On November 9, Pre-Law Advising Services and Osher Lifelong Learning Institute present a special opportunity for pre-law students to engage with legal professionals. The following lawyers, who represent a variety of legal practice specialties, will be here at 5:00 in 514 Illini Union Bookstore Building. Network with these lawyers, find out what the legal profession is really like, and learn about the skills you can be building now to make yourself a great advocate. Join us! This is a great opportunity to gain insight into the entire spectrum of professional legal life.
These lawyers will be joining us for the event:
Jim Kearns is currently an adjunct professor at the College of Law, teaching Pretrial Litigation. In 2010, after practicing for 35 years with Heyl, Royster, Voelker & Allen, the last 29 as managing partner of the Urbana office, Jim formally retired from active practice; he continues to handle select cases for the firm in an “of counsel” capacity.
Jim’s practice with the Heyl firm was devoted to civil litigation, with emphasis for most of his career on trial of catastrophic injury cases in a wide variety of areas, including medical malpractice and products liability, as well as railroad, airline and trucking accidents. Jim has been involved in employment law and civil rights cases as well. During his active practice, Jim was a fellow of the American College of Trial Lawyers, and was regularly chosen by his peers as both a Leading Lawyer and a “Super Lawyer” in the area of civil litigation, designations limited to 5% of Illinois attorneys.
Jim graduated from the University of Notre Dame in 1966, and, following a stint in the United States Army, from the University of Illinois College of Law in 1975.
Marilyn B. Resch was in the private practice of law for 39 years, most of that time representing clients in family and marital issues. She retired from the active practice of law in December 2012.
Prior to opening Resch Siemer Law Office, LLC in Effingham in September 2008 with Martin W. Siemer, Marilyn was a partner with the Effingham law firm of Siemer, Austin, Resch, Fuhr & Totten from 1976 to 2008. Before coming to Effingham in 1976, Marilyn worked for the National Labor Relations Board in Peoria and for the Illinois Attorney General’s Office in Springfield in the Environmental Division.
When Marilyn came to private practice in 1976 she was one of the first female attorneys in the area. She soon developed an active family law practice, covering cases in at least eleven counties in Central Illinois. She handled numerous contested custody and property division divorce cases, post-divorce modification cases, including child support and visitation modifications, orders of protection proceedings, and paternity disputes. For more than 15 years Marilyn was also the City Attorney for the City of Casey. Marilyn was rated AV by Martindale Hubbell and for a number of years she was recommended by her peers for the Leading Lawyers Network.
Timothy O. Smith, a 1970 (History) and 1973 (Law) graduate of the University of Illinois, practiced law in Danville, Illinois from 1977 until his retirement in 2010. During the last 13 years he was a sole practitioner. Prior to his arrival in Danville, Tim severed in the U S Navy’s Judge Advocate Generals Corps, first as Base Defense Counsel at NAS Oceana, Virginia Beach, Virginia, and then on the staff of the Judge Advocate General in Washington, D.C.. His Danville practice began as a general practice and over the years narrowed to banking, commercial transactions, business entities, estates, trusts, and complex creditor representation in bankruptcy.
