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LINDSAY, RAPPAPORT
& POSTEL LLC |
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OUR ATTORNEYS |
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| WILLIAM C. LINDSAY, partner |
wlindsay@lrplawfirm.com |
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Bill Lindsay is the founding partner of Lindsay, Rappaport & Postel. For over twenty years, Bill has represented defendants in civil lawsuits with diligence, integrity, and success. His practice areas include construction injury and defect litigation, wrongful death, product liability, premises and auto liability cases. He has obtained numerous defense verdicts and summary judgments for his clients, achieving favorable results against some of the most formidable plaintiff's attorneys in the state. Bill has obtained defense verdicts of no liability in over half of the cases he has tried to verdict, and in most of the others, the verdict has been below the last offer.
Bill acquired unique insights into the internal workings of a casualty insurer's claims department when he served on a "claims/legal action team" for a major casualty insurer, which was tasked with developing protocols for improving communication, work flow, and work quality between defense counsel and claims professionals. The report and recommendations that Bill and his action team members generated served as the basis for comprehensive new policies and procedures implemented by the insurer. More importantly, the experience taught Bill a great deal about the needs and concerns of claims professionals. Those insights inspired Bill to establish a law firm dedicated to one mission: to be Advocates Of Our Clients' Interests, and Stewards Of Their Resources. This is the continuing mission of our firm.
Bill is a 1981 graduate of the University of Wisconsin, and a 1985 graduate of the John Marshall Law School. In law school, he served as Executive Editor of the John Marshall Law Review, and authored WHEN UNCLE SAM CALLS, DOES MA BELL HAVE TO ANSWER?: RECOGNIZING A CONSTITUTIONAL RIGHT TO CORPORATE INFORMATIONAL PRIVACY, 18 J. Marshall L.Rev. 915 (1985). Bill is admitted to practice in the state and federal courts of Illinois and is a member of the federal trial bar. He is an active member of the Illinois Association of Defense Trial Counsel, the Illinois State Bar Association, and the Lake County Bar Association.
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| STUART N. RAPPAPORT, partner |
srappaport@lrplawfirm.com |
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Stuart Rappaport concentrates his practice on defending premises liability cases of all types, defense of restaurants and taverns, construction injury cases, transportation injury cases, and other civil litigation matters. Stuart is a 1984 graduate of the University of Wisconsin-Madison, and obtained his law degree in 1988 from the University Of Illinois College Of Law, where he graduated magna cum laude and with several honors, including Order of the Coif, Harno Scholar, American Jurisprudence Award Winner, and where he was an Associate Editor of the University of Illinois Law Review. He began his career practicing with one of Chicago's largest business law firms in the area of commercial litigation, before moving to personal injury litigation and insurance practice. He was senior trial counsel for Commercial Union Insurance Co. for several years before joining the firm now known as Lindsay, Rappaport & Postel. He has successfully defended and tried numerous cases in the Illinois courts. He is a member of the federal trial bar, as well as the Illinois Association of Defense Trial Counsel (IADTC), where he has been an instructor in the IADTC trial academy. He is the author of The Complete Illinoisan's Guide to Defending Premises Liability Cases. |
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| JOSEPH P. POSTEL, partner |
jpostel@lrplawfirm.com |
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Joe Postel heads up the firm's insurance coverage and appellate practice group. Joe has twenty-five years of experience handling complex litigation and appeals, and has been cited by a Connecticut court opinion as an authority on additional insured coverage. See, Devino v. Maryland Cas. Co., 37 Conn.L.Rptr. 819, 2004 WL 1965788 (Conn. Super. 2004). He has been lead counsel in 60 appeals, winning more than two-thirds of them. Joe is a 1979 graduate of Willamette University College of Liberal Arts in Salem, Oregon, and a 1982 graduate of Willamette University College of Law. He is a member of Defense Research Institute and Illinois Association of Defense Trial Counsel, as well as a former Vice Chair of the Insurance Coverage Litigation Committee of the American Bar Association's Tort & Insurance Practice Section. |
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| TIMOTHY M. ARTHURS |
tarthurs@lrplawfirm.com |
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Tim Arthurs has concentrated his practice in defending automobile, homeowners, and commercial lines insurance claims for the past 12 years. Tim is a 1991 graduate of Northern Illinois University, and received his law degree from John Marshall Law School in 1994. Tim is an accomplished trial lawyer, and has successfully defended and tried numerous cases in the circuit courts of Cook, Lake, and McHenry counties. He is a member of the Illinois, Chicago, and Lake County Bar Associations. |
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| MATTHEW A. COHEN |
mcohen@lrplawfirm.com |
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Matt Cohen joined Lindsay, Rappaport & Postel, LLC in April, 2008 and he is part of the firm’s insurance defense litigation practice. Matt received his undergraduate degree with distinction from the University of Michigan in 2002 with a major in political science. He graduated from Chicago-Kent College of Law in 2005 , where he received a Chicago Kent Merit Scholarship . During law school, Matt worked for one of the most prominent plaintiff’s personal injury law firms in Chicago. After law school, he began working for a plaintiff’s personal injury law firm where he successfully tried several cases. Matt has experience representing clients in motor vehicle accident cases, premises liability matters, nursing home negligence cases, and other matters. He is a member of the Illinois State Bar Association.
