ISBA Assembly member Christopher S. Haaff has opened a solo practice in family law at 210 N. Walkup Ave., Crystal Lake 60014, telephone (815) 355-8194, e-mail haaff44@netscape.net.

Anna Wermuth of Meckler, Bulger & Tilson, Chicago, has been promoted from associate to partner in its Employment and Labor Practice. A former law clerk to Judge Rebecca R. Pallmeyer of U.S. District Court, Wermuth has a master's degree in Hispanic studies.

Kristin D. McMahon and Michael L. Brooks have been elevated from special counsel to partner at Kerns, Pitrof, Frost & Pearlman, Chicago. McMahon practices in international insurance coverage, and Brooks is in commercial and civil litigation.

Retired Cook County judge David R. Donnersberger is of counsel to Lowis & Gellen, Chicago, and a private mediator and arbitrator. Elected to the circuit court in 1996 after seven years as an associate judge, he served in the Chancery, Law, and Domestic Relations Divisions.

Jeremy Bunnow and Brett Feinberg, in commercial real estate transactions; Annaliese Fleming, in commercial litigation; Heather Macklin, in complex commercial litigation, and George Mesires, in bankruptcy litigation and creditors' rights.

Debra A. Kionka of O'Fallon has joined Evans & Dixon, St. Louis, as a senior associate of its Workers' Compensation Practice Group. She was with a Belleville firm.

Former assistant Winnebago County state's attorney Joseph Ponitz has joined Franks, Gerkin & McKenna in Marengo in domestic violence and DUI matters. He speaks fluent Spanish.

Laura C. Pieper, Emily R. Schey and Suzanne M. Scheuing have jointed Freeborn & Peters in Chicago. Scheuing, formerly with Mandell Menkes, is in the Bankruptcy, Restructuring and Creditors' Rights Practice Group.

Janet Angstadt, former general counsel of NYSE Arca Inc., has joined the Chicago office of Katten Muchin Rosenman as a partner in its Financial Services Practice.

Alexander H. Burke has joined The Law Offices of Keith J. Keogh, Chicago, as an associate in consumer litigation and class actions.

Todd L. Erdman, Abad Lopez and Thomas J. Rubin have joined Levin Ginsburg, Chicago, as associates.

Patent litigators Jordan A. Sigale, Edward H. Rice and Marina N. Saito have joined the Intellectual Property Litigation Group in the Chicago office of Loeb & Loeb. All three were partners in Sonnenschein, Nath & Rosenthal.

Meltzer, Purtill & Stelle of Chicago and Schaumburg has promoted two associates to partners: Shannon Silverman and Vickie Bresnahan. Morton Poznak, formerly with Schwartz & Freeman, has joined the firm as of counsel.

New associates at the Meltzer firm are Adam Johnson, from Katten Muchin Rosenman; Steven Wachstein, from an Ohio firm, and Jeremy Silva, from a Virginia firm.

Construction surety attorney William S. Piper has joined Riordan, Donnelly, Lipinski & McKee, Chicago, as a partner. He was a partner in McKenna Storer for 10 years and previously in surety claims management for 10 years.

Chicago attorney Stephanie A. Scharf heads the new Chicago office of the women-owned New York firm of Schoeman, Updike & Kaufman. Formerly a partner in Jenner & Block and past president of the National Association of Women Lawyers, Scharf serves on the Illinois Bar Foundation board and chairs its Cy Pres Committee.

Segal, McCambridge, Singer & Mahoney has elected trial attorney J. Yasmin Mancini a shareholder in its Chicago office in products liability and toxic tort matters.

Kimberly D. Hayden has joined the Chicago office as an associate in products liability, insurance and transportation litigation.

Tricia D. Goostree has joined the family law firm of Shaw, Jacobs & Associates, St. Charles, as a partner in custody and divorce litigation.

James C. Byrne has joined Spesia, Ayers & Ardaugh in Joliet as a partner.

Shelly A. DeRousse, formerly with Sidley Austin, is now associated with Sugar, Friedberg & Felsenthal, Chicago, in commercial litigation, bankruptcy and corporate restructuring.

Margo Wolf O'Donnell has joined Vedder Price in Chicago as a shareholder in the Labor and Employment Practice Group. Formerly with Jenkens & Gilchrist, she serves on the Women's Franchise Committee of the International Franchise Association.