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.
Michael Baier
Senior Counsel
Michael is an experienced attorney focused on business-oriented solutions for diverse clientele. As a skilled litigator, he manages commercial claims surrounding in business, employment, and contract disputes, securities litigation, and personal injury/product liability matters. Michael is well-versed in multi-district litigations, class actions, and individual disputes, and he has served as trial counsel in both state and federal courts. Read more.
Heather A. Bartels
Associate
Heather Bartels is a litigation associate with a strong focus on complex commercial litigation, including insurance, restructuring, product liability, bankruptcy, and breach of contract cases. Throughout her career, she has represented a diverse range of clients, tackling high-stakes challenges such as a bet-the-company antitrust class action in the protein industry and a putative class action under the Illinois Genetic Information Privacy Act.
Heather's experience also extends to working on putative class actions within the automotive industry. Read more.
Jeffery Beck
Partner
Jeffery is an experienced trial attorney who has acted as lead trial counsel in a wide range of claims (in both state and federal courts) including: general contract litigation, construction defect litigation, insurance defense, fraud, product liability, patent infringement, legal malpractice, civil rights cases and real estate litigation.
In addition to his litigation practice, Jeffery serves as an offsite General Counsel to a number of companies both large and small. 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.
Alex Kontopoulos
Associate
Alex is a litigation attorney with experience in a variety of commercial cases. Prior to joining Esbrook, Alex was a litigation associate at Winston & Strawn where he handled a range of complex commercial cases, including arbitrations, consumer class actions, breach of contract, fraud, securities cases, and appeals. Read more.
Michael Kozlowski
Senior Counsel
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.
Marie Plecha
Associate
Marie is an associate with Esbrook P.C. Before joining the firm, Marie worked in the Staff Attorney’s Office of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit, where she recommended to the court the disposition of a wide range of civil and criminal appeals. Read more.
Katherine Plominski-Gloede
Associate
Katherine Plominski-Gloede is a skilled commercial litigation attorney with a broad range of experience counseling individual, corporate and government clients.
Katherine also has a comprehensive background in labor and employment law, where her expertise encompasses handling cases related to discrimination, retaliation, wage and hour disputes, and labor/union negotiations across administrative, state, and federal forums. 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.
Daniel P. Schaefer
Partner
Daniel is a skilled litigator with extensive experience representing companies, individuals, and federal agencies nationwide in trial and appellate courts. Known for his exceptional advocacy, sound advice, and deep knowledge, Daniel is a trusted advisor to clients who need a winning strategy to resolve complicated disputes. Read more.
Zachary L. Sorman
Senior Counsel
Zack Sorman is an experienced and passionate litigator with experience at every step of complex commercial litigation matters from initial assessment to final appeal. Zack’s experience includes matters related to patent litigation, employment disputes, trade secret litigation, and executive compensation disputes. Zack’s experience includes both Illinois state and federal court litigation matters, arbitrations, and appeals. 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.
Kasun Wijegunawardana
Associate
Kasun Wijegunawardana's practice involves a diverse array of topics including complex commercial litigation, class actions, corporate transactions, intellectual property transactions, and regulatory compliance. He also handles matters involving the Truth in Lending Act, Illinois Consumer Fraud Act, Fair Debt Collection Practices Act, and the Employment Retirement Income Security Act. 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
Partner
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.