Greg Olmstead has been practicing law for 27 years, beginning with personal injury insurance defense for approximately 3 years. For the past 23-plus years, his concentration has been in civil litigation with an emphasis on representing plaintiffs in injury cases. Greg’s previous experience on the “other side” of injury cases makes him an asset to the legal team at Deratany & Kosner.

Alan H. Bender is the co-owner of Goldstein Bender & Romanoff. As the senior and managing partner of the litigation department, Alan works tirelessly to ensure his clients receive the compensation they deserve. Alan was born in Chicago but moved to Brooklyn, New York, when he was 11 years old. He graduated Brooklyn College, which is part of the City University of New York, with a Bachelors Degree in Political Science and went on to graduate Law School from the University of Illinois, School of Law.

There must be a better way. There must be a way to inform injured individuals of their legal rights, retain clients, and help lawyers communicate better with potential and existing clients. These were the concerns that became the focus for Jessica through her work at TorHoerman Law, a law firm she built with her husband, a personal injury attorney. Jessica is an Illinois lawyer, a CPA, and a mother of three. She spent years working as an international tax attorney at Deloitte before her career took a back seat to raising her kids. Her return to work, nearly 10 years ago, was intense. The timing of her return to work collided with an opportunity for the Hoerman family to start a personal injury law firm. Overnight, they had 30 employees depending upon the new law firm’s success. Jessica took on the role of marketing manager and immediately focused on client outreach – knowing full well that their law firm would fail if they couldn’t find clients to serve. Out of this hands-on work building a successful law firm, TruLaw was born. TruLaw developed a platform that gives injured individuals and their families immediate answers as to whether the law firm can assist them in personal injury and product liability cases. TruLaw has been very successful, but Jessica now recognizes a digital transformation taking place leaving in its wake a new kind of legal client – one that expects immediate and valuable information without reading through website information. Jessica believes that no platform is better positioned to make the transition to provide this information than TruLaw. TruLaw is currently building “TruBot” which promises to be a huge improvement over current legal outreach models in meeting these expectations and giving injured individuals improved access to justice.

Kathryn Ann Gallanis is a personal injury defense attorney located in Chicago, IL. Understanding that every case and every client is unique, Attorney Gallanis utilizes teamwork and communication to help her clients achieve legal success. In her previous role as an Assistant State’s Attorney in the Felony Trial Division of the Cook County State’s Attorney’s Office, Attorney Kathryn Ann Gallanis worked diligently to validate the arrest of any individual charged with a crime. Active in the legal community, Attorney Kathryn Ann Gallanis previously served as president of the Women's Bar Association of Illinois. For legal help, contact Attorney Gallanis at 312-683-1058.

Attorney Jason F. Abraham began his career with Hupy and Abraham as a personal injury lawyer in Milwaukee in 1993 and was promoted to shareholder in 1999. Attorney Abraham's proficiency in handling personal injury matters attracts clientele from across the nation. He has settled or tried personal injury cases with a combined value of approximately $400 million and resolved many cases for over one million dollars each. His expertise in personal injury matters has granted him lecturing opportunities in numerous states across the nation.

Bradley Skafish has been practicing law, specifically in the realm of personal injury and civil litigation, since 2002. He is admitted to practice in Illinois (2002), the Northern District of Illinois (2002), Indiana (2004), the Northern District of Indiana (2004), the Southern District of Indiana (2004), the Southern District of Illinois (2012), and the Central District of Illinois (2014). Brad became a partner at Deutschman & Skafish in January 2019. He was admitted to the seventh circuit court of appeals in 2018. Brad is also a member of the Federal Trial Bar. Prior to joining Deutschman & Skafish, Brad operated the Law Offices of Bradley A. Skafish from 2003-2007, focusing primarily on personal injury litigation. Brad has tried more than 50 jury trials. He received his law degree (J.D.) as well as a B.S. in Marketing from Indiana University in Bloomington, Indiana, and remains an avid Indiana Hoosiers fan. Brad is married with two daughters, and devotes much of his free time to attending his girls’ activities, including gymnastics and dance. Brad is also the author of the Bad Cats children’s book series. Additionally, Brad sings, writes music, and plays guitar for local rock band, the Figbeats. Author: “Smut on the Small Screen: The Future of Cable-Based Adult Entertainment Following United States v. Playboy Entertainment Group,” 54 Federal Communications Law Journal 319, 2002.

Since joining TorHoerman Law in 2009, Jacob Plattenberger has taken hundreds of depositions, argued in countless hearings, and tried over thirty-five (35) cases to a jury. His experience in and out of the courtroom has made him a passionate advocate for those injured due to the negligence of others. Jake started his career trying cases at one of the busiest civil courthouses in the country – the Richard J. Daley Center in downtown Chicago. He started out doing insurance defense because he knew that afforded him the best opportunity to get courtroom experience. This type of real trial experience is exceedingly rare in complex civil litigation and having seen it from the defense side gives Jake an added advantage.

