Jeffrey S. McDonald brings to Robbins DiMonte his background not only as a lawyer, but as a CPA with a masters in Taxation. Early in his career, he was a prosecutor assigned to the Financial and Government Fraud Unit of the Cook County State’s Attorney’s office in Chicago. Jeff was responsible for prosecuting many high profile cases involving embezzlement, insurance fraud, conspiracy, high technology computer crimes. Jeff currently concentrates his practice in the areas of closely held businesses, real estate, tax, estate planning and probate. Jeff is a former chair and current member of the Illinois Institute of Business Law, a successor to the Illinois Secretary of State’s Business Laws Committee. This group has been instrumental in writing the Illinois corporations and limited liability acts as well as modifying other Illinois business statutes. Jeff was the chair of the subcommittee that drafted the Illinois Entities Omnibus Act which allows company conversions and domestications in Illinois. Jeff also is a member of the MultiBoard Real Estate contract drafting committee. The committee periodically updates the standard real estate contract used by residential buyers and sellers in Northern Illinois and has been adopted by a majority of the local bar associations. Jeff serves on the Board of Directors of Versiti, a not-for-profit blood center and blood research organization with facilities in Illinois, Wisconsin, Michigan, Indiana and Ohio. Jeff is an adjunct faculty member at Harper College where he combines his training as a professional chef with the practice of law, teaching hospitality students.

Adam J. Poteracki practices in the areas of trusts and estates, business transactions, and real estate. He represents fiduciaries, businesses, families and individuals in trust and estate planning and administration, including litigation of disputed probate and trust matters. Adam has extensive experience in all areas of probate practice, including decedents’ estates, minor guardianship, and disabled adult guardianship. He is a director and past president of the Northwest Suburban Estate Planning Council, an organization of attorneys, accountants, trust officers, and other financial professionals dedicated to promoting excellence in estate planning. Adam also represents clients in business transactions and real estate matters. He advises clients on business structuring and governance, the purchase and sale of commercial and residential real estate, tax-deferred exchanges, commercial loan transactions, and mergers and acquisitions, with an emphasis on closely held business growth and succession planning. Adam is licensed to practice law in both Illinois and in Wisconsin and frequently advises clients regarding cross-border legal issues in his areas of practice. Adam is Chair of the Firm’s Business & Real Estate Transactions Group.

James J. Riebandt concentrates his practice in the areas of business transactions, real estate, trusts & estates, and labor and employment. Early in his career, he handled a variety of civil litigation cases before developing a transactional practice which now includes business sale and acquisition, formation and representation, residential and commercial real estate sale, purchase and leasing, drafting and review of a variety of financial documents and estate and trust planning and administration. He served as a member of the Palatine Zoning Boarding of Appeals and for twenty-one years he was a Director of the Oakton Community College Educational Foundation including two terms as President. Jim was a founding member of the Holy Cross High School Alumni Education Endowment Fund, serving as President as well. He began his practice with Daley, Reilly and Daley in 1975 and joined Palmer, Blackman and Mancini in 1978 which became Riebandt and DeWald in 1990, where he served as President and Managing Partner until his affiliation with Di Monte & Lizak on January 1, 2013. He is also the long-time public address announcer for the Chicago Bears and the DePaul Blue Demons Men’s Basketball Team.

Nicholas C. Giordano is a highly experienced criminal defense attorney with over 30 years of experience. He has a proven track record of success in negotiating settlements and winning trials. He is skilled in all aspects of criminal law, including plea bargaining, jury trials, bench trials, preliminary hearings, grand jury hearings, and appeals. Nick is also a member of several bar associations and has served on the board of directors of the NWSBA since 2002. In addition to his legal practice, Nicholas Giordano is also actively involved in the legal community. He is a member of the NWSBA, Justinian’s, and the Chicago Bar Association. He has served on the board of directors of the NWSBA since 2002 and has been co-chairman of the NWSBA Fund Raising Committee for five years. Furthermore, he was a past chairman of the NWSBA Criminal Law Committee. Nick is an active participant in all Bar Association dinner meetings, social events, Moot Court and committees.

