Attorneys
Christopher J. Esbrook
Founding Partner
Chris is a litigator who won cases for his clients across industries and in venues throughout the country. He has deep experience in complex commercial litigation, mass tort, toxic tort, class action, environmental litigation, insurance litigation, disputes arising out of corporate transactions, and business law.
Chris has served as trial counsel for clients in high-stakes, high-pressure litigation. He also has a track record of success in transnational litigation, serving as trial counsel in international arbitrations as well as in foreign civil courtrooms. In addition, he counsels clients on the application of unclaimed property law to business operations and represents clients in unclaimed property audits. Read more.
Stephen Brown
Partner
Stephen is a litigator with extensive experience in all aspects of complex civil litigation. He has represented clients in federal and state court in a wide variety of disputes and has represented companies and individuals in responding to investigative subpoenas from government entities.
Before joining Esbrook P.C., Stephen worked at Jenner & Block LLP for more than ten years, first as an associate from November 2009 to December 2015, and then as a partner from January 2016 to September 2020. Before working at Jenner & Block, LLP Stephen served as a term law clerk to the Honorable James S. Gwin of the United States District Court for the Northern District of Ohio. Read more.
Shiva Gaskari
Senior Counsel
Shiva is an experienced complex civil litigation attorney. She began her career working in patent litigation in the heart of the Silicon Valley where she has worked on high stakes trade secrets litigation for companies like Apple and Cisco Systems. Shiva has worked extensively through her career for some of the largest multinational corporations.
Her work has encompassed a wide range of corporate and business law including securities and shareholder litigation, class action defense, patent litigation, white collar crime defense, mergers and acquisitions investigations, and defending companies in regulatory investigations by the SEC, DOJ, OCC and CFPB. Read more.
Erika B. Giwa-Amu
Associate
Erika previously served as the senior law clerk for the Honorable Alexander M. Tisch of The Supreme Court of New York State. During her work with the court, Erika researched and wrote on a variety of civil matters including civil procedure, employment law, commercial law, information security, and discovery. Erika led discovery, pre-trial, jury charge, and settlement conferences and is fluent in Hebrew. Read more.
Matthew H. Griffin
Associate
Matthew helps clients meet their business goals and resolve disputes efficiently. He has experience investigating facts, developing claims and defenses, addressing issues encountered in discovery, and planning for motion and trial themes. Read more.
América A. Guzmán
Associate
América is an associate with Esbrook P.C. Prior to joining the firm, América served as a judicial extern for the Honorable Judge R. Steven Whalen for the Eastern District of Michigan. There, América researched and wrote on matters involving multidistrict litigation, defamation, and Social Security. Read more.
Jennifer Hanna
Associate
Jennifer has worked in various roles across many areas of civil litigation for over 20 years. Her wide breadth of experience enables her to see cases from a multitude of angles, and she uses that knowledge to quickly find outside-the-box, cost-effective solutions to complex issues. Read more.
Celeste Herr
Associate
Celeste is an associate attorney with Esbrook P.C., where her practice focuses on commercial litigation and business disputes in state and federal court. Before joining Esbrook, Celeste began her career as a judicial law clerk to the Honorable Justice Kathryn E. Zenoff of the Illinois Appellate Court, Second District. Read more.
Michael Kozlowski
Associate
Mike is a litigator who counsels individuals and entities on a variety of complex litigation matters including commercial litigation, insurance litigation, class actions, data privacy litigation, environmental litigation including CERCLA, RCRA, and OPA, breach of fiduciary duty, disputes arising out of corporate transactions, and business law. Mike has successfully served as trial counsel for clients in high-stakes litigation and has experience in both state and federal courts. Read more.
Bradley Lohsl
Associate
Brad is a commercial litigation attorney with Esbrook P.C., specializing in commercial litigation, insurance defense, and transportation litigation and representing clients in federal and state court. While in law school, Brad served as an Associate Article Director of the Indiana Law Review in which he had his Law Review Note published. Read more.
