Fourth retired judge to join Schiller firm

Waukegan attorney Jane Drew Waller has become the fourth distinguished retired judge to join the family law firm of Schiller, DuCanto & Fleck.

Waller, who was chief judge of the 19th Circuit and presiding judge of its Family Court, retired last year. She heard family law matters and marriage dissolutions for 19 of her 27 years on the bench.

A partner in the firm’s Lake Forest office, she joins former 18th Circuit chief judge Michael R. Galasso, a partner in the Wheaton office, and two former presiding judges of the Cook County Domestic Relations Division.

Charles J. Fleck is a partner in the Lake Forest office, and Benjamin S. Mackoff, in the Chicago office, coordinates the firm’s mediation and consulting services.

Waller will concentrate in alternative dispute resolution, “helping divorcing couples enter the next chapter of their lives,” both as a neutral and counsel to parties.

A 1973 cum laude graduate of the University of Illinois College of Law, she is a former teacher who has a master’s degree in education. She was the first woman to be a 19th Circuit associate judge (1981), a circuit judge (1996), and a chief judge (2002).

“We are honored to attract exceptional legal talent like Jane Waller to our firm,” said Donald C. Schiller, an ISBA past president. “It is a great opportunity for her to continue her life’s work of helping people resolve family disputes.”

Waller is married to Lake County State’s Attorney Michael J. Waller.