Magazine names 3 suburban attorneys best in Illinois

Super Lawyer’s Magazine: Top 10 Illinois State, Local Government “Super Lawyers” in 2016: 3 from Suburbs; 7, Chicago

A national legal magazine is out with its 2016 list of best Illinois lawyers and tapped only three suburban attorneys and seven from Chicago as among the state’s best state, local government lawyers.

“Super Lawyers” magazine, a subsidiary of Thomson Reuters, just rolled out its 2016 list of top lawyers - “Illinois Super Lawyers” - and selected, among approximately 85,000 licensed Illinois attorneys, just 5% of Illinois barristers as “super lawyers”.

Within its 70 practice categories reviewed, the magazine identified just 10 state, local, and municipal attorneys as “super lawyers”, and only three of whom, including Michael Del Galdo of the Berwyn-based, Del Galdo Law Group, LLC, are from the Chicago-area suburbs. The other seven are from Chicago.

Attorney Michael Del Galdo among top 10 lawyers in state, legal magazine says

Del Galdo, who was named to Super Lawyers “Rising Stars” - lawyers under 40 - in 2010, 2011, 2012 and 2013, also snagged a 40 and over “super lawyer” perch in 2015.

Del Galdo, who founded his now 21-strong attorney firm in 1998, represents multiple park districts, school districts, municipalities, and other units of government in Cook, DuPage, and the collar Counties.

Del Galdo said that he owes his selection to providing 24/7-accessibility; attention to the fine print; and relentless monitoring, parrying, and shaping of endless new state laws coming from Springfield that annually alter the legal playing field in which local governments operate.

“A mayor has to be able to reach you as easily on a Saturday night as on a Monday morning,” said Del Galdo. “And your advice must obviously be cognizant of not only the nuances of current law, but also of recent changes to municipal law and looming changes coming from Springfield.”

Del Galdo, added, “An attorney also needs to be able to work with lawmakers to change laws that negatively impact our mayors and school boards or to provide local governments with opportunities that Springfield legislators may have overlooked,” said Del Galdo. “That’s what I do. I help shape the legal environment in which governments must operate. That makes our firm unique.”

The other suburban attorneys named state and local government “super lawyers” include: Victor Filippini, Filippini Law Firm of Evanston; and Phillip Luetkehans, Schirott Luetkehans & Garner of Itasca.
The Chicago attorneys are: Barbara Adams, Holland & Knight; Demetrious Carney, Bryan Cave; Keri-Lyn Krafthefer, Ancel Clink Diamond Bush DiCianni & Krafthefer; John Murphey, Jr., Rosenthal Murphey Coblentz & Donahue; Robert Fioretti, Orum & Roth; Mary Riordan, Mary Riordan, LLC; and Samuel Skinner, Greenberg Traurig.