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Richard J. Reimer
Richard
J. Reimer &
Associates, LLC
15 Spinning Wheel
Suite 310
Hinsdale, IL 60521
rreimer@rjrlaborlaw.com
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Mr. Reimer
is principal of the Law Firm of Richard J. Reimer &
Associates, L.L.C. and was a former partner of Sklodowski,
Puchalski & Reimer. Mr. Reimer currently specializes
in representation of Police and Firefighter Pension Boards
and Public Sector Labor and employment Law.
Mr. Reimer has over twenty years of experience in representation
of Police and Firefighter Pension Boards. Mr. Reimer has
had extensive experience representing Police and Firefighter
Pension Fund clients on all aspects of matters involving
Police and Fire Pension Fund legal issues, including trial
and appellate matters, administrative review proceedings,
disability hearings and matters involving compliance proceedings
before the Illinois Department of Insurance. Mr. Reimer
has been general counsel for the Illinois Public Pension
Fund Association (IPPFA) since 1987. IPPFA is a not-for-profit
organization, consisting of over three hundred Illinois
Police and Firefighter Pension Funds. Mr. Reimer has had
extensive experience in preparation and presentation of
Police and Firefighter Pension Fund training seminars,
drafting of legislation and has filed several Amicus Curiae
briefs on behalf of IPPFA on various Police and Firefighter
Pension Fund issues.
Mr. Reimer is also Board Attorney for the Illinois Professional
Firefighters’ Association (IPFA). As Board Attorney
for IPFA, Mr. Reimer conducts annual Firefighter Pension
Fund training seminars, and is actively involved in the
IPFA, a not-for-profit organization, concentrating on
firefighter’s pension benefits. Mr. Reimer has served
in that capacity since 1994. Mr. Reimer is co-author of
two publications, the Illinois Police Pension Fund Trustee
Handbook and the Illinois Firefighters’ Pension
Fund Trustee Handbook.
Mr. Reimer currently has as his clients over two hundred
Police and Firefighter Pension Boards throughout the State
of Illinois. In addition to the area of practice concentrating
on representation of Police and Firefighter Pension Funds,
Mr. Reimer currently represents several Police and Firefighter
Labor Unions. Mr. Reimer has extensive experience in representing
police officers and firefighters in disciplinary, collective
bargaining and labor matters. Mr. Reimer also represents
police officers and firefighters in civil rights plaintiff
and defense cases.
Mr. Reimer served as a police officer for ten years, holding
the rank of Sergeant and Assistant Chief. Mr. Reimer is
also a former Cook County Assistant State’s Attorney.
Mr. Reimer served as a member of his municipalities Police
and Fire Commission and served a four-year term as Village
Trustee. Mr. Reimer is currently adjunct instructor at
Lewis University, teaching a master’s level course
in Public Sector Labor Relations. Mr. Reimer is also an
instructor at the Illinois Public Pension Fund Association/Northern
Illinois University’s New Trustee Workshop.
Mr. Reimer is licensed to practice law in the State of
Illinois, the Northern District of Illinois Federal Trial
Bar, the Seventh Circuit Court of Appeals and the United
States Supreme Court. Mr. Reimer is a member of the American
Bar Association, Illinois Bar Association, Chicago Bar
Association, DuPage County Bar Association and the American
Trial Lawyers Association.
In addition since 2008, Mr. Reimer was selected by his
peers for inclusion in the Illinois Roster of Illinois
Super Lawyers, as published in Chicago Magazine, for excellence
in employment and labor law. Visit the firm website at
www.rjrlaborlaw.com.
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James L. Dobrovolny
Dobrovolny Law Offices
306 W. Green Street
Urbana, IL 61801
217-344-2376
217-344-2382 fax
dobrovolnylaw@comcast.net
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Jim is a 1970 graduate of the College of Engineering,
University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign. Upon graduating
in 1975 from John Marshall Law School in Chicago he began
practice with the Illinois Attorney General’s Office
under Bill Scott prosecuting environmental cases in the
Chicago-land area. In 1977 he became an Assistant State’s
Attorney for Champaign County, Illinois, prosecuting major
felony cases. He opened his own office and entered private
practice in 1979 with offices in Urbana, Illinois. He
became involved over 25 years ago with the Illinois Public
Pension Fund Association (IPPFA) at its inception because
of the seminal Illinois case of Urbana Police Pension
Fund v. Illinois Dept. of Human Rights he was litigating
on behalf of the Urbana Police Pension Fund concerning
the authority of the Board to determine who could be admitted
to the fund. Since then he has represented approximately
50 different public pension boards, both fire and police,
in various matters. He lectures and presents throughout
the State of Illinois at the many IPPFA seminars, Certified
Trustee Training sessions, web-based Trustee Training
educational seminars, and their Annual Training Conference.
He consults with various police and firefighter pension
boards as Deputy General Counsel to IPPFA on a variety
of public pension issues. His legal practice is focused
primarily on Illinois police and firefighter public pensions
as well as DUI defense and license reinstatement.
He and his wife Katie have adult twin sons and reside
in Champaign, Illinois.
