Freeborn & Peters LLP Announces New Practice Group Leaders

CHICAGO –  Freeborn & Peters LLP is pleased to announce that Michael J. Kelly and Terrence J. Sheahan have been named Co-Leaders of the Litigation Practice Group, Kimberly A. Beis has been named Co-Leader of the Intellectual Property Practice Group, Marc B. Zimmerman has been named Leader of the Labor and Employment Practice Group and Katheleen A. Ehrhart and Steven D. Pearson have been named Co-Leaders of the Insurance Brokerage Group. 

“We are proud to welcome these Partners into firm leadership roles,” said William E. Russell, Co-Managing Partner. “Several have served in leadership roles in the past and are eager to do so again, while others are stepping into a leadership role for the first time in their careers. We look forward to their impact as leaders as the firm continues its work to innovate and provide the highest quality legal services to our clients.”

With more than 90 litigators, Freeborn's Litigation Practice Group brings both bench strength and deep experience to each client matter. Known as a Litigation Powerhouse^®, we are 'litigators first' and our philosophy is to prepare cases to be tried. Even when settlement is appropriate, we believe our trial-ready approach provides the best ultimate outcome. Michael J. Kelly and Terrence J. Sheahan oversee the entire group, which consists of seven specialty groups.

For more than 25 years, Michael J. Kelly has worked with clients on complex litigation cases involving antitrust, contract, insurance, intellectual property and trade secrets, often involving novel issues. Michael is also an experienced counselor, litigating and providing in-depth strategic advice on class action litigation. He also previously served as the Firm’s Co-Managing Partner. Michael received his J.D.  from DePaul University College of Law and his Bachelor of Arts from the University of Notre Dame.

Terrence J. Sheahan has tried to verdict more than 150 civil and criminal bench trials and 17 civil and criminal jury trials (in addition to trying multiple other bench and jury trials that have settled or otherwise ended during trial). He has handled multiple state and federal court appeals, including appeals filed in the United States Court of Appeals for the Tenth, Sixth and Federal Circuits, the Illinois Supreme Court and the Illinois Appellate Court. In addition to his courtroom experience, he routinely represents business clients in arbitrations and mediations. For the past decade, he has served as an Adjunct Professor at Northwestern University Pritzker School of Law teaching Introduction to Trial Advocacy. T.J. received his J.D. from DePaul University College of Law and his Bachelor of Arts from Indiana University.

Kimberly A. Beis joins Jeffrey J. Catalano as Co-Leader of the Intellectual Property Practice Group. Kim has experience with all aspects of civil litigation, including pre-suit investigations, discovery, motion practice, trial preparation and examining witnesses at trial in both state and federal court, particularly as it relates to pharmaceutical patent litigation. In addition, Kim is Co-Leader of the Firm’s Women’s Leadership Council. Kim received her J.D. from Northern Illinois University College of Law (magna cum laude), and her Bachelors of Arts from Lewis and Clark College.

Marc B. Zimmerman, Leader of the Labor and Employment Practice Group, advises clients on a wide range of labor relations and business issues, including wage and hour compliance, classification issues, restrictive covenants, discipline, management training, policy development, reductions in force, investigations, discrimination, harassment, retaliation, whistleblower and unemployment claims. He is also a sought-after negotiator and routinely assists management and executives in structuring, drafting and reviewing employment contracts, contractor agreements, separation agreements, restrictive covenants and executive compensation issues. Marc received his J.D. from Fordham University School of Law and his Bachelor of Arts from State University of New York at Binghamton (with honors).

Katheleen A. Ehrhart and Steven D. Pearson step in as Co-Leaders of the Insurance Brokerage Group, a subgroup of the Firm’s Insurance and Reinsurance Industry Team.  Kathy has extensive experience working with executives, senior management and in-house counsel of corporations in managing litigation as well as advising on litigation risks and strategy. She recently was involved in the first virtual bench hearing in Cook County. Kathy received her J.D. from University of Chicago Law School (with honors) and her Bachelor of Science from University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. 

Steve’s practice emphasizes the areas of non-compete litigation, professional liability, insurance coverage, bad faith, reinsurance, and complex commercial litigation.  Steve also regularly litigates large-scale attorney fee disputes and has testified as an expert witness in such matters.  He has represented insurers at every stage of the process, from policy drafting, to claims handling through trial and appeal in both state and federal courts throughout the country.  Steve has also served as national and regional counsel for a number of insurance companies in a broad array of industry sectors, including general liability, construction defect, municipal liability, health care, environmental, mass tort, and bad faith claims. He received his J.D. from DePaul University College of Law and his Bachelor of Arts from University of Minnesota - Twin Cities.