CHICAGO ― The national law firm of Hinshaw & Culbertson LLP has elected eight members to serve three-year terms on its Executive Committee. Those elected include
Kevin J. Burke,
David A. Grossbaum,
Mary J. Hess,
Desmond J. Hinds, Jr.,
Peter R. Jarvis,
Tomislav Z. Kuzmanovic,
Robert T. Shannon and
Joshua G. Vincent.
Kevin J. Burke (Partner,
Chicago office) has served on the Executive Committee since 2003. As Vice Chairman of Hinshaw, he works closely with the firm’s Chairman and Managing Partner to implement firm strategies and initiatives. An experienced trial lawyer with litigation, advocacy and counseling skills that cross many practice areas, he has been a member of the firm’s Management Committee since 2003. He is a certified mediator in the Cook County Court-Annexed Major Case Civil Mediation Program and the Loyola University Law School Health Law Center. He has also drafted sports liability legislation that is now Illinois law. Among his honors, he has been recognized by his peers as a Leading Lawyer in multiple practice areas. He has been named a Super Lawyer in the area of Civil Litigation Defense each year since 2006, and was honored as a Super Lawyer in the 2008 Corporate Counsel Edition. Mr. Burke joined the firm in 1984.
David A. Grossbaum (Partner,
Boston and
Providence,
R.I., offices) has been elected to serve his first, three-year term on the Executive Committee. Mr. Grossbaum joined Hinshaw in 2005 to open the firm's Boston and Rhode Island offices. He concentrates his practice in the areas of professional liability defense and insurance coverage. Mr. Grossbaum is a former Assistant District Attorney for Essex County, Massachusetts, where he was assigned to both the trial and appellate divisions. Active professionally, he is a member of the Professional Liability Underwriting Society (PLUS), where he is a past chair and present member of the PLUS National Communications Committee. He is also a member of several American Bar Association sections, including the Tort Trial and Insurance Practice Section. In addition, Mr. Grossbaum is a leader in the Rhode Island Bar Association, where he is a member of the Insurance Committee and the Ethics and Professionalism Committee. He has been named a New England Super Lawyer annually since 2005.
Mary J. Hess (Partner,
Chicago office) has been elected to serve her first, three-year term on the Executive Committee. Since joining Hinshaw in 1991, she has made significant contributions to the growth and management of the firm. She co-chairs the firm’s Education Committee for associates, serves as the firm’s Hiring Chair, is a member of the Diversity Committee and also manages the paralegal program. A skilled trial lawyer, Ms. Hess has resolved cases through traditional litigation, as well as arbitration and mediation. Her national client base ranges from Fortune 500 companies to privately owned companies. She is a key member of a national defense team for one of the firm’s largest self-insured clients, requiring pro hac representation throughout the country. Ms. Hess has also defended, and served as consulting attorney in a variety of environmental cases in the areas of indoor air quality, “sick building syndrome” and multiple chemical sensitivity.
Desmond J. Hinds, Jr., (Partner,
Los Angeles office), who joined Hinshaw in 2004, will be serving his first, three-year term on the firm’s Executive Committee. An attorney for more than 23 years, his civil trial practice centers on the defense of professional malpractice and breach of fiduciary duty claims against lawyers, commercial and residential real estate brokers and property managers, accountants, insurance brokers and appraisers. Mr. Hinds has tried cases to conclusion in state, federal and state bar courts, and has won defense verdicts in several multimillion-dollar lawsuits. Active professionally, Mr. Hinds has served on the board of directors of major California residential and commercial real estate brokerage firms and is a member of the Association of Southern California Defense Counsel.
Peter R. Jarvis (Partner,
Portland,
Ore., office) will be serving his first, three-year term on Hinshaw’s Executive Committee. He joined the firm in 2003, and is the partner-in-charge of the Portland office. He advises lawyers, law firms and corporate legal departments in legal ethics, risk management and disciplinary defense matters, and regularly serves as an expert witness. Mr. Jarvis is a former board member and past president of the Association of Professional Responsibility Lawyers. In addition, he is a past recipient of the Oregon Bar Association's President’s Membership Services Award. A prolific speaker, he participates in approximately two-dozen legal ethics/risk management CLEs each year. Mr. Jarvis is also a co-author of the 2008 supplement to “The Law of Lawyering”, one of the leading national treatises on professional responsibility issues, and serves as editor of Hinshaw’s Lawyers for the Profession® eAlerts.