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Charles A. Atwell Jr
Atwell & Atwell
70 South Constitution Dr
Suite 100
Aurora, IL 60506
630-892-4341
630-892-4399 fax
atwelllaw@yahoo.com
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Mr. Atwell
began his practice with his father in the City of Aurora,
after graduating in 1973 from the John Marshall Law School
in Chicago. In the mid 1970’s, he was employed as
an Assistant Attorney General under Bill Scott and prosecuted
consumer fraud cases within the mid-state area. He also
worked as an Assistant Kane County Public Defender involved
with juvenile and mental health cases. Mr. Atwell’s
representation of public pension funds initiated in the
mid 1980’s when he was requested to represent the
City of Aurora Police and Firefighters’ Pension
Fund Boards. In 1990, he represented the Aurora Boards
in the case of United States of America v. State of Illinois,
City of Aurora and the Board of Trustees of the City of
Aurora Police Pension Fund in the U.S. District Court
for the Northern Dist. of Illinois, Eastern Division.
This action was the first Federal case filed against public
pension funds in the U.S. under the newly enacted Americans
with Disabilities Act (ADA). This litigation was the catalyst
which resulted in the modifications to the State Police
and Firefighters’ Pension Codes, eliminating the
“fitness” requirement for membership into
the respective pension funds. Mr. Atwell’s practice
is limited to the representation of Police and Firefighters’
Pension Boards throughout the State of Illinois. He has
been representative counsel in numerous matters of pension
litigation in the State and Federal Courts, many of which
have involved matters of “first impression”,
respecting interpretations of the respective pension statutes.
He has served as Deputy General Counsel for the IPPFA
for over fifteen (15) years and has assisted the Association
in seminar presentations and at the Annual Training Conference.
He has lectured on Police and Firefighter Pension matters
throughout the State of Illinois and has also presented
at other national and international conferences including,
“Guns and Hoses” 2006 Seminar, Las Vegas,
Nevada and “Investment Management Institute”
(IMI) Global Investment Forum 2001-2009, Quebec City,
Canada, and Hilton Head Island, South Carolina in 2005-2006.
Mr. Atwell is licensed to practice law in the State Courts
of Illinois, the Federal Courts for the Northern District
of Illinois, U.S. Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit
and the U.S. Supreme Court. He is a member of many professional
organizations and associations including the local and
State Bar Associations and the National Association of
Public Pension Fund Attorneys (NAPPA).
He and his wife Barbara have two adult married children
and reside in Sugar Grove, Illinois.
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Dennis Orsey
Attorney/Counselor At Law
3388 Maryville Road
Suite A
Granite City, IL 62040
618-797-2800
618-797-1400 fax
orseylaw@msn.com
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Mr. Orsey
graduated from University of Illinois with a B.A. degree
with high honors in 1976. He received his law degree in
1979 from Southern Illinois University School of Law where
he received the John S. Rendelman Award as Outstanding
Senior Law Student and served as Student Bar Association
President. After graduating from law school, he spent
5 years in general private practice with an Alton law
firm and with his own practice in Granite City. In 1984,
he was recruited by former Illinois Attorney General,
Neil F. Hartigan, as Assistant Illinois Attorney General
to establish and maintain the attorney General's Granite
City Regional Office, which serviced an eight county area,
including Madison County and seven surrounding counties.
As Director of this office, Mr. Orsey handled all types
of litigation for the State of Illinois, including general
law, consumer protection, criminal, revenue collection,
environmental, charitable trust, administrative review
cases and many other legal matters. From 1990 to 2006,
Mr. Orsey served as a member of the adjunct faculty a
Southwestern Illinois College as an instructor of Business
Law. After serving eleven years as an attorney representing
the people of the State of Illinois, Mr. Orsey returned
to private practice in 1995, establishing his own general
practice law firm, now located at 3388 Maryville Road,
Granite City, Illinois. He served as an Assistant Madison
County State's Attorney from 1996 through 2000. Since
1997, Mr. Orsey has served as Deputy General Counsel for
the Illinois Public Pension Fund Association and represents
numerous police and firefighter Pension Boards. He served
as President of the Madison County Bar Association (1992-93)
and has been a member of the Illinois State Bar Association
General Assembly for 19 years. Mr. Orsey served as an
elected member of the Illinois State Bar Association,
Board of Governors (2003 - 2009) and served as ISBA Treasurer
(2008 - 2009).
He and his wife, Catherine resides in Glen Carbon, Illinois
and have a twenty-year-old son, Matthew, who is a junior
at the University of Illinois.
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Laura Goodloe
The Law Offices of
Puchalski & Goodloe
731 N. Milwaukee Ave
Libertyville, IL 60048
847-666-5680
847-905-7294 fax
PuchalskiLaw@aol.com
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Laura Goodloe
is the newest addition to the IPPFA counselors at law.
She is the daughter of former deputy counsel Richard J.
Puchalski. She graduated from Eckerd College with high
honors and decided to follow in her father’s footsteps
and attend law school. She graduated from Stetson University
College of law out of St. Petersburg, Florida and returned
to Illinois to practice law alongside her family. Aside
from public pension law, Laura also practices immigration,
labor law and general litigation out of the law offices
of Richard J. Puchalski in Chicago. She is married to
Jeff Goodloe, an attorney who also practices public pension
law with Richard J. Reimer & associates. She is honored
to have been delegated the position of deputy counsel
for the IPPFA and hopes to continue the family tradition
of representing police and fire pension boards in the
years to come. |
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