About William Wagner
William Wagner is an award-winning writer and editor who’s been at it for thirty-plus years. He has written for everything from Sports Illustrated to the Chicken Soup for the Soul series, and also is the author of a book about the Chicago Cubs titled Wrigley Blues. Wagner has contributed to Super Lawyers since 2005 and has thoroughly enjoyed interviewing and profiling an array of fascinating attorneys.
Articles written by William Wagner
Strategies for Businesses To Prevent Ransomware Attacks
Ransomware is a malicious software, also called malware, designed to disable computer systems and capture sensitive data until the victim pays a ransom to recover access. Ransomware attacks are on the rise, and the tools deployed by threat actors — people or groups who intentionally cause harm to digital devices or systems — are increasingly sophisticated. “Assume you're going to get hit at some point,” says Jason Kravitz, head of the cybersecurity and privacy practice at Nixon Peabody …
Cultural Resolution
Linda Mealey-Lohmann’s longtime passion for ChinaIn the mid-’70s, Linda Mealey-Lohmann was a voice major at the University of Minnesota when the trajectory of her life changed. “I love languages, and as a voice major you have to sing in all different languages,” she recalls. “I was making my Chinese friends teach me Cantonese. At one point, they said, ‘You should take a Chinese class since you love language so much.’” She connected with it so well that she changed her major to East Asian studies—and that was just the …
Repping P.R. in D.C.
How Ivelisse Bonilla got the chance to help her home islandIvelisse Bonilla has always wanted to contribute to the greater good—particularly for her home, Puerto Rico. “I’ve always been passionate about politics and public service,” she says. She got her chance in 1999 when she was a young employment attorney at McConnell Valdés, the island’s largest law firm. A colleague of Bonilla’s had just been appointed head of the Puerto Rico Federal Affairs Administration in Washington, D.C.—the agency that represents the Puerto Rican government …
Use Mediation for Your Business Dispute
Mediation is a type of alternative dispute resolution (ADR) that provides a relatively simple and straightforward process for resolving business disputes. In many business disputes, mediation is the best option by being faster, more cost-effective, and enabling creative solutions. For legal advice about using mediation to resolve disputes and avoid business litigation, talk to a mediation and ADR attorney. How Mediation Works The disputing parties and their attorneys agree on a neutral third …
In-Laws in Law
Dan O’Connell and Lindsey O’Connell bridge the generational divideFor two of the lawyers at Maplewood-based Tuft, Lach, Jerabek & O’Connell, family law is literal. When Lindsey O’Connell joined the firm in 2015, she went into practice with her father-in-law, family law mainstay Dan O’Connell. “I am married to Dan’s youngest son, Kevin,” Lindsey says. “He and I went to UMD together. The very first time I met Dan, they came up to visit us in Duluth. I got to go out to dinner with Dan and Lynne. I had known I wanted to go to law school, and I …
What Do I Need To Do Before Filing a Discrimination Lawsuit?
There are many federal and state laws that protect employees from discrimination. Under these laws, if an employee faces workplace discrimination, they have the option to file a civil rights claim seeking compensation or reinstatement by their employer. There are preliminary steps to filing a discrimination lawsuit that you need to be aware of. The process for bringing a lawsuit can vary depending on whether you sue under federal or state law and the state you live in. Contact a local …
Cutting Through the Darkness
How education attorney Darcy Kriha helped a blind immigrant gain citizenshipDarcy Kriha didn’t choose the law as much as she was called to it—literally, by Jean Dolores Schmidt. Basketball fans in Chicago and beyond know “Sister Jean” as the much-loved chaplain of the Loyola University men’s team. Kriha, however, knew her long before that—as her academic adviser at Mundelein College (which later merged with Loyola) in the late 1980s, who provided hands-on guidance. “Sister Jean knew I needed a little help because I was the first generation in my family to …
The Best Way To Start a Nonprofit
Nonprofit organizations provide a wide variety of important social services. But starting a nonprofit can be quite complicated, especially if you're unfamiliar with tax and corporation laws. In particular, nonprofit businesses need to understand how different state and federal laws affect their structure. States and the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) highly regulate different types of nonprofit organizations. Failure to follow nonprofit compliance could result in severe tax penalties. Before …
The Simple Story of Raj Shah
The litigator masters the facts, then focuses on the critical issueRaj Shah’s story doesn’t begin anywhere near the plush Chicago offices of global firm DLA Piper, where Shah, 46, is a partner and chair of the Chicago litigation group. To get to square one, you have to travel five-plus decades back in time and nearly 8,000 miles to the city of Rajkot in Western India to find Raj’s father, Niranjan M. Shah. It is, Niranjan says, “a simple story.” In 1964, with little money in his pocket, Niranjan embarked on the long, uncertain journey to America, …
Keeping Pace
The IP litigator’s engine always runs at full speedGood luck trying to keep up with Olivia Luk Bedi. She rises while it’s still dark and goes for a run through her Bucktown neighborhood. Not a casual jog—it’s training. The 41-year-old Bedi competed in the Chicago Marathon in 2018. That warmup is followed by the routine of a working mom: waking up her two kids (ages 3 and 7), dressing and feeding them, and getting them out the door and to school. Then she dashes off to the Neal, Gerber & Eisenberg offices in the Loop or maybe to the …
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