Fed Court Boot Camp Conference (3rd Annual): How to Practice in Federal Court (IL) (2012)

Faculty:

Rebecca R. Pallmeyer is a judge with the U.S. District Court in Chicago. 

Judge Pallmeyer graduated from Valparaiso University and earned her law degree from the University of Chicago Law School. Following a one-year clerkship with Justice Rosalie Wahl of the Minnesota Supreme Court, Judge Pallmeyer practiced in the area of commercial litigation for several years with the Chicago law firm of Hopkins and Sutter.

From 1985 until 1991, Ms. Pallmeyer was an Administrative Law Judge with the Illinois Human Rights Commission, a quasi-judicial agency responsible for enforcement of the state's anti-discrimination laws. On October 1, 1991, Ms. Pallmeyer was appointed a United States Magistrate Judge for the Northern District of Illinois. She served as Presiding Magistrate Judge from 1996 until 1998. On July 31, 1997, President Clinton nominated her for a seat in the U.S. District Court in Chicago. The Senate confirmed her nomination on October 21, 1998. In March 2002 and April 2003, Judge Pallmeyer traveled to Romania to consult with Romanian court officials on judicial administration and court reform.

Judge Pallmeyer has presided over dozens of civil and criminal trials, including the prosecution for public corruption of the former governor of the State of Illinois, George Ryan. She speaks frequently on practice and procedure in federal court and on substantive legal issues including, in particular, employment law matters. Judge Pallmeyer is an honorary fellow of the College of Labor and Employment Lawyers and an advisor for ALI-ABA Continuing Professional Education. She is an active member of the Chicago Bar Association, the Chicago Chapter of the Federal Bar Association, the Womens Bar Assocation of Illinois, and the American Bar Association.

Cynthia has spent over fifteen years working for the federal courts at the trial and appellate levels.  She was a career law clerk to the Honorable Blanche M. Manning (Ret.) of the United States District Court for the Northern District of Illinois, and previously served as a motions attorney at the United States Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit.  In addition, she was an Adjunct Professor at Loyola University Chicago School of Law, where she taught an appellate advocacy seminar for five years.  She was chosen to serve on the next generation CM/ECF project, where she is tasked with developing requirements to enhance the functionality of the federal judiciary’s electronic case management and docketing system.  Before her clerkships, Cynthia practiced commercial litigation at Seyfarth, Shaw, Fairweather and Geraldson.  Cynthia received her J.D. in 1991 from Cornell University.

Mary Curry received her B.A. from the University of Iowa in 1999 and graduated from Loyola University Chicago School of Law in 2005.  Immediately following law school she clerked for the Honorable James F. Henry in the Chancery Division of the Circuit Court of Cook County for two years.  In 2007, Mary began clerking for the Honorable Susan E. Cox, a United States Magistrate Judge in the Northern District of Illinois, where she is currently. 

Mary is also active in the Chicago Bar Association where, in 2005 and 2006, she served as the Young Lawyers Division Chair for the Mental Health & Disability Law Committee, and more recently has served on the Young Lawyers Division’s board as the Secretary, Special Project Coordinator and currently serves as Project Officer. In addition, Mary serves on the board of the Federal Bar Association.

Peter joined Golan & Christie as partner in 2009. He has 33 years of experience in civil litigation, including work in multi-million dollar commercial, tort, and employment litigation for both plaintiffs and defendants. He has been lead counsel in 34 trials and numerous appeals, and has handled civil litigation in federal and state courts in 20 states, as well as in England.

Peter has taught as a NITA faculty member in Trial Advocacy since 1984 and as Adjunct Professor of Trial Advocacy and Ethics at the Northwestern University Law School since 1990. He also has written extensively on jury instructions in fraud cases and defamation on the Internet.

Peter is the co-founder of Speaking Legally, Inc., an Illinois MCLE consulting firm on the art of public speaking in a court room.

Peter’s complex civil litigation experience includes antitrust, breach of contract, fiduciary duties, business torts; fraud and misrepresentation, defamation; employment discrimination and wrongful discharge; representation of businesses, unions, pension funds and individuals; prosecution and defense of lost profits claims; jury work; and internet litigation.

Peter received his J.D. in 1978 and attended the University of Chicago and University of Illinois Law Schools.

Rick has an exceptional command and keen sense of the court room.  His quick ability to observe and fluidly present his client's issues has resulted in more than 35,000,000 in settlements and verdicts in his last 15 high profile cases.  Rick has tried more than 35 cases through to jury verdicts and settlements and has arbitrated and mediated more than 100 cases to successful judgments and settlements.

Rick is an adjunct professor of law at Northwestern University.  He began teaching there in 1998.  He teaches trial advocacy.  Rick was selected by the student body as the school’s “Most Outstanding Adjunct Professor” in 2000, 2001, 2002, 2003 and 2005.

Rick and his partner, Adam Riback, coach Northwestern’s national trial advocacy team, which has won multiple awards.  Rick is an instructor for the Mock Trial Institute at Northwestern University and from 1996 through 1999 Rick was an instructor for the Federal Trial Bar.  Rick also teaches at the National Institute for Trial Advocacy (NITA).  Rick was the Co-Chairman of the Trial Techniques Division of the Chicago Bar Association’s Young Lawyers Section from 1995 to 1998.

Rick has lectured on a variety of topics related to litigation techniques, police pursuits and civil liability. 

Rick has been voted an Illinois Super Lawyer from 2006 – 2010.  He has been part of the Illinois Leading Lawyer network since 2006, which includes the top 5% of lawyers in Illinois.  He was also selected by the Chicago Law Bulletin/Leading Lawyers Network as one of the “40 Attorneys Under the Age of 40 to Watch.”

