up space there are my two beloved (most of the time) four-leggers: Sadie the black Lab and Gabbie the mini Dachshund, boss of the world.