News
Paralegal Haack Named Certified Divorce Financial Analyst
Judith L. Haack, a Zukowski, Rogers, Flood & McArdle paralegal who focuses on divorce and family law cases, has been designated a Certified Divorce Financial Analyst, or CDFA, by the Institute for Divorce Financial Analysts.
The Durham, North Carolina-based organization granted Haack her certificate on Jan. 11, 2012. According to its Web site, institutedfa.com, Haack is the only law firm paralegal working in McHenry County with a CDFA certificate.
The Institute for Divorce Financial Analysts is the premier national organization dedicated to the certification, education and promotion of the use of financial professionals in the divorce arena. Founded in 1993, IDFA provides specialized training to accounting, financial, and legal professionals in the field of pre-divorce financial planning. The organization has certified more than 5,000 professionals in the United States and Canada.
Certification requires a case study and examinations on the financial and legal issues of divorce, advanced financial issues of a divorce, and tax issues of a divorce. Altogether, the designation requires at least 60 hours of work.
According to the organization’s Web site, training focuses on:
- personal vs. marital property
- valuing and dividing property
- retirement assets and pensions
- spousal and child support
- splitting the house
- tax problems and solutions
- expert witness testimony
- tax law and financial issues affecting divorce.
Haack has worked for 19 years at Zukowski, Rogers, Flood & McArdle, the largest law firm in McHenry County, Illinois. She was interviewed and featured recently in a profile of the Zukowski, Rogers, Flood & McArdle divorce team that appeared in Leading Lawyers Magazine.
Holstine Article Featured in McHenry County Business Journal
The article below, written by Andrew W. Holstine, originally appeared in the December 2011 issue of the McHenry County Business Journal. To read the Business Journal online, visit Biz-Journal.com.
Business Success Reflects Succession
by Andrew Holstine
Building a successful business takes a combination of determination, hard work, and a little bit of luck – among other things.
For many small-business owners, the question of a succession plan can be difficult. One of the more common reasons is that business owners are not certain how to plan all the things they need to consider and potential solutions.
This makes it easier to postpone.
Although understandable, you are doing your family and your company a disservice by not taking a more long-term view. Developing a succession plan creates certainty and peace of mind. But it also can be a catalyst for business growth.
This type of planning frequently invigorates key employees, refocuses attention on long-term strategies and demonstrates your engagement in the ongoing best interests of your employees and customers.
There are three events – retirement, disability and death – that require a person to sell or transition their business. And each raises different issues. A one-size-fits-all solution is rare. However, there are answers once you take the time necessary to dig in and address the questions.
First, you need to establish clear goals. Who are you planning for? Yourself? Your spouse? Your employees? Your customers?
A business owner transitioning into retirement might want to be involved in taking care of key relationships but prefer to ease away from daily responsibilities.
There also might be one or more key employees who are capable of running the business and taking care of the customers. In this instance, you might choose to allow that employee to make payments over time, adopt an employee stock ownership plan, or adopt an incentive or equity compensation plan, all depending on what is right for both you and your employees.
If your goal, instead, is to protect your spouse and family in the event of your untimely death, your plan likely will be more about easing the burden on your spouse and family. One way to do this is by funding a cash buyout with life insurance proceeds, a simple way to ensure financial security.
Avoid mistakes such as an unfunded buy/sell agreement, dated valuations, or misplaced reliance on a family member or an employee to take over the business.
Once you have identified your goals, it becomes a lot easier to find solutions. At this point, involve advisers such as your attorney, accountant, lender and/or financial planner. Experienced advisers help bring your goals into focus, quickly identifying options and ensuring that nothing is overlooked. They also help you implement a succession plan.
We all are familiar with the adage “too many cooks spoil the broth.” But trying to do all of this on your own can be a recipe for problems.
Once you create your plan, do not throw it in a drawer and forget it. At a minimum, an annual review lets you take stock of changes in your personal life, your financial goals, your employees and all other relevant factors that impact your plan.
