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.
James M. Barton
Senior Counsel
James is an experienced litigator and trial lawyer who focuses his practice on complex commercial litigation and insurance coverage disputes throughout the United States.
James has personal experience in all phases of litigation from pre-suit investigation through trial. His work has included a wide variety of high value lawsuits, including corporate acquisition disputes, shareholder actions and valuation proceedings, bad faith litigation, restrictive covenant enforcement suits, and mortgage-backed securities claims. 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.
Colleen A. Cavanagh
Associate
Colleen is a litigation associate with Esbrook P.C., where she represents businesses and individuals in complex business disputes in state and federal courts around the country. Colleen has jury trial and first-chair deposition experience. Her broad experience with complex commercial litigation includes products liability, antitrust, breach of contract, employment, trade secret misappropriation, and tortious interference, among other business torts and disputes. Read more.
Laura Newcomer Cohen
Partner
Laura is an experienced litigator who develops practical, results-oriented strategies to achieve her clients’ goals in resolving complex business disputes. She has represented clients in a wide variety of cases, including contract claims, real estate litigation, partnership and LLC disputes, business torts, and bankruptcy litigation. Laura strives to achieve the best possible results for her clients through focused and efficient legal counsel.
She has a proven track record of success in all stages of litigation, from pre-suit negotiations and alternative dispute resolution to trial and appeal. Read more.
Michael D. Ferrara
Associate
Mike is a litigator with a variety of experience in commercial disputes, representing public accounting firms, private equity funds, portfolio companies, and other companies in civil disputes across the United States. Having first-hand knowledge of various industries, Mike has the perspective needed to consider both the business and legal interests of his clients. Read more.
Taras Garapiak
Associate
Taras is a commercial litigator with arbitration trial experience. He represents businesses and individuals from a wide range of industries in complex business disputes in state and federal courts. Taras is a tenacious fighter who works tirelessly to protect his clients’ interests. Taras focuses his practice upon a variety of litigation matters in the areas of partnership disputes, business torts, fiduciary duty, and breach of contract cases. Read more.
Jared T. Green
Senior Counsel
Jared Green is a seasoned litigator with a practice focused on corporate and commercial litigation, representing clients in complex business disputes in Delaware’s state and federal courts. He has extensive experience handling matters in the Delaware Court of Chancery, including fiduciary duty claims, shareholder disputes, and contract enforcement cases. 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 a commercial litigator who provides value-driven results to clients in various industries and sectors across the United States, in both state and federal courts. She is skilled at engaging with clients at all levels, including C-suite executives and director-level leadership. 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.
James M. Kestler
Senior Counsel
James is a litigator with experience in complex commercial and mass tort litigation. He has experience representing businesses and individuals in a variety of different matters in both state and federal courts around the country. 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
Partner
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.
Tara Krkljes
Law Clerk
Tara is dedicated to her work and serving her clients. She has experience in complex commercial litigation, disputes in connection with M&A activity, and employment law. Tara is the Co-Chair of the Alternative Dispute Resolution Program at UIUC Law, coordinating competitions for students. She has competed in national and international competitions with the Trial Advocacy and Dispute Resolution Program in mock trials, arbitrations, and mediations. Read more.
Scott J. Leonhardt
Partner
Scott J. Leonhardt practices in the areas of alternative entities, corporate transactions and commercial, corporate and bankruptcy litigation. Scott’s practice includes issuing bankruptcy remote, substantive non-consolidation, UCC, power and authority, cross border and various other types of third party closing opinions letters. Scott also provides advice on all aspects of Delaware LLCs and LPs, the rights and remedies of members and partners, entity formation, commercial transactions, friendly foreclosures and various ways to wind down an entity through judicial and extra-judicial dissolutions, ABCs and filing a chapter 7 bankruptcy petition. 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.
Robert Nader
Associate
Bob is dedicated to helping clients find creative solutions to complex problems. During his time in law school, Bob clerked at a personal injury litigation boutique and a business law firm. Bob graduated from the University of Illinois College of Law in May 2024. He was awarded a Rickert Award for excellence in Legal Writing. 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.
Jordan L. Powers
Associate
Jordan represents clients in state and federal courts across the country and in all phases of litigation, from pre-litigation counseling and investigation through post-trial motions and appeals. Her experience with complex commercial litigation includes antitrust, breach of contract, public nuisance, trade secret misappropriation, products liability, tortious interference, and other business torts and disputes. Read more.
David F. 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.
Gina Qualter
Associate
Gina is devoted to her clients and aims to provide creative solutions to achieve their goals. She has experience with civil litigation and policy work, having served as a Congressional Policy Fellow. Pre-law, Gina worked and studied as a research scientist in preclinical and clinical research and understands the complexities of protecting intellectual property as well as FDA and USDA regulations. She also completed two years of medical school and has hands-on surgical and internal medicine experience as well as a deep understanding of medical billing and coding. 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.
Kirk Watkins
Partner
Kirk is a commercial litigator with more than a decade of experience handling complex commercial, corporate, and real-estate disputes. He has represented clients in bench and jury trials in both state and federal courts across the country and at all phases of litigation and arbitration from pre-suit investigation and discovery to appeals and post-judgment enforcement. Read more.
Katherine R. Welch
Associate
Katherine is a dedicated attorney with experience in corporate litigation, business, entity formation, bankruptcy, toxic torts, personal injury, hospitality, and general civil matters. Katherine capably counsels and handles litigation matters for large and small clients. Katherine also assisted the Delaware judiciary in revising sections of their civil pattern jury instructions and can often be found tutoring those preparing to take the Delaware Bar Exam. 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.
Kirsten E. Williams
Associate
Kirsten is an associate with Esbrook P.C. Prior to joining the firm, Kirsten worked at a litigation boutique in Chicago and served as a judicial law clerk to the Honorable Andrew M. Edison of the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Texas. 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
Managing 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.