Lowis & Gellen featured in Leading Lawyers Network Magazine

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Judge throws out malicious prosecution claim

On December 3, 2008, Lowis & Gellen won the early dismissal of a case filed against a local county prosecutor. The plaintiff had asserted a malicious prosecution claim against the prosecutor, alleging that the prosecutor acted maliciously and beyond his authority in filing trespass charges and in investigating the background of those charges. In throwing out the lawsuit, the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Illinois made two rulings. First, the court held that under Illinois law, the prosecutor had absolute immunity from any claim concerning the initiation or prosecution of criminal charges. Second, the court ruled that Illinois law gave the prosecutor sovereign immunity from any claim concerning the pre-charges investigation of the alleged trespass because the prosecutor’s investigatory acts were neither malicious nor beyond the scope of his duties. The published opinion can be found at 2008 WL 5101613 (N.D.Ill Dec. 3, 2008).

Review of Credit Portfolios

A Basic Guide for Lenders in Reviewing Credit Portfolios in a Challenging Credit Environment - Understanding your Obligors, Documents and Collateral Click here to view article

New Associates Join Lowis & Gellen in October 2008

Charlotte Felber joins the firm after graduating from Chicago-Kent College of Law and clerking at L&G on commercial litigation and municipal law matters. She has extensive experience in architecture, design, site planning and zoning, having interned at a number of architectural firms, in McDonald's Corporation Restaurant Design Group and with the Cook County Department of Building and Zoning while earning her bachelor's degree at Washington University in St. Louis. She spent one term at Sussex University in Brighton, England and graduated cum laude with a B.A. in philosophy and architecture.

Jonathan Loiterman will focus his practice on healthcare issues, including medical malpractice, pharmaceutical product liability. As a law clerk with Lowis & Gellen throughout law school, he continued to lead the healthcare technology company that he founded and participated in the implementation of an innovative relational database management method for organizing medical records for one of our clients and coordinated medical records among several law firms as part of a multi-district lawsuit and trial involving a global pharmaceutical company. His company, Shoki Technologies, Inc., develops data acquisition and process-control systems for healthcare facilities, writes cross-platform software prototype for PalmOS and Windows, and manages other complex software development. He is currently pursuing a patent on one of his products. Jonathan received his J.D. with a certificate in health law, and simultaneously an M.B.A with concentration in accounting, from Loyola University Chicago.

Smeltzer Speaks at Cyberliability/Privacy Seminar

On September 26, 2008, Rob Smeltzer was a featured speaker at a Cyberliability/Privacy Seminar sponsored by Hub International Midwest Insurance in Chicago. The Seminar covered such topics as: legal liability for those businesses that fail to safeguard against the loss of others intellectual property, as well as private information belonging to employees, patients and/or customers; recent technologies that may help prevent such losses; and the types of insurance policies and endorsements that cover them. Mr. Smeltzer is a partner in the firm's Commercial Litigation and Intellectual Property groups, and regularly counsels clients concerning methods of safeguarding information and trade secrets. For more information please contact rsmeltzer@lowis-gellen.com.

Partner Contributes to UK View of US Financial Markets

L&G Partner Gerald Haberkorn, a regular contributor to Acquisition Finance Magazine, has been invited to participate in ACQ's upcoming exclusive US Review issue. Haberkorn will provide his perspective on the performance and growth of private equity and corporate finance sectors of the US economy. The report takes an in-depth look at the current climate in the US and what the credit crunch means to venture capitalists and advisory firms by examining some of the current major transactions. L&G will provide a link to the article when it is posted. In the interim, the latest edition of ACQ can be viewed at:
Acquisition Finance Magazine

Product Recall : Risks, Liability and Remedies

At the invitation of HUB International, one of the world’s largest insurance brokerage firms and a longtime client of Lowis & Gellen, partner Gerald Haberkorn made the first in a series of presentations on product liability and recall to an audience of over 100 of HUB’s retail and manufacturing clients.

