Contributors

	Alan D. Kovitz With over 50 years’ experience as a practicing attorney, Al concentrates in commercial real estate, financing, loan transactions, corporate law, and estate planning. He assists clients with many types of real estate transactions, including the negotiation, sale, purchase, and leasing of multi-million dollar commercial and multi-family real estate properties. Al has represented private individuals, closely held businesses and publicly-traded companies in many of these transactions. He also represents clients in the purchase and sale of businesses, and the structuring of these transactions for his clients. Among Al’s many gifts as an attorney is his ability to build lasting relationships with his clients and to help them navigate the myriad of issues that every business owner faces. Please view Al’s full bio for more information.
	William B. Levy Bill focuses his practice in the areas of business and corporate law, estate planning and estate and trust administration. He also provides business and personal legal services to small and medium sized businesses, the owners of these businesses, and families and individuals. Bill has extensive experience counseling clients on business entity formation, organizing corporations and limited liability companies, advising clients with regard to day-to-day business operations, and negotiating and drafting commercial leases and many types of business agreements including shareholder (buy-sell agreements), employment, vendor, website development, software development, and much more. Additionally, Bill has niche experience in the unique estate planning needs of the LGBT community and other non-traditional couples. This includes the preparation of estate plan documents (trusts, wills, powers of attorney, living wills, etc.), drafting co-ownership agreements, and business succession and wealth preservation planning. Please view Bill’s full bio for more information.
	Michael P. Rhoades Mike concentrates his practice in estate planning for high net worth clients, which includes the preparation and coordination of estate plan documents; the implementation of business succession planning strategies through the use of family limited partnerships, sales and gifting programs; the negotiation of premarital agreements; the coordination of clients’ charitable goals by use of gift annuities, charitable remainder trusts, gifts of fractional interests in real estate and gifts of closely held stock; and the preparation of gift and estate tax returns. In addition to Mike’s law degree from Chicago-Kent College of Law, he also earned a Masters in Law in Taxation from Georgetown University, which enables him to view each client’s estate planning needs from a holistic perspective. Please view Mike’s full bio for more information.
	Gerald J. Smoller Jerry joined KSN in 1985 and has been a practicing attorney since 1968. He concentrates in matters of commercial real estate, business organization, representing professional practices, and estate planning. Clients count on Jerry to represent them in the formation of shareholder, partnership and employment agreements, to draft, review and negotiate leases, and to provide representation in the sale and purchase of commercial real estate. Jerry also excels at counseling clients in the purchase and sale of businesses, and he represents them through the complexities of the transaction as well as structuring the family’s estate plan. Jerry’s approach to estate planning is to educate clients about the full range of options available to them, and to take the time necessary to make sure that they understand the “why” behind the structure of their estate plans. Please view Jerry’s full bio for more information.
	Robert A. SternbergA savvy dealmaker, Rob has been a practicing attorney since 1972. He focuses in the areas of business/corporate law, real estate law, loan transactions, and providing general counsel to business clients. Rob represents individuals, partnerships, corporations, limited liability companies, and banks in negotiating and closing modest to multi-million dollar transactions involving commercial real estate, mergers and acquisitions, and commercial and real estate loans. Rob attributes his dealmaking prowess to his ability to connect with people on both sides of the deal, to grasp the business and human factors, and to creative problem solving. In addition to his practice, Rob also counsels Kovitz Shifrin Nesbit and other professionals outside the firm on ethical considerations and issues relating to attorneys and the practice of law. Please view Rob’s full bio for more information.