Eric W. Cracken joined TorHoerman Law in 2019, to work in our Chicago office. At TorHoerman Law, Eric works in our Chicago office as a member of our trial team that focuses in nationwide, complex litigations representing clients who have been injured by the actions of large corporations and organizations.

Sam L. Amirante, a retired Judge of the Circuit Court of Cook County has returned to private practice, where he concentrates in the areas of criminal and civil litigation. While a Judge, Sam Amirante was assigned to the County’s Third District Courthouse in Rolling Meadows for 13 years and 3 years in the City of Chicago, Judge Amirante carried out his duties with competence, integrity, dedication and compassion. A Chicago columnist, who dubbed Judge Amirante the Hugging Judge, noted that he occasionally directed youngsters in court to hug their parents after resolving matters which have caused an emotional break between them, usually evoking a round of applause from his courtroom. After his appointment to the bench in December, 1988, Judge Amirante presided over hundreds of jury and non-jury trials involving Felonies, Misdemeanors, Traffic, Domestic and Civil matters. He earned approval and praise from sundry citizens, government officials and court watchers. Upon graduation from Loyola University of Chicago with a Bachelor of Science Degree in 1970 Sam enlisted in the United States Marine Corps. From 1970 to 1976 Sam honorably served in the United States Marine Corps on both active and reserve duty attaining the rank of Sergeant and Platoon Leader. While in boot camp he became the17th Marine in the long history of the Corps to receive a perfect 500 points on the tough Marine Corps physical fitness test. Sam is currently a member of the American Legion, Chicago Police Marine Corps League, Italian American War Veterans and various other veteran groups. While on reserve duty, Sam earned his Juris Doctor Degree (JD) from Loyola University School of Law in 1974, graduating in the upper third of his class and was a member of the Phi Alpha Delta Law Fraternity. While attending school, he worked part-time as a policeman for the Village of Norridge. Following his admission to the Illinois Bar, he became an Assistant Public Defender participating as lead counsel in hundreds of felony and misdemeanor bench and jury trials. Sam eventually became the supervising attorney for all of Northwest Suburban Cook County. In 1978,Sam entered the private practice of law where he tried cases throughout the State of Illinois and other States and served for a Prosecutor for the Village of Norridge. That same year, together with Attorney Robert M. Motta, provided legal counsel for serial killer John Wayne Gacy. At the conclusion of the trial, the trial judge commended Amirante and Motta for the excellent legal defense they had provided during the 15-week long trial. Prior to Judge Amirante’s appointment to the bench in 1988, he was a partner in the law firm of Amirante & Etchingham with offices in Park Ridge. In 1987, upon completion of the United States v. Jack Farmer et.al. trial in the United States Federal District Court for the Northern District of Illinois the Court Buffs of Chicago reported in their December 10, 1987 Courtwatchers Newsletter: “Having observed the likes of BAILEY, BUGLIOSI, AND SPENCE PERFORM IN CHICAGO COURTROOMS, we can say the amicable AMIRANTE ranks with them.”Sam is licensed to practice law in the State of Illinois, the Federal and U.S. Supreme courts. He has appeared pro hoc vice on matters in Wisconsin, California, Michigan, Washington, Indiana, and Washington, D.C. He has served as a representative of the Illinois State Bar Association; Northwest Suburban Bar Association (past president); Italian American Bar Association; Illinois Judges Association; the Justinian Society of Lawyers; the Board of Special Olympics; Board Member of Our Lady of Pompeii Catholic Church in Chicago; Legal Technology Advisory Board at Harper College; the Arts and Science Alumni Association of Loyola University; National Italian American Sports Hall of Fame; the Italian American Political Coalition and Joint Civic Committee of Italian Americans; Director and Legal Counsel for the Italian American Police Association; Director for the Little City Board; and as author of the Missing Child Act of 1984, commonly referred to as I-SEARCH; and authored the Loyola Law Review article George Orwell’s 1984 Revisited, Police Abuse of Computers in the 20th Century; and has appeared on numerous television and radio programs as well as speaking engagements.

Rachel Rojas is an attorney at TorHoerman Law who specializes in product liability and pharmaceutical litigation. A Corpus Christi, TX native, Rachal moved cross-country to attend Columbia University in New York City and completed a bachelor’s degree in political science. Before law school and after graduating from Columbia, she worked on both sides of civil litigation as a paralegal for a plaintiff’s asbestos law firm and a corporate defense firm.