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| NATALIE M. MESPLOU |
nmesplou@lrplawfirm.com |
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Natalie M. Mesplou joined the firm in November of 2007. She received her undergraduate degree from UCLA in 2002 with a major in business economics, a minor in philosophy and a specialization in computing. She graduated from Chicago-Kent College of Law, with Honors, in 2005. During law school, Ms. Mesplou worked as a law clerk for Liberty Mutual Insurance Company. She also received the CALI Award for Trial Advocacy II and served as a legal writing teaching assistant. She has experience representing clients in complex insurance coverage, commercial litigation, construction, medical malpractice, transportation, appellate and consumer class action matters. She is a member of the Defense Research Institute and the Illinois State Bar Association.
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| MARY BETH O'BRIEN |
mbobrien@lrplawfirm.com |
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Mary Beth O'Brien has been
practicing in the field of insurance defense litigation since
1984. She is a 1981 graduate of St. Mary's College, Notre Dame,
and received her law degree in 1984 from DePaul University.
Mary Beth has successfully tried and defended cases in Cook,
Lake and Kane Counties, and has argued before the Illinois appellate
courts and the Illinois Supreme Court. She has handled the defense
of cases in many areas including products liability, construction,
premises liability, landlord liability and liquor liability.
She is a member of the Illinois State Bar Association and the
Chicago Bar Association, and the Society of Trial Lawyers. Mary
Beth has authored chapters for IICLE in the area of Illinois
Dram Shop Practice and Procedure for their volumes on Illinois
Causes of Action and Illinois Dram Shop Law. |
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| CHRISTOPHER J. PICKETT |
cpickett@lrplawfirm.com |
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Chris Pickett joined Lindsay, Rappaport & Postel, LLC in May, 2007, and he handles defense and coverage matters for the firm's insurance litigation practice. Chris is a 2001 graduate of the University of Wisconsin-Madison, where he was named to the Dean's List in his final four semesters. He attended law school at the Chicago-Kent College of Law, graduating in May, 2005. During law school, Chris was an active member of the Criminal Defense Clinic, named to the Dean's List, was the recipient of multiple CALI Awards, including an award for legal writing, and worked as a law clerk for a leading, global insurance company. Chris has focused his career on insurance related litigation, having begun his practice as an associate with an insurance defense firm. He has experience representing clients in insurance coverage matters, construction liability cases, premises liability cases, dram shop cases, and other defense matters. Chris is a member of the Illinois Bar Association and the Illinois Association of Defense Trial Counsel.
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| SCOTT G. RIDGE, Of Counsel |
sridge@lrplawfirm.com |
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Scott Ridge concentrates in insurance defense litigation practice. His career has included defense of personal injury lawsuits of all types, from automobile negligence to medical malpractice, as well as other related insurance issues, including insurance coverage opinions, declaratory judgments actions and the defense of first party claims. Scott regularly defends religious institutions as well. Scott is a 1970 graduate from Nebraska Wesleyan University, and a 1972 graduate of The Drake University Law School. He began his career in civil litigation in 1973 with one of the leading law firms in Lake County, Illinois, and has successfully defended and tried numerous cases in the Illinois courts. Scott served as a member of the Lake County Mandatory Arbitration Committee, which pioneered the use of arbitration as a mandatory mechanism for certain cases. Scott attended the DePaul University Mediation Program and was certified as a mediator in 2002. He is a member of the Lake County Illinois and Illinois State Bar associations, as well as the Federal Trial Bar. He has made numerous presentations to insurance companies concerning topics such as insurance coverage issues and insurance company incident investigation from the trial lawyer's perspective. |
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