After all, you get only one opportunity to exit your business. Consider the risks you took and time and effort you spent building your business, creating a winning succession strategy that brings certainty and security to both you and your family makes sense.
Andrew Holstine is an attorney with Zukowski, Rogers, Flood & McArdle in Crystal Lake focusing on estate planning, probate and business law. He can be reached at 815-459-2050.
Flood, ZRFM Divorce Practice Profiled in Leading Lawyers
Richard G. Flood’s career at Zukowski, Rogers, Flood & McArdle and the law firm’s divorce practice are the focus of a recent story in the 2011 Leading Lawyers Magazine – Consu
mer Edition. The magazine profiles 34 of the top consumer law attorneys in Illinois.
A reprint of the article appears here.
For several years, ZRFM partners Richard G. Flood, David W. McArdle and David J. Loughnane have been rated among the top 5 percent of Illinois lawyers by Leading Lawyers Network, a division of the Chicago-based Law Bulletin Publishing Company. With 20 lawyers, Zukowski, Rogers, Flood & McArdle is the largest law firm in McHenry County, Illinois.
Former Partner Costello Reflects on Becoming a Judge
Kevin G. Costello departed Zukowski, Rogers, Flood & McArdle to join the bench on Nov. 30, 2011, becoming the third lawyer associated with ZRFM to serve as a McHenry County judge. Costello has practiced law for 24 years. Before joining ZRFM a decade ago, he was an insurance defense trial lawyer.
“I’ve had the chance to handle some pretty high-profile cases and a variety of cases [at ZRFM],” he said in an early November interview. “I’ve tried a wide variety of civil cases and even some divorce cases, and I think that helped my resume for becoming a judge.
“Once I gained enough trial experience, I thought the role of a judge would be a position I at least had the potential to be qualified for,” he explained, “and the temperament for.”
Costello says he sees serving as a judge as the pinnacle of the profession. He remembers how several judges helped him out when he was a new lawyer, and he remains grateful. Costello believes his new role will give him an excellent chance to give back to the legal community in Illinois.
During his legal career, Costello says many attorneys helped him professionally. Both they and some judges suggested to him from time to time that he would make a good judge.
Costello’s time at Zukowski, Rogers, Flood & McArdle accelerated the process of becoming an associate judge in the 22nd Judicial Circuit, he believes, because Costello was able to handle some large cases essentially on his own. Moving his practice to McHenry County also helped him become familiar with the local judges and with others in the community.
“Rich Flood especially has given me a lot of help and certainly some assistance in applying to be a judge,” Costello adds. He says he will miss the camaraderie of the office and the relationships he developed there.
“The biggest thing I’ll miss, at least as a trial lawyer, will probably be the competitive nature of trying a case with the hope of winning it for a client – sort of the thrill of victory,” Costello says. Over the course of his law career, he has tried more than 50 civil cases to a jury verdict and has reached a verdict more than 200 times in bench trials.
The Cook County Jury Verdict Reporter recognized Costello in 1995 for being among the top 10 attorneys in the county for achieving jury verdicts the previous year. Costello earned a B.A. in 1984 from Loras College and a J.D. in 1987 from the University of Notre Dame.
Zukowski, Rogers, Flood & McArdle is the largest law firm in McHenry County, Illinois. The firm focuses especially on appellate law, banking, business law and transactional matters, civil litigation, construction, divorce and family law, employment law, estate trust and tax, land use, local government, and personal injury.
Smoron, Cooney Quoted on Adult Business Land Use, Zoning
Partners Michael J. Smoron and Melissa J. Cooney were quoted in a Nov. 8, 2011, article in the Northwest Herald titled “Johnsburg revamps adult entertainment ordinance.” The story, written by Hilary Gowins, explains that Zukowski, Rogers, Flood & McArdle advises the municipalities it represents to update adult business ordinances to prevent unnecessary and potentially costly lawsuits.
Although a variety of adult businesses and adult entertainment establishments are permitted under such ordinances, as the First Amendment requires, they are granted only conditional use in industrial zoning areas. For more information, please link to the Northwest Herald article.
