Special Counsel

Joe is Special Counsel in the Chicago office of Smith Amundsen. His practice currently includes civil litigation arising from the construction industry and other venues. Joe handles injury cases, breach of contract matters between construction parties, mechanic’s liens matters, construction defect disputes, and contract drafting. Joe also handles products liability disputes and retail liability issues.

Throughout his career he has represented defendants in legal malpractice cases including Wilson v. Coronet, 293 Ill. App. 3d 992. Joe defended an accounting firm to verdict in an accounting malpractice case, defended creditors under the Federal Debt Collection Practices Act and has prosecuted negligence and contract collection cases to verdict and through post-judgment relief. Joe has argued a Federal Debt Collection Practices case before the Seventh Circuit Federal Appeals Court and has numerous jury verdicts and bench trial findings in his career. He has appeared in Who’s Who in Law in the Midwest.

Joe is an active member of the Chicago Bar Association Judicial Evaluation Committee which assists in screening judicial candidates. Joe has worked for the Chicago Bar Association, Bar Foundation at St. Agatha’s Church on the West Side of Chicago under the direction of Father Michael Ivers. Joe is currently pro bono legal counsel for the Illinois Commission on Diversity and Human Relations. He has also served as an Honorary Chair of the Martin Luther King Jr. Memorial Dinner, hosted by the Commission. In this capacity, Joe assisted in scholarship fund-raising for the Illinois Commission on Diversity and Human Relations and assists in the presentation of the Martin Luther King Jr. Memorial Dinner on an annual basis in Chicago.

Joe graduated from college with an ROTC Commission and served two years in the United States Army.