Tomislav Z. Kuzmanovic (Partner,
Milwaukee office), who joined the firm in 1988, is an experienced litigator with a focus on commercial litigation, construction liability, premises liability, product liability, toxic torts, and international and human rights law. He is serving his first term on Hinshaw’s Executive Committee. In 2009, Mr. Kuzmanovic was elected as one of two vice presidents for the Executive Board of the Association of Defense Counsel at the International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia (ADC-ICTY). The board is responsible for the representation of the ADC-ICTY before the United Nations Security Council. Mr. Kuzmanovic is a past recipient of the Order of the Croatian “Pleter” for his contributions toward Croatia’s independence. He was named as a Super Lawyer, Corporate Counsel Edition, in 2008, and has been named a Wisconsin Super Lawyer in the area of Business Litigation four times. Active in community service, he coaches two premier level junior soccer teams.
Robert T. Shannon (Partner,
Chicago office) will be serving his first, three-year term on the firm’s Executive Committee. Mr. Shannon is a member of the firm’s Hiring Committee and the partner in charge of the firm's Associate Development Mentor Program, which aims to increase young attorney professional development. In addition to his representation of corporate clients in business litigation and regulatory matters, Mr. Shannon concentrates his governmental litigation practice on the defense of Illinois state agencies, and county and municipal governments. He currently serves as Special Assistant Attorney General and Special Assistant State’s Attorney. In 2003, he was named by the Law Bulletin Publishing Company as one of "40 Illinois Attorneys Under Forty to Watch." Throughout his career, Mr. Shannon has been involved in several high-profile cases, including his defense of Cook County Sheriff Thomas Dart, Illinois State Treasurer Alexi Giannoulias, and the Chicago White Sox.
Joshua G. Vincent (Partner,
Chicago office) has been a member of the Executive Committee since 2002. Mr. Vincent is heavily involved in the education and mentoring of the firm’s young lawyers, and since 1998 has overseen Hinshaw University, the firm’s nationwide attorney training and education program. In addition, since 2003 he has supervised the Chicago office’s incoming class of new lawyers in the pro bono prosecution of direct criminal appeals in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit. Mr. Vincent is one of Hinshaw’s two most senior appellate lawyers, and has briefed and argued nearly 300 appeals resulting in 160 published decisions, many of them landmarks. Unlike many appellate practitioners, Mr. Vincent tries cases and has won multiple jury verdicts in state and federal court. His grasp of jury trial dynamics and his ability to leverage that understanding in the reviewing courts is highly valued by clients and trial lawyers. Mr. Vincent is a member of the Illinois Appellate Lawyers’ Association, an organization in which he previously served as a director. He joined Hinshaw in 1983.
Hinshaw is governed nationally by a Management Committee, comprised of seven capital partners who set the strategic direction of the firm and make all key decisions relating to the governance of the partnership. The firm's Chairman,
Donald Mrozek, runs the day-to-day operations of the firm with the assistance of the Managing Partner,
J. William Roberts, and the Executive Managing Director,
Paul Boken. Each office is managed by a partner in charge, who reports to the Management Committee.
Hinshaw's 26-member Executive Committee is an advisory board to the Management Committee focused on strategic issues as well as operational improvements. Also, on decisions that require a vote of the partnership, including partnership elections, the Management Committee will make proposals first to the Executive Committee for its review and consideration before bringing these to the partnership for a vote.
Founded in 1934, Hinshaw & Culbertson LLP is a national law firm with more than 460 lawyers in 24 offices spanning 12 states, including
Arizona,
California,
Florida,
Illinois,
Indiana,
Massachusetts,
Minnesota,
Missouri,
New York,
Oregon,
Rhode Island and
Wisconsin.
Hinshaw offers a full-service practice, with an emphasis in litigation, business law and corporate transactions, environmental, intellectual property, labor and employment law, professional liability defense, estate planning and taxation matters. The firm represents a range of for-profit and not-for-profit clients in industries that include alarm and security services, construction, financial services, health care, hospitality, insurance, legal, manufacturing, real estate, retail and transportation. Hinshaw clients also include government agencies, municipalities and schools.