Fifteen years, one floor.
A 41-lawyer business firm on LaSalle Street, started in 2011 by a federal prosecutor and an M&A partner who wanted the people writing contracts to sit down the hall from the people who would defend them.
Careers at the firm
From half a floor to all of it.
Margaret Ellery tried cases for the government for ten years. Tomasz Kowal spent fourteen closing deals at a firm with 1,200 lawyers. They kept meeting the same problem from opposite ends: contracts written by people who would never have to argue about them.
- 2011
Two lawyers, half a floor
Margaret Ellery leaves the U.S. Attorney’s office in Chicago and Tomasz Kowal leaves a 1,200-lawyer firm. They open at 224 S. LaSalle with four associates and one rule: no major contract leaves the firm until a trial lawyer has read it.
- 2014
The first jury verdict
A breach-of-warranty trial in the Northern District of Illinois, for a manufacturer the firm had first represented on the supply agreement itself. The jury took four hours.
- 2016
Employment and investigations
Danielle Okafor joins from in-house at a national retailer. A year later Marcus Leland arrives after eleven years as a federal prosecutor, and the firm takes the whole 31st floor.
- 2019
A report every month
Every client starts receiving a monthly status report: budget against estimate, next deadlines and a plain-English summary. It is still the part of the job clients mention most.
- 2022
Six practices
Helen Brandt brings her real estate practice and Arjun Sethi starts IP and technology, including the biometric privacy work that is now a third of his docket.
- 2026
Forty-one lawyers, one floor
Seven partners, eight counsel and twenty-six associates. Still on the 31st floor, still with the deal lawyers and the trial lawyers down the hall from each other.
Four rules we put in writing.
Each one produces a piece of paper you can hold us to. Here is what they look like.
Matter teamMatter 2026-0214
Restrictive covenant dispute · Cook County
Danielle OkaforLead partnerYour first call. Signs off every filing.- Rachel ImaniSenior associateDrafts, research and day-to-day questions.
- Luis OrtegaParalegalDocuments, deadlines and court filings.
Changes to the team are agreed with you in writing.
Engagement letter · Schedule AFee estimate
| Phase | Basis | Estimate |
|---|---|---|
| Pleadings and early motions | Hourly, capped | $38,000 |
| Written discovery and depositions | Hourly | $96,000 |
| Experts | Hourly | $42,000 |
| Mediation | Fixed | $14,000 |
| Total through mediation | $190,000 |
A phase running more than 10% over its estimate is agreed with you before the work is done.
Status reportOctober 1, 2026
Supply dispute · N.D. Ill.
- Spent this month
- $21,450
- Total against estimate
- $148,200 of $240,000
- Next deadline
- Expert reports, October 14
Both plant managers have been deposed. Their testimony supports our reading of the shortfall clause, and we recommend proposing mediation after expert reports are exchanged.
Signed by the lead partner. Two pages, every month.
Conflict checkRequest 2026-0412
New matter · Sale of a family business
- Parties searched
- 4 companies, 2 individuals
- Related entities
- 11 subsidiaries and affiliates
- Result
- Clear to act
- Time to result
- 3 hours 20 minutes
Run before we hear anything confidential. If we cannot act, we say so the same day.
Three kinds of client.
Almost every new client is introduced by an existing one. Most stay for years.
Founder-owned companies
Businesses still run by the people who started them, usually between $20 million and $500 million in revenue.
Typical workInvestment and sale, shareholder disputes, the first serious contract with a much larger customer.
Family businesses
Second- and third-generation companies where the board table and the dinner table overlap.
Typical workSuccession and governance, sales to private equity, disputes between branches of the family.
General counsel of public companies
In-house teams who want a partner on the phone and a budget they can defend to their CFO.
Typical workCommercial trials, internal investigations, Illinois employment and biometric privacy matters.
One floor, on purpose.
The trial team and the deal team sit on either side of the library. Every major contract crosses it before it is signed.
The work we don’t bill for.
Every lawyer here gives at least fifty hours a year to people and businesses who could not otherwise hire us, and those hours count toward bonus in full.
A monthly small-business clinic
Free half-hour consultations for neighborhood businesses on leases, contracts and hiring, run with a South Side chamber of commerce.
Federal court appointments
Our litigators accept appointments to represent people without lawyers in civil cases in the Northern District of Illinois.
Fifty hours each, at least
Every lawyer gives at least fifty hours a year to pro bono work, and those hours count toward bonus targets in full.
Learn from the partner.
Thirty-four counsel and associates work beside seven partners on one floor. You learn by doing the work and having it read closely, by someone who will be in the room when it matters.
Associates join one practice but work for at least two partners, and spend their first year with both a deal team and a trial team. You will draft from week one, take a deposition in your second year and sit second chair at trial when one comes. Every associate has a partner who reviews their work in person, not by tracked changes.
Six to eight law students join us for ten weeks each summer after their second year. You work on live matters for real clients, attend every hearing you can, and finish with a short written argument that a partner marks up line by line. Applications open in the spring; most offers go to students who interviewed with us on campus or wrote to us directly.
We hire a small number of lawyers each year with three to eight years of experience, usually from larger firms or government service. We look for people who have drafted the contract and argued about it later. Portable business is welcome but never required.
Paralegals, legal assistants and our intake and finance teams work on the same floor as the lawyers and are included in matter teams by name. We list open roles here when we have them.
How to apply
Email a CV, your law school transcript and a writing sample of no more than ten pages to careers@ellerykowal.com. Say which role you are applying for in the subject line.
A lawyer reads every application and replies within two weeks. We do not accept unsolicited submissions from recruiters. Ellery Kowal LLP is an equal opportunity employer.