Smoron is corporate counsel to the McHenry County villages of Hebron and Johnsburg. He has served as special counsel to the village of West Dundee in Kane County and to other units of local government in Cook, Lake, Warren and Henry counties. For more of his professional credentials, please read Michael Smoron’s biography. Cooney also practices land use law, with a special focus on conservation easements. For more details about her legal practice, please view Melissa Cooney’s biography.
Zukowski, Rogers, Flood & McArdle, the largest law firm in McHenry County, Illinois, has an extensive practice in municipal law and local government law. Two of the firm’s attorneys co-authored the book Congratulations! You’ve Been Elected: Now What Do You Do? A Practical Guide to Local Government. The guide, published by the Illinois Municipal League, offers local public officials advice to help them “hit the ground running” and succeed in new leadership positions.
Schlossberg to Judge Lake County Municipal League Competition
Ruth Alderman Schlossberg has been invited to serve as a judge for the Lake County Municipal League’s first annual Cutting Edge Program. The winning community in the competition will be presented an award on Nov. 17 at the league’s annual banquet.
The Cutting Edge Program, which is open to all of the league’s municipal and county members, seeks to identify model programs in order to “encourage creative thinking to develop programs, policies or procedures that may be shared with municipalities in the county.”
The award will identify the programs, policies and procedures that successfully meet the needs or challenges of a community in a cost-effective way and that ultimately improve the quality of life for residents in the community. For details about the Nov. 17 event, please view the Lake County Municipal League’s event page.
The Lake County Municipal League includes 38 municipalities as well as 25 associate members, who are vendors for the municipalities. The law firm of Zukowski, Rogers, Flood & McArdle is an LCML associate member.
Schlossberg has practiced law for more than 20 years and has focused on local government law since 2003 for cost-conscious clients in McHenry and Lake counties. A graduate of the University of Michigan, Schlossberg also studied at the London School of Economics. She earned a juris doctor from Yale Law School.
With Richard G. Flood, she co-authored the book Congratulations! You’ve Been Elected: Now What Do You Do? A Practical Guide to Local Government. The guide, published by the Illinois Municipal League, offers local public officials advice to help them “hit the ground running” and succeed in new leadership positions. For Schlossberg’s professional credentials, please view Ruth Alderman Schlossberg’s biography.
ZRFM Partner Kevin G. Costello Named McHenry County Judge
The lawyers and staff of Zukowski, Rogers, Flood & McArdle congratulate our partner and friend, Kevin Costello, on his selection as one of the two new judges in McHenry County, Illinois.
ZRFM Shares Ideas on Effective Local Government
Richard G. Flood, Ruth Alderman Schlossberg and Kelly A. Cahill spoke on the topic of effective local government at the annual conference of the Illinois Municipal League. The conference took place Sept. 15-17, 2011, at the Hilton Chicago Hotel.
Their hourlong Sept. 16 presentation was titled, “You’ve Been Elected. Now What Do You Do?” A video of the event appears below. (Flood speaks first, followed by Schlossberg at the 15:50 mark and Cahill at 37:10.)
The practical session provided officials with a better understanding of their roles, powers and limitations. The session focused on a combination of theory and practice to help attendees make sure their term as an elected official is productive and satisfying.
The three attorneys practice local government law at ZRFM. Flood and Schlossberg co-authored a 170-page book for newly elected officials, published by the Illinois Municipal League, from which their presentation got its name. For more information, please view ZRFM’s Books and Publications.
During Flood’s tenure with Zukowski, Rogers, Flood & McArdle, the Crystal Lake-based firm has grown from six lawyers to 19 and from one to three offices. ZRFM is the largest law firm in McHenry County, Illinois. In addition to Flood’s renowned local government law practice, he also focuses on divorce and family law.
Schlossberg joined Zukowski, Rogers, Flood & McArdle in 2003. She is thoroughly familiar with all of the recently rewritten provisions of the Illinois “sunshine laws” — the Illinois Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) and the Illinois Open Meetings Act (OMA). She advises elected officials and government administrators on operating with increased certainty so they can streamline work and avoid unfunded expenses.
