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16501 S. Kedzie MARKHAM IL
About Me
In 2007, Helen Bloch founded the Law Offices of Helen Bloch, P.C., a general practice firm. She is a trusted counselor and advisor with over 20 years of experience practicing law. Helen strives to provide sound legal advice in a practical manner that advances her clients’ personal and professional goals.
In the employment and business context, Helen represents clients on all sides of the employment relationship- individual employees, managers, and employers. Routinely Helen negotiates and counsels clients on employment agreements, including non-competition, confidentiality, and severance agreements. Additional client services include advising businesses on best practices, including providing sexual harassment training, and drafting employment handbooks and various policies and procedures.
When settlement is not possible, Helen is an aggressive litigator. As both a former prosecutor and defense attorney for the City of Chicago, she successfully litigated hundreds of cases in the Municipal Prosecutions, Building and Land Use Litigation, and Torts divisions. Following her work for the City, Helen was an associate at Bellows and Bellows, P.C., where she practiced before Illinois state and federal courts, arbitrators and administrative tribunals around the country, including the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA (formerly the National Association of Securities Dealers)). At Bellows, she represented clients in business disputes, divorce, employment, estate planning, securities, and other matters.
Helen is well respected by both clients and colleagues. Since 2019 she has been named to the Illinois Super Lawyers list in the field of employment law. This designation, conferred upon only 5% of the total lawyers in each state, is based upon peer recognition and professional achievement.
In addition to her practical experience, Helen possesses the ability to explain complex legal matters in a clear and understandable fashion. She has lectured on topics such as gender role in the law, privacy in employment, hiring and maintaining a diverse workforce, legal issues affecting small businesses, legal rights and obligations from multiple sides of the employer-employee relationship, and communicable diseases like COVID-19 in the workplace. Helen is also a member of the Financial Poise Faculty, where she is a lecturer in the series Protecting Your Employee Assets: The Life Cycle of the Employment Relationship.
Helen belongs to several civic and professional organizations. She serves on the Alliance of Bar Associations, where she assists in screening judicial candidates. She is a past president of the Decalogue Society of Lawyers, which awarded her the Presidential Citation in 2015 and the Intra Society Award of Merit in 2001. Her other bar association memberships include the Illinois chapter of the National Employment Lawyers’ Association, Black Women Lawyers’ Association, Women’s Bar Association of Illinois, and the Illinois State Bar Association. Currently, Helen leads the Chicago chapter of the National Association of Women Business Owners’ (NAWBO) Business Exchange Group. She is also a member of the Lawyers Division of the Jewish Federation of Metropolitan Chicago, a life member of Hadassah, and a member of AIPAC.
The Firm is a Certified Female Business Enterprise.
155 North Michigan Avenue Suite 715 Chicago Illinois 60601
About Me
Tempia A. Courts
Tempia earned a Bachelor of Arts, with High Distinction in Political Science, from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign and a Juris Doctorate from the University of Illinois College of Law. While pursuing her undergraduate studies, she received several honors, including the President’s Award and Dean S. Dorman Award from the University of Illinois and an academic scholarship from the AKA-LADE Foundation. During law school, Tempia distinguished herself as an advocate for public interest law, garnering an award for the Best Oral Argument in the College’s Civil Rights Moot Court competition. She also received grants from the Public Interest Law Foundation and the Public Interest Law Initiative to fund research and service projects with not-for-profit organizations in Chicago and New York.
Tempia concentrates her practice in the areas of business and corporate law and not-for-profit law advising businesses, churches and other not-for-profit organizations on a variety of matters, including, but not limited to, entity selection and formation, mergers and acquisitions, contracts, employment issues, tax-exempt status, board governance and donor relations. She coordinates corporate governance for numerous businesses and not-for-profit organizations. Tempia also assists minority and women-owned business enterprises with obtaining certification from state and local government agencies. She is licensed to practice law in Illinois and the U.S. District Court, Northern District of Illinois.
A musician with a heart for music ministry, Tempia plays piano, flute and brass handbells, conducted a three-octave handbell choir for more than a decade, and previously served as Assistant Dean of Seminars for the Black Sacred Music Symposium held biennially at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.
Since 2016, Tempia has been a volunteer attorney with Administer Justice providing pro bono services to individuals and families in need, and previously served as an advisory board member for the organization locally. She currently serves as a board member for Administer Justice nationally, as well as a board member for the Hoffman Estates Chamber of Commerce and Industry. Service in support of community is what Tempia strives for in her personal and professional endeavors.
2300 Barrington Road Ste 220 Hoffman Estates Illinois 60169 USA
1400 N Mohawk Suite A Chicago Il
Illinois 60610 United States
160 N LaSalle Street Suite N1504 Chicago IL 60601 USA
60425
About Me
Ashanti joined the corporate department of Ropes & Grey’s Chicago office in 2021.
203 N. LaSalle Suite 2400 Chicago IL 60601 USA
Ms. Karen J. Porter
Porter Law NetworkAbout Me
Karen J. Porter is the principal attorney of the Porter Law Network. Ms. Porter has more than 30 years of experience representing large corporations, lending institutions, small businesses and individuals.
Ms. Porter was admitted to practice law in Michigan in 1982 and in Illinois in 1984. She is admitted to the federal courts in the Northern and Central Districts of Illinois. She is a member of the Trial Bar of the United States District Court for the Northern District of Illinois. Ms. Porter has been involved in more than 500 bankruptcy cases and adversary proceedings. In the last few years, she has confirmed six chapter 11 plans of reorganization.
Education:
University of Michigan Law School: Juris Doctor, 1982
Kean University: Summa Cum Laude: B.A. Political Science, 1979
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