As owner and Managing Director, Julie Aponte has successfully built and managed our business immigration firm for more than 20 years. Her successful practice includes representing employers of varying sizes, including a multinational employer with 145,000 employees. Julie provides strategic legal counsel for complex immigration matters for global multi-billion-dollar corporations and their professional and executive-level employees. Her extensive experience includes managing the high pace, high volume environment for business immigration services for multinational corporations with hundreds of immigration matters. Julie has had the honor of representing one multinational corporation with 70,000 employees for more than 26 years. Julie has mainly built her immigration law practice through networking and referrals. Julie leads hundreds of clients in successfully securing nonimmigrant work visas, including H-1B, E-1/E-2, L-1, TN visa classifications and navigating the complexities of employment-sponsored permanent residence processes. Julie also directs clients in ensuring compliance with U.S. regulations pertaining to business immigration laws, including prevailing wage requirements, Public Access File compliance, Audit File compliance as well as assisting clients in establishing corporate-wide processes and policies. In addition, Julie’s experience includes creating a firm-wide process for conducting an unprecedented audit project for the firm thousands of Form I-9 Employment Eligibility Verification documents to ensure corporate compliance and mitigate possible government sanctions. Her proactive strategies assist clients in achieving their goals of operational efficiencies and economic growth. Specifically, she prides herself in representing entrepreneurs in investing in U.S. start-ups through the E-2 Treaty Investor visa program. She has represented numerous business investors in obtaining E-2 Treaty Investor visas to develop their business ventures and start-ups in the U.S. As business immigration law touches a variety of industries, Julie has experience representing clients involved in the engineering, financial services, retail, telecommunications, manufacturing, IT consulting, and health care industries. Julie also represents hospitals with their employment-based sponsorship petitions for foreign graduate physicians and nurses. She assists them in achieving work authorization and permanent residence in the U.S. thereby directly benefiting industry shortage needs. Early in her career, she gained experience with Fragomen Del Rey, Bernsen & Loewy, LLP; Paul Hastings LLP (previously Paul, Hastings, Janofsky & Walker LLP); and Squire Patton Boggs (previously, Squire, Sanders & Dempsey LLP).

Chris is a Senior Attorney at J. Aponte & Associates, LLC and has been working in the area of business immigration law since 2013. Since 2013 and from the time he joined our firm in June 2021, Chris has gained extensive experience representing multinational corporations with hundreds of immigration matters. He creates detailed corporate policies and develops strategies for high volume immigration projects, including L-1 Blanket, H-1B, E-1/E-2, EB-1, EB-2 and EB-3 petition processes, and PERM applications. He advises corporate clients on developing compliance policies and processes for maintenance of Public Access Files and for PERM Audit files, completion of Form I-9 (Employment Eligibility Verification), and creates proactive employment-based immigration strategies for their employees. He has written complex immigration petitions and audit responses for filing with US Citizenship and Immigration Services, US Department of Labor, and US Department of State resulting in a high rate of successful applications. Chris provides clients with detailed, hands-on guidance in navigating the complexities of immigration law.

After graduating from the University of Dayton School of Law in 1979, Mr. O’Brien opened his own Personal Injury and Workers’ Compensation practice in 1982. Mr. O’Brien has extensive experience in representing injured union members and working with clients to make sure that they receive maximum benefits and settlements. His office has handled thousands of claims, and has a reputation for preparing cases so that they are ready to be won at trial, which often facilitates a fast settlement or resolution of a claim.

At the Law Office of Steven Fine, our lawyer is dedicated to fiercely defending the rights of clients who are facing the criminal justice system. Over his more than 30 years practicing law, Steven has handled hundreds of complex cases, representing his clients with a comprehensive approach to law. His techniques are cutting-edge and aggressive, and he is always willing to put in the extra effort to research and fully understand a case from every angle. We are well-equipped and prepared to take on a wide variety of criminal law cases. Attorney Fine has extensive experience and is able to take on even the most complicated situation. As a former assistant State’s attorney, Mr. Fine has unique insight in the opposition’s approach and knows effective techniques that work against them.

CARRISSA M. ALVERS is Of Counsel to Klein, Daday, Aretos & O’Donoghue, LLC. Ms. Alvers received her law degree from Chicago-Kent College of Law in 1999. Ms. Alvers practices in the area of domestic relations.

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.