Cahill serves as a municipal attorney for the village of Algonquin and acts as counsel to the planning and zoning boards of the cities of McHenry and Genoa. She also practices employment law. Cahill speaks frequently on labor and employment law and provides training to various organizations on diversity and sexual harassment awareness.
For more about their professional credentials, please view the biographies of Richard Flood, Ruth Alderman Schlossberg and Kelly Cahill.
Arévalo Speaks on Workplace Social Media to HR Professionals
Carlos S. Arévalo, a partner with the Crystal Lake-based law firm of Zukowski, Rogers, Flood & McArdle, spoke at a breakfast meeting of the Stateline Society for Human Resource Management on Sept. 8, 2011, on the legal issues of social media and the workplace. Arévalo’s talk, which took place at the Family Service and Community Mental health Center in McHenry, preceded roundtable discussions.
Titled “Overview and Legal Implications of Social Media and the Workplace – What Every Employer Needs to Know,” Arévalo’s presentation led to discussions that focused on establishing social media programs, setting up social media policies, and using social media to recruit.
To listen to Arévalo’s 28-minute talk, which is synchronized to the presentation slides, hit the play button below. The video can be viewed in full screen mode once the video begins. Arévalo’s social media slide presentation can be downloaded here. For more information about Stateline SHRM, please link to their Web site.
Social media and the Internet have become valuable tools for employers and human resources departments that wish to more effectively research and screen job candidates. Employment lawyers can advise human resources professionals on acceptable practices for using the Internet to screen applicants. Employment attorneys also can assist managers in establishing rules governing employees’ personal use of social media.
Arévalo practices corporate labor and employment law at Zukowski, Rogers, Flood & McArdle, the largest law firm in McHenry County, Illinois. In his work with municipal and local governments, he has handled collective bargaining for the villages of Lake in the Hills and Johnsburg, Illinois. He also practices employment law in such areas as employee termination and discipline, resolving employee grievances, employee benefits and pensions, employee handbooks and policies, and the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (“HIPPA”).
Additionally, Arévalo represents individuals and corporations in court matters involving contractual employment and benefit disputes. He also advocates for individuals and for public and private entities before the Illinois Department of Human Rights, the Illinois Department of Employment Security, and the Illinois Department of Labor. For more details on his professional credentials, please link to Carlos Arévalo’s biography.
Bull Valley Annexes Loyola’s Retreat and Ecology Campus
A group of residents of a formerly unincorporated area of Bull Valley and Loyola University Chicago recently entered into an agreement with the village of Bull Valley. The resulting order annexes what now is known as the Loyola University Chicago Retreat and Ecology Campus into the village.
The residents had filed a petition in the Circuit Court of McHenry County in 2009 before Loyola bought the 98-acre property in 2010. The village approached Loyola outside the courtroom and suggested entering into the voluntary annexation agreement. The pact ended the litigation and allowed the residents who initially filed the petition to become residents of Bull Valley as well.
Zukowski, Rogers, Flood & McArdle partner Michael J. Smoron is corporate counsel to the village of Bull Valley. His practice focuses primarily on land use and local government law.
Aside from the property’s use as a retreat, the campus boasts prairie, woodlands, oak savannah and wetlands that serve the university’s ecology and biology curricula. The school held summer sessions at the campus after reaching the agreement.
Bull Valley has publicly expressed its appreciation toward Loyola for its commitment to preserving the village’s environment. Loyola pledged to help neighbors maintain ecologically sensitive lands and to assist McHenry County and various agencies in similar efforts.
Smoron also is corporate counsel to the McHenry County villages of Hebron and Johnsburg. He has served as special counsel to the village of West Dundee in Kane County and to other units of local government in Cook, Lake, Warren and Henry counties. Zukowski, Rogers, Flood & McArdle, the largest law firm in McHenry County, Illinois, has an extensive practice in local government law. For more of Smoron’s professional credentials, please link to Michael Smoron’s biography.
