Tressler's 2021 Illinois Rising Stars: Bassett, Harvey, Hess, Letcher, Walczak and Wilkins
We are proud to announce that Tressler attorneys Rachel V. Bassett, Shannon M. Harvey, James J. Hess. Katherine F. Letcher, Christine A. Walczak and Stacey L. Wilkins have been selected as 2021 Illinois Rising Stars. Less than 2.5 percent of attorneys in Illinois receive this prestigious honor each year.
Rachel V. Bassett
Associate
Rachel is an associate in Tressler’s Insurance Practice Group. Rachel focuses her practice in tort defense and insurance coverage, including personal injury defense, premises liability, transportation litigation, subrogation claims and coverage analysis. She has obtained extensive litigation experience defending individuals and corporate clients in construction, contract and personal injury disputes. Throughout her career, Rachel has assisted in and has been first chair for civil trials. Rachel’s practice also includes appellate work, including brief writing and oral argument.
Shannon M. Harvey
Partner
Shannon handles a wide variety of complex commercial and personal injury litigation with a focus on products liability and mass tort matters. She is a trial lawyer who is in state and federal Court every week and has successfully participated in numerous jury trials. Shannon is also very experienced with the mediation process and has successfully negotiated reasonable settlements in cases where liability and damages issues were strongly contested.
James J. Hess
Senior Counsel
Jim is an experienced attorney in Tressler's Local Government Practice Group. He represents various local government entities, primarily focusing on day-to-day operations for cities, villages, park districts and library districts. Jim's practice includes handling intergovernmental agreements, ordinances, contract negotiations, administrative proceedings, demolition issues, employment, Open Meetings Act issues, Freedom of Information Act matters, ethics and land use matters.
Katherine F. Letcher
Associate
Katherine is an associate in the Litigation Practice Group. She focuses her practice on business litigation with an emphasis on business torts and defense of management and professional liability claims. In addition to the preparation of pleadings, discovery and motions, she appears regularly in state and federal courts. She is a regular contributor to firm publications concerning developments in the law.
Christine A. Walczak
Associate
Christine is an associate in Tressler’s Local Government Practice Group. She counsels municipalities, park districts, school districts and other governmental entities on various matters, including: legislative policy, zoning and land use, real estate transactions, special education, licensing, personnel policies and compliance with the Illinois Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) and Open Meetings Act (OMA). She has experience drafting and negotiating real estate contracts, leases, permits, licenses, vendor contracts, easements and intergovernmental agreements.
Stacey L. Wilkins
Partner
Stacey is an experienced courtroom attorney. Her litigation practice is focused primarily in the areas of general defense litigation, insurance coverage and municipal law. She has successfully defended individuals, corporations, public entities (including park districts and schools), public employees and not-for-profit organizations, including child care centers and foster care/adoption agencies. Ms. Wilkins has advised and represented individuals, personal and commercial lines insurance companies, self-insured risk pools, corporations and municipalities in a variety of litigated defense matters. Ms. Wilkins’ practice includes both state and federal trial work as well as appellate work.
About Rising Stars
To be eligible for inclusion in Rising Stars, a candidate must be either 40 years old or younger, or in practice for 10 years or less. All attorneys first go through the Super Lawyers selection process. To learn more about the Rising Stars selection process, click here.
About Tressler LLP
Headquartered in Chicago, with eight offices located in five states, Tressler LLP is a national law firm comprised primarily of attorneys who devote their practice to the representation of the insurance industry in coverage analysis and resolution, litigation, underwriting consultation, product development, claims management and reinsurance.
In addition, Tressler has one of the most experienced and multi-faceted government law practices in Illinois, and has attorneys who represent clients in commercial litigation, defense litigation, corporate transactions, employment law and litigation, intellectual property and condominium and common interest community association law.
For more information, please visit www.tresslerllp.com.