People

[caption id="attachment_9676" align="alignright" width="150" caption="Stephan Blandin"][/caption] Stephan D. Blandin, a partner in the Chicago personal injury law firm of Romanucci & Blandin, LLC, has been appointed as a member of the Hearing Board of the Illinois Attorney Registration and Disciplinary Commission (ARDC). The Commission has administrative responsibility for the registration and discipline of Illinois lawyers.  Members of its Hearing Board, who are appointed for a one-year term, sit in panels of three and preside over the hearing of disciplinary, disability, and reinstatement cases. Blandin, who has been practicing law for nearly 25 years, received his law degree from DePaul University College of Law in 1986 and his undergraduate degree from DePaul in 1983.  He resides in Park Ridge. Romanucci & Blandin, LLC, is a law firm concentrating in catastrophic personal injury.  The firm provides clients with experienced, skilled and caring representation in catastrophic personal injury, wrongful death and workers’ compensation claims.  To date, the firm has won nearly 40 verdicts or settlements of $1 million or greater.  They have obtained the largest medical malpractice verdict in Cook County in 2009 against a hospital ($22.3 million). Romanucci & Blandin, LLC, is located at 33 N. LaSalle St., Suite 2000, Chicago, IL 60602, contact www.rblaw.net or call (312) 458-1000.

[caption id="attachment_9666" align="alignright" width="150" caption="J. Patrick White"][/caption] J. Patrick White has joined the Law Offices of Jeffrey J. Kroll as an associate. Formerly an associate at Lavin Law Offices, White has worked in many areas of personal injury and wrongful death litigation, including medical malpractice, construction accidents and transportation negligence. “We are thrilled to have Pat join our office,” said Jeffrey Kroll, principal of the Law Offices of Jeffrey J. Kroll. “His law experience and passion for working with clients is a perfect fit for our firm.” White, 30, has been involved in obtaining settlements in excess of $1 million for past clients, including a $4.5 million settlement for a 34-year-old man who was rendered a paraplegic after undergoing an unnecessary surgery to remove an abdominal tumor, and a $1.9 million settlement for the family of a young mother who suffered a permanent neurological injury and later died from an undiagnosed infection stemming while recovering in the hospital after surgery. White is a member of the Illinois State Bar Association, the American Bar Association, the American Association for Justice, the Chicago Bar Association and the Illinois Trial Lawyers Association. White graduated from Loyola University Chicago School of Law in January 2007, having worked full-time as a clerk for Chicago firm Corboy & Demetrio during law school. He attended the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor and earned a degree in political science in 2001.

To add more brain-injured veterans to its membership roster, the Midwest Brain Injury Clubhouse is launching an Adopt-a-Veteran program. A friend-raiser will be held on Thursday, March 18, from 5:30 p.m. to 7:30 p.m. at the Clubhouse, 300 N. Elizabeth St., Suite 310 C, Chicago, to help with the funding. While there is no cost to attend the event, it is hoped that guests will open up their hearts and their wallets. Antonio Romanucci, a partner in Romanucci & Blandin, LLC, whose law firm concentrates in representing victims with traumatic brain injuries, is the driving force behind the fundraising effort.  Romanucci helped found the Clubhouse with Giesler and served as its board president for seven years. “The Midwest Brain Injury Clubhouse is the only facility in the Midwest that provides post acute care to traumatically-injured patients,” he states. “Because of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, the Clubhouse has encountered a surge in requests. To accommodate those requests, we must raise additional funds with the hope that those who proudly served our country can acclimate more quickly back into society.” For further information about the event, contact the Clubhouse at (312) 226-8720, or log onto their Web site at www.braininjuryclubhouse.org.

[caption id="attachment_9295" align="alignright" width="150" caption="Kevin Burns"][/caption] The national law firm of Quarles & Brady LLP is pleased to announce that the following associates joined the firm’s Commercial Litigation Group in Chicago: Kevin J. Burns majored in Economics and Psychology, and received his B.S. degree in 2005 from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. He received his law degree from the University of Iowa in 2009. Prior to beginning work at Quarles, Kevin gained litigation experience volunteering in the Torts Division at the City of Chicago. [caption id="attachment_9296" align="alignright" width="240" caption="Brooke Krekow"][/caption] Brooke Krekow received her B.A. in American Cultural Studies from Whitman College in 2002, and her law degree from Northwestern University School of Law in 2009. While attending law school, Brooke worked in the Bluhm Legal Clinic's Center on Wrongful Convictions and Federal Criminal Appellate Clinic.