Topics included the strategic considerations in managing a product recall and to minimize damage to the company's brand, operations and finances, protecting profitability, the financial impact of product recall in different industries and the insurance solutions for product recall exposures.

Haberkorn addressed the legal perspectives of product recall, discussing the recent losses incurred by grocery chains and restaurants in this summer’s tomato scare, and the recourses available to reduce commercial vulnerability and liability in similar instances.

In November, Haberkorn, at the invitation of Good Foods and Avure Technologies, will speak on recalls and remedies at the “HPP Food Forum,” an inaugural industry event for food processing companies and major retailers.

If you are interested in providing a presentation for your staff, clients or customers, please contact Gerald Haberkorn directly at 312.456.2701 or geraldh@lowis-gellen.com

European Summer Intern at L&G

Lowis & Gellen is one of the few law firms in the United States to routinely host international legal interns from European Union nations. These attorneys are preparing for multinational commerce and litigation practices by working with us for six-month or one-year terms. The experience has built strong business affiliations that benefit Lowis & Gellen clients around the world.

This summer, Cathrin Krueger, a fully qualified German attorney, has joined Lowis & Gellen's transactional practice. Cathrin has studied law in Germany and England and is planning on obtaining an LL.M. (Master of International Business Law) at King's College, London, starting this fall. While in Chicago, she will assist the transactional team under Gerald Haberkorn. Back in Europe, she will help to support and establish our work with European clients.

Product Recall Preparation and Management Seminar

HUB International invites you to attend an exciting and timely seminar on product recall.

Featured Topics and Panelists

Strategic Considerations to Manage a Product Recall
Michael Keating, Director, Navigant Consulting, will address how a product recall crisis should be handled before, during, and after an event to minimize damage to the company's brand, operations and finances.

The Legal Perspective of Product Recall
Gerald Haberkorn, Partner, Lowis & Gellen LLP, will help business leaders understand the legal environment of product recall.

Protecting Your Most Valuable Asset: Profitability
Stuart Hanfling, Senior Vice President, Colemont Insurance Brokers, will explore the financial impact of product recall in different industries and discuss the insurance solutions for product recall exposures.

RSVP to Ranae Boeke at 312-279-4732

Friday, July 25, 2008
Fountain Blue
2300 Mannheim Rd. Des Plaines, Illinois

8:30 am - Registration and Continental Breakfast
9:00 am - 12:00 pm Seminar

Lowis & Gellen Client Acquires Local Printing Firm

Lowis & Gellen represented the purchaser of a printing business in McHenry, Illinois. The transaction involved the sale of all business related assets and the assumption of specified liabilities, and was financed in part by bank and SBA loans, and an unsecured seller note. In connection with the sale, the sellers agreed to a three-year confidentiality and non-competition covenant.

The Lowis & Gellen team consisted of Robert Leavitt and Mehreen Sherwani, who handled for the client, as its exclusive outside counsel, all legal aspects of the transaction, including conducting the legal due diligence, and preparing and negotiating the asset purchase agreement, consulting agreement, non-competition agreement and other ancillary documents.

For additional information, please contact:
Robert Leavitt, (312) 628-7199
rleavitt@lowis-gellen.com

TITLE VII CLAIMS DEFEATED

On February 29, 2008, Martin McManaman and Patrick Moran won summary judgment in a sexual harassment lawsuit for their client, a local county sheriff’s office. The plaintiff, a corrections officer at the county jail, had alleged that the sheriff’s office unreasonably failed to prevent the plaintiff’s supervisor, a lieutenant at the jail, from repeatedly sexually harassing her. The plaintiff also alleged that the lieutenant and other members of the sheriff’s office retaliated against her after she complained about the harassment. The United States District Court for the Northern District of Illinois disagreed with the plaintiff’s claims, finding that the sheriff’s office conducted a prompt investigation of her complaint and successfully deterred the allegedly harassing conduct. As for the retaliation, the court found there was no evidence to support the plaintiff’s claim that she was the victim of retaliation. The published opinion can be found at 2008 WL 624045 (N.D.Ill. Feb. 29, 2008).

