Julia has over 20 years of experience representing diverse business industries and individuals as debtors in reorganizations, bankruptcy, and debt restructuring. She has been lead and co-counsel in Chapter 11 bankruptcies on behalf of real estate developers, hospitality companies, commercial landlords, manufacturers, fabricators, logistic companies and high net-worth individuals. She also has significant experience representing lenders and creditors in bankruptcy court and state court, including stay modification litigation, adversary actions, priority lien disputes and commercial collection and foreclosure, as well as contractors and homeowners in construction and mechanic’s lien litigation. Julia has in-depth experience drafting contracts, leases, business sales transactions and settlement agreements with an eye toward anticipating potential litigation and protecting her clients. Additionally, she represents condominium and homeowners’ associations in litigation, collection, negotiations with vendors and disputes with utilities and municipalities. Julia is experienced with drafting estate plans and representing estate and beneficiaries in probate litigation. As a seasoned attorney, Julia handles all aspects of litigation including investigations, pleadings, discovery, pre-trial matters, trial, and if appropriate, settlements and/or appeals of trial decisions. Julia is a frequent speaker with the Illinois State Bar Association on topics in Bankruptcy, Mechanics Lien and Collection Strategies. Julia is the Chair of the Firm’s Litigation Practice, and a third year honoree for the 2026 Illinois Super Lawyers® list.

Since 1985, Riccardo A. DiMonte has been our most active trial lawyer. He concentrates in commercial law matters, contract disputes, construction law, mechanic’s liens, mortgage foreclosures, bankruptcy, civil rights cases and corporate and partnership dissolutions. He has tried multi-million-dollar lender liability and lottery prize cases to verdict, handled numerous state and federal court appeals and regularly practices before the American Arbitration Association. Riccardo is a current member of RD’s Executive Committee. Riccardo has lectured at continuing legal education seminars on commercial law and bankruptcy topics.

Lee Poteracki concentrates his practice on transactional matters such as business acquisition and sale, entity choice and formation, and commercial real estate transactions as well as leasing of commercial premises. He also counsels on estate planning and administration of trusts and estates, including not only straightforward distributions but also the disposition or succession to ownership of family business interests owned by the trusts or estates of entrepreneurs.

Anthony B. Ferraro has extensive experience handling issues involving elder law and Medicaid asset protection planning for long-term care. His clients also come to him regarding assistance in traditional estate planning, “senior” estate planning, trust administration and probate administration. As a trusted legal advisor for over 40 years, Anthony regularly represents maturing families, aging baby boomers, seniors, and their families as well as various fiduciaries such as agents under power of attorney, executors, and trustees to achieve asset protection for individuals and families that have members who have begun the “long-term care journey”. Anthony provides strategies for family members and their fiduciaries regarding 1) Medicaid pre-planning, 2) Medicaid wait-and-see planning, and 3.) Medicaid crisis-planning and other matters pertaining to aging. Anthony’s substantial experience allows him to assist clients and their families in representation for: 1) long-term care planning for nursing home care, 2)nursing home admission contracts, 3) Medicaid planning and asset protection strategies, 4) Medicaid applications for long-term care, 5) Medicaid appeals, 5) special needs planning, 6) life’s inevitable changes from the need for traditional estate planning to planning for ill or institutionalized single persons or spouses, 7) individuals who have developed Alzheimer’s, MS, Parkinson’s and other degenerative health issues requiring a focus on governmental benefits eligibility. Through Anthony’s relationships with attorneys in elder law, locally and nationally, he is focused on the never-ending changes and issues brought to the forefront by state and federal legislatures, and governmental agencies. Anthony remains dedicated to providing service that will guide clients and their families through life’s three phases: maturing years, senior years, and post death years. Anthony has been selected to the Illinois Super Lawyers® list. 2026 marks his tenth year receiving this honor.

Carol Sales concentrates her practice in bankruptcy, insolvency matters, and commercial litigation. She has approximately 20 years of experience representing a wide variety of clients in all stages of litigation. Carol has also represented debtors, creditors, and parties in interest in numerous Chapter 7, 11, and 13 bankruptcy cases for individuals and businesses. She takes a personalized approach to counseling clients to achieve their goals in a cost-effective manner. Carol has been recognized as a Law Bulletin Media Leading Lawyer from 2021 to the present and Emerging Lawyer from 2018 to 2020 in the practices of Bankruptcy/Workouts and Business Litigation across the Chicagoland area. She co-authored the Illinois Institute for Continuing Legal Education’s (IICLE) chapters on the Small Business Reorganization Act of 2019; Representing Clients in Bankruptcy Cases; Chapter 11 Cases for Individuals and Small Business Debtors; Mechanics Liens in Bankruptcy; and Filing a Chapter 7 Petition and Exemptions. She obtained her J.D. cum laude from the University of Illinois Chicago School of Law. During law school, Carol was a lead articles editor for the John Marshall Law Review and a Distinguished Scholar Award recipient. She worked as an extern in the Circuit Court of Cook County for various judges hearing foreclosure cases and received an LL.M. in real estate law, with honors. Carol has been recognized as a 2026 honoree for Thomson Reuters’ Super Lawyers® List. This is Attorney Sale’s third year receiving this honor. She also was selected as a honoree for Crain’s Chicago Business 2024 Notable Women of Law.

Anastas Shkurti brings two decades of experience negotiating and closing complex transactions, including commercial loan documentation, loan modifications, forbearance agreements, asset-based lending, intercreditor agreements, workouts, corporate mergers and acquisitions, asset and stock buys and sales, factoring, equipment leases and sales, franchise agreements, IT service agreements, master agreements, employment agreements, and organizing new businesses. Anastas also possesses unique insight in all aspects of commercial real estate construction, bidding, development, land use, leasing, management, rezoning, and municipal law. His litigation experience focuses on complex data analysis, damage calculations, forecasts, modeling, projections, and expert witness preparation. By offering in-house services to several national companies, Anastas has developed a broad perspective for evaluating legal consequences of all aspects of business operations. Anastas also leverages his research and technological background to offer clients cost efficient legal services of uncompromising quality.

Artur Zadrozny is a dedicated attorney providing comprehensive legal services to individuals and businesses in real estate, business transactions, and trusts and estates. With over a decade of experience since earning his J.D., Artur has developed an articulate practice, offering strategic counsel and personalized solutions tailored to each client’s unique needs. In real estate, Artur assists clients with residential and commercial transactions, leasing, and financial matters. He also helps individuals legally establish their business, through entity formation and maintenance and contract negotiations. Additionally, he provides estate planning and probate services to both individuals and businesses, creating customized plans to protect assets and plan for the future. Fluent in Polish, Artur frequently provides bilingual legal services to the Polish speaking community, which includes his time as a pro-bono attorney at the Amicus Poloniae Legal Clinic. With a practical, results-driven approach, Artur leverages his experiences to help his clients navigate complex legal matters with confidence.

Eric G. Patt has a broad-based transactional practice, with a focus on contracts, business acquisition, real estate, and employment-related issues. He also has extensive experience representing municipal governing bodies in the Chicago area, and in counseling their various boards and commissions in municipal law and land use issues. Additionally, Eric has extensive litigation experience, having conducted numerous bench and jury trials in state and federal courts, with substantial appellate experience. Eric is Chair of the Firm’s Municipal Law Practice Group and is actively involved in all aspects of RD’s municipal client representation. He also is the author of Chapter 9: “Representing a Home Rule Municipality” for IICLE’s Municipal Law: Contracts, Litigation, and Home Rule, 2024 and 2020 Editions.

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.

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.