My phone number 369-5123 provides a framework for my approach to law and life: Start off right. Center. Finish on top.
Start off right at 3-6-9 on the right side of the phone key pad. Three decades of practicing law provide me the knowledge that starting off right is crucial in both court and life. As a Christian attorney, I know also that starting off right is applying Christ’s admonition in the Sermon on the Mount to be the salt of the earth and light to the world. That is what I believe being a Christian is all about. We cannot be apathetic. We must take a stand. I was raised in a Christian home in Morton where I graduated from high school. Three years later, when I graduated from Bradley University, I was awarded the Bradley Mathematics Award and inducted as an inaugural member of the Bradley Academic Hall of Fame. I did a yearlong internship at a legal services program in Appalachia following my first year of law school. My most memorable experiences there were helping a widow and mother of eight children to qualify for survivor benefits under the new federal Black Lung Benefits Act and providing research to attorneys who won a nuisance lawsuit against the largest company in the area. I then graduated from Notre Dame Law School where I was Executive Director of the Notre Dame Legal Aid and Defender Association. Since returning to Illinois, I have defended the religious freedoms of several Christians. One of my most memorable cases was representing a man through the Illinois courts and then referring his case to the Rutherford Institute which took his case to the U.S. Supreme Court. There, he won a unanimous decision affirming the right of freedom of religion. See http://www.law.cornell.edu/supremecourt/text/489/829
Center at 5 in the middle of the phone key pad is also the middle of my phone number. I love the slogan and call letters of one of our Peoria Christian radio stations, WCIC, which stand for “We’re centered in Christ.” Christian integrity is most important in both my law practice and life. I take at face value, Christ’s next admonition in the Sermon on the Mount, not to be angry with other people. Imagine what the world would be like if all people applied this rule of conduct. Christ gave us instead, nine blessings, the beatitudes, which are life’s antidotes for anger. In my legal career with legal services programs in Indiana and Illinois, I have stood in our modern lions’ dens alongside people, protecting them from the anger of their opponents. Appearing in courts from the Indiana-Ohio border to the Wisconsin-Illinois-Iowa border, I have represented people from Florida to Japan. The National Center for Missing and Exploited Children presented me an Award of Merit “in recognition and appreciation for outstanding commitment to the protection of children and knowledge of international child abduction remedies” after I represented a mother in Japan to get her abducted baby back to her. I have assisted numerous other victims of child abduction to recover their children. In another case, I represented a mother at the Indiana Appellate Court to get her child back. See http://www.leagle.com/xmlResult.aspx?xmldoc=1985944487NE2d457_1925.xml&docbase=CSLWAR1-1950-1985
Finish on top at 1-2-3 on the phone key pad. My dream at the end of my life is to hear these words from Christ: “Well done, good and faithful servant.” His wisdom in the Sermon on the Mount shows us that to finish on top, we must avoid obstacles which would cause us to stumble. My experience through more than thirty years in court has shown that besides apathy and anger, we must also avoid addictions which divert us from His highest dream for us. I provide good counsel to my clients to keep their eyes on the prize, to finish on top not only in court, but in life as well.
Start off right at 3-6-9 on the right side of the phone key pad. Three decades of practicing law provide me the knowledge that starting off right is crucial in both court and life. As a Christian attorney, I know also that starting off right is applying Christ’s admonition in the Sermon on the Mount to be the salt of the earth and light to the world. That is what I believe being a Christian is all about. We cannot be apathetic. We must take a stand. I was raised in a Christian home in Morton where I graduated from high school. Three years later, when I graduated from Bradley University, I was awarded the Bradley Mathematics Award and inducted as an inaugural member of the Bradley Academic Hall of Fame. I did a yearlong internship at a legal services program in Appalachia following my first year of law school. My most memorable experiences there were helping a widow and mother of eight children to qualify for survivor benefits under the new federal Black Lung Benefits Act and providing research to attorneys who won a nuisance lawsuit against the largest company in the area. I then graduated from Notre Dame Law School where I was Executive Director of the Notre Dame Legal Aid and Defender Association. Since returning to Illinois, I have defended the religious freedoms of several Christians. One of my most memorable cases was representing a man through the Illinois courts and then referring his case to the Rutherford Institute which took his case to the U.S. Supreme Court. There, he won a unanimous decision affirming the right of freedom of religion. See http://www.law.cornell.edu/supremecourt/text/489/829
Center at 5 in the middle of the phone key pad is also the middle of my phone number. I love the slogan and call letters of one of our Peoria Christian radio stations, WCIC, which stand for “We’re centered in Christ.” Christian integrity is most important in both my law practice and life. I take at face value, Christ’s next admonition in the Sermon on the Mount, not to be angry with other people. Imagine what the world would be like if all people applied this rule of conduct. Christ gave us instead, nine blessings, the beatitudes, which are life’s antidotes for anger. In my legal career with legal services programs in Indiana and Illinois, I have stood in our modern lions’ dens alongside people, protecting them from the anger of their opponents. Appearing in courts from the Indiana-Ohio border to the Wisconsin-Illinois-Iowa border, I have represented people from Florida to Japan. The National Center for Missing and Exploited Children presented me an Award of Merit “in recognition and appreciation for outstanding commitment to the protection of children and knowledge of international child abduction remedies” after I represented a mother in Japan to get her abducted baby back to her. I have assisted numerous other victims of child abduction to recover their children. In another case, I represented a mother at the Indiana Appellate Court to get her child back. See http://www.leagle.com/xmlResult.aspx?xmldoc=1985944487NE2d457_1925.xml&docbase=CSLWAR1-1950-1985
Finish on top at 1-2-3 on the phone key pad. My dream at the end of my life is to hear these words from Christ: “Well done, good and faithful servant.” His wisdom in the Sermon on the Mount shows us that to finish on top, we must avoid obstacles which would cause us to stumble. My experience through more than thirty years in court has shown that besides apathy and anger, we must also avoid addictions which divert us from His highest dream for us. I provide good counsel to my clients to keep their eyes on the prize, to finish on top not only in court, but in life as well.