For more information on this case or on Lowis & Gellen LLP's civil rights defense group, please contact either Martin McManaman at mcmanaman@lowis-gellen.com or Patrick Moran at pmoran@lowis-gellen.com.

Two Significant Honors for L&G Women Attorneys

The firm of Lowis & Gellen is proud to be featured in the current issue of Leading Lawyer Magazine. Lowis & Gellen was founded as a women owned law firm and has continued a tradition of diversity, maintaining a firm with a large percentage of women, minorities and GLBT attorneys among its partners and associates.

Additionally, we are particularly proud of Jennifer Lowis and Pam Gellen, who have been named among the 2008 Top 100 Women Lawyers in Illinois. These two remarkable trial lawyers exemplify our firm's goal of excellence in providing clients with solutions, results and service through an effort characterized by professional collaboration and communication.

Liability Litigation Practice Expands

Andrea H. Kott, joins Lowis & Gellen as Of Counsel on April 1. Ms Kott was formerly a named partner in an established firm and has dedicated her nearly 20 years legal career to the defense of healthcare providers and facilities in medical liability lawsuits, and the defense of pharmacies and pharmacists. She is a cum laude graduate of Washington University in St. Louis and Case Western Reserve University Law School. Ms. Kott can be contacted at akott@lowis-gellen.com
and by phone at 312.628.7864.

Former Bof A Counsel Joins Corporate and Finance Practice

Lowis & Gellen is pleased to announce that Lawrence L. Hermalyn joins the firm on April 1 as Of Counsel.

Mr. Hermalyn is a senior commercial finance, banking, corporate, franchise finance, vendor finance and real estate attorney. He most recently served as Assistant General Counsel at Bank of America, N.A. He represented B of A's Commercial Bank, Business Banking and Private Bank in commercial transactions and negotiated and drafted loan and security agreements, intercreditor agreements and related documents for the General Industries, Government and Health Care Groups at the Bank. He was a principal participant in Bank of America's national "Franchise Banking Initiative in Business Banking" and counseled the Bank's Mid-Cap Specialized Industries Group. His work included advising senior management on loan structuring, workouts and bank regulatory issues. He has exceptional knowledge of anti-tying and Rules 23A and 23B, Regulations U and W, anti-money laundering, information sharing, loan securitization, Sarbanes-Oxley and banking privacy issues.

Mr. Hermalyn has previously served as Assistant General Counsel to Fleet/Boston's Global Vendor Finance Group and Franchise Finance Group and Vice President/Legal with Sanwa Business Credit Corporation Real Estate, Franchise Finance and Private Equity Groups. He was a partner in a Chicago law firm, representing clients in real estate and commercial finance transactions and a Senior Attorney with the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation, responsible for the disposition of large, complex assets.

Please click here
to see his full biography.

Lowis & Gellen Client Leads Lending Group in Loan to Hawaiian High Tech Firm

Lowis & Gellen represented the Lenders’ Agent in a participated loan made to the holding company of a Hawaii based software development firm, which has successfully funded. The newly created client raised capital for the loan by selling participating interests in the loan to a group of co-lenders. The loan itself was secured by the assets of the borrower and by a payment guaranty and pledge of membership interest from the principal owner of the borrower. Upon funding, the borrower used the proceeds of the loan to make an equity investment in its subsidiary operating company, thereby enabling local Hawaiian investors to take advantage of a special Hawaiian state tax credit.

The Lowis & Gellen team consisted of Robert Leavitt, James Froberg and Mehreen Sherwani, who handled for the client, as its exclusive outside counsel, the legal aspects of the transaction, including preparation of the private placement memorandum, the SEC Form D, the co-lender participation agreement and the loan documents.

For additional information, please contact:
Robert Leavitt, (312) 628-7199
rleavitt@lowis-gellen.com