Courtney Marincsin
Of Counsel
Courtney is a nationally recognized trial lawyer with deep experience in cases that involve particularly complex issues across industries. Courtney’s practice spans a broad range of product liability and business disputes, including mass tort, breach of contract, and trade secret claims. Courtney also has significant experience representing parties in high stakes litigation, winning many notable cases at trial. Courtney’s corporate clients benefit from the unique perspective and strategic insights she gained during four years as a successful plaintiff’s attorney in Chicago. Read more.
C. Barry Montgomery
Senior Counsel
C. Barry Montgomery is a renowned trial lawyer and strategist. He focuses his practice on complex commercial litigation, product liability, class actions and construction litigation, as well as directors’ and officers’ liability and professional liability litigation. He is an active trial lawyer who has tried more than 150 jury trials to verdict in state and federal courts throughout the United States. Mr. Montgomery has been recognized by his fellow lawyers and numerous publications as one of the outstanding trial lawyers in the United States. Read more.
David Pustilnik
Partner
David is a skilled litigator who has represented clients in a wide range of litigation in both the trial court and appellate levels in numerous state and federal jurisdictions. He has extensive experience in complex commercial litigation, consumer finance litigation, class action defense, and business litigation. David has served as first chair trial counsel for his clients and has won critical victories in many high-stakes disputes. Read more.
Dana N. Raymond
Senior Counsel
Dana is a seasoned trial attorney who joins Esbrook P.C. with a diverse background in civil litigation. She has extensive experience at the state and federal levels, handling a wide range of matters including complex commercial litigation, catastrophic personal injury claims, medical malpractice actions and healthcare litigation, product liability claims, class action litigation, labor and employment disputes, premises liability claims, and sophisticated business transactions. Read more.
Olivia M. Romano
Associate
Olivia is a litigator with a diversity of experience across state and federal jurisdictions. Her command of the facts and eye for creative case strategies have allowed her to achieve favorable outcomes for clients during depositions, dispositive motion practice, settlement, and trial. Read more.
Daniel P. Schaefer
Partner
Daniel is a trial attorney. His significant litigation experience spans many subject areas in trial and appellate courts. Clients rely on Daniel because of his wealth of knowledge, elite litigation skills, and sound advice. He works tirelessly to help his clients develop winning strategies to resolve their disputes efficiently and successfully. Read more.
Morgan Smith
Senior Counsel
Morgan Smith is a commercial litigator with extensive experience in products liability, breach of contract, and tort claims. Morgan has effectively handled cases in federal and state courts in a variety of disputes and achieved great success in reaching favorable pre-suit and post-suit settlements for clients. Read more.
Catherine E. Stahl
Of Counsel
Professor Catherine E. Stahl is the Director of the University of Illinois College of Law’s Trial Advocacy Program. Prior to joining the faculty in 2017, Professor Stahl was a partner at Kirkland & Ellis in Chicago, Illinois. She began her legal career as an associate in the Washington DC office of Dechert LLP. Professor Stahl has broad complex commercial litigation and regulatory enforcement experience, in which she has handled matters in a variety of disciplines, including antitrust, products liability, environmental, white collar and securities, commercial disputes, class actions, and internal investigations. Read more.
Lauren Wright
Associate
Lauren Wright is an associate with Esbrook P.C. Lauren has extensive experience handling a wide range of civil litigation matters in state and federal court including commercial, employment, and tort disputes. Lauren is a skilled litigator effectively handling all aspects of litigation and has achieved great results for clients. Read more.
Esther Yahnig
Senior Counsel
Esther is a skilled commercial litigation attorney with a broad range of experience counseling and representing corporate and governmental clients. Esther began her career with Sidley Austin LLP focusing on complex commercial litigation and class action defense. Esther left Sidley Austin to serve as Assistant General Counsel for the Board of Education of the City of Chicago where she counseled internal clients on a wide range of legal matters. Read more.