He is a graduate of the University of Wisconsin-Madison and received his law degree from Kent College of Law in 1986.  Rick is a member of The Association of Trial Lawyers of America and the Illinois Trial Lawyers Association.

Mr. Nahrstadt recently started his own firm,  Lipe Lyons Murphy Nahrstadt & Pontikis Ltd. Previously, he was a partner with Williams Montgomery & John, Ltd. where he focused his practice on the defense of high stakes products liability, premises liability, insurance coverage and bad faith and commercial claims.  Mr. Nahrstadt has litigated cases involving a wide variety of products, including fine grinding machines, silicone breast implants, dietary supplements, automobile axles, hydraulic automotive lifts, hydraulic jacks, brakes, clutches, child safety seats, chemical floor wax strippers, signal components, genetically engineered corn, rewinders, pharmaceuticals, thermal oxidizers, gravimetric feeders, welding rods and contact lens solution.  Mr. Nahrstadt has served as regional counsel for a national testing laboratory and currently serves as regional counsel for a large consumer of welding rods, a leading optical manufacturer and a major brake and clutch manufacturer.

Mr. Nahrstadt’s recognitions and listings include AV Peer Review Rating by LexisNexis Martindale-Hubbell;  selected as one of the “40 Illinois Attorneys under Forty to Watch” by the Chicago Daily Law Bulletin, 2006;  listed in Illinois Super Lawyers, 2007, 2010 (Products Liability Defense);  selected by peers as Illinois Leading Lawyer for Products Liability Defense and Medical Malpractice Defense.

Mr. Nahrstadt’s faculty positions include the following:  Adjunct Professor of Trial Advocacy, DePaul University College of Law (Winter 1998, Spring 1999, Summer 1999);  Instructor, Institute for Paralegal Education (June 2002, July 2002, November 2003, August 2008);  Instructor, National Business Institute (November 2004, June 2008);  Instructor, Illinois Institute for Continuing Legal Education (January 2005, November 2006);  Adjunct Professor, College of Lake County, Paralegal Training Program (January 2007 - 2009).

Mr. Nahrstadt is a graduate of Monmouth College, Monmouth, Illinois, B.A., summa cum laude, 1989.  He received his J.D., cum laude, in 1992 from the University of Illinois College of Law.
 

Sherri Thornton-Pierce is a seasoned trial lawyer, presently focusing her practice on commercial and business litigation, with an emphasis on public agency matters. Sherri has over 20 years of civil trial and appellate experience as a U.S. Department of Justice trial attorney, an Assistant U.S. Attorney (Chicago), and as Associate General Counsel for the Board of Education of the City of Chicago. Sherri’s depth of litigation experience includes the defense of complex civil rights matters, varied public agency program funding and contractual matters, and specialized tort actions.

Over the course of her career, Sherri has tried jury and non-jury cases in federal courts nationwide and has argued appellate cases in various jurisdictions on a variety of issues.

Martin T. Tully is a veteran trial lawyer with comprehensive, national experience representing companies of various sizes in complex commercial litigation concerning a broad array of industries. Among others, Mr. Tully has represented clients in a variety of matters involving contract disputes, business torts, antitrust claims, actions for emergency and injunctive relief, breach of representations and warranties, breach of fiduciary duty, trade secrets, restrictive covenants, defamation, energy law, toxic torts, executive-level employment disputes, and consumer class action defense. As national chair of Katten’s Electronic Discovery & Evidence Practice, he also helps clients to stay ahead of the curve with respect to developing law, technology and best practices concerning electronic discovery in litigation or regulatory matters, document retention practices, and successfully navigating state and federal requirements pertaining to the preservation and production of electronically stored information (ESI). Mr. Tully is a co-chair of the American Bar Association’s Trial Practice/Courtroom Technology subcommittee and is a member of the Sedona Conference Working Group on Electronic Document Retention and Production (WG1) and the Seventh Circuit E-Discovery Pilot Program Committee. He also is a published author and frequent speaker in the areas of e-discovery and digital evidence.

In 2001, Mr. Tully was featured in The National Law Journal’s "Defense Verdicts of the Year, Part II" for his role in Research Systems Corp. v. IPSOS S.A., in which a French multinational market research firm had been sued in the plaintiff’s hometown of Evansville, Indiana. More recently, Mr. Tully led a Katten team that defeated class certification in a major wage-fixing class action brought by registered nurses against his client, Children’s Memorial Hospital, and four other Chicago-area health care providers. Reed, et al. v. Advocate Health Care, et al., 2009 WL 3146999 (N.D. Ill., Sept. 29, 2009).

Mr. Tully’s proficiency as a trial and appellate advocate spans multiple state and federal courts across the country. He also is considerably experienced in the alternative dispute resolution (ADR) context, having achieved favorable awards and results for clients in both arbitration and mediation proceedings under the rules of the American Arbitration Association, JAMS Resolution Centers, and court-mandated dispute resolution programs. Most recently, Mr. Tully achieved a complete defense award on behalf of Siemens Building Technologies, Inc. in a two-week arbitration proceeding arising from an energy performance contract dispute.

Mr. Tully received his B.A. from the University of Illinois (1987) and his J.D., cum laude, from DePaul University College of Law (1990). He is admitted to practice law in Illinois and before the Supreme Court of Illinois, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 6th, 7th and 10th Circuits, and the U.S. District Courts in Colorado and the Northern District of Illinois, where he is a member of the Trial Bar. Mr. Tully also currently serves as the head of litigation associate training for Katten's Chicago office.