This
site was last updated March 9, 2002
Welcome
to
MICHAEL D. POULOS, P.C.
ATTORNEYS AT LAW
A full service law firm
fulfilling the needs of individuals and small businesses since 1980
The attorneys of Michael D. Poulos, P.C. are
licensed to practice law
in the State of Illinois.
We are unable to provide legal advice to
prospective clients via the Internet or by e-mail, and no information on this
web site is to be construed as legal advice. If you are interested in retaining
us please call for an appointment.
This site is still under development.
Contents
Please scroll down for:
MICHAEL D. POULOS, P.C. WINS CASE
FOR CONSUMER RIGHTS
IN ILLINOIS SUPREME COURT
In a unanimous
decision, the Illinois Supreme Court ruled in favor of a condominium
association represented by Michael D. Poulos, P.C., finding that the unit
buyers did not waive the implied warranty of habitability in their purchase
contracts. The ruling allows the association to proceed with a case to recover
the cost of fixing a dangerous structural defect.
James
K. Kenny (left) and Michael D. Poulos on the steps
of the Illinois Supreme Court building in Springfield
Purchasers of
new residences receive the benefit of the implied warranty of habitability,
which means the home is properly built and free of serious latent defects. When
the Illinois Supreme Court recognized this warranty in 1979, the Court stated
the warranty can be waived, but only by a provision that tells the buyer what
the implied warranty of habitability is and explains the consequences of
waiving it. The waiver must be so clear and conspicuous that it is obvious the
buyer saw the clause and understood it.
The normal
practice of builders is to have a separately signed document or portion of the
purchase contract in large typeface that explains the warranty and what the
consumer is giving up if it is waived.
In the case
argued by Michael Poulos, the trial judge had ruled that a clause buried in the
middle of the contract that did not even mention the implied warranty of
habitability was sufficient. The Appellate Court agreed. The Supreme Court
considered the issue sufficiently important to select this case as one of the
handful of civil cases it hears each year.
Responding to
Mr. Poulos’s argument that "you cannot disclaim what you do not
name," the Supreme Court held that the contract must actually use the term
"implied warranty of habitability" before there can be an effective
waiver. Mentioning analogous warranties from the Uniform Commercial Code is not
adequate. The Court also noted with approval two examples of correct
disclaimers cited by Mr. Poulos, and overruled a contrary case from Lake County
along with the Cook County decisions in this case.
Because of this
case, buyers of newly built homes and condominiums will have to be fully
informed when they are asked to waive the implied warranty of habitability.
Fine print and ambiguous language buried in the middle of the purchase contract
can no longer be used to mislead consumers, at least not on this issue.
The opinion of
the Supreme Court can be viewed at the following URL:
http://www.state.il.us/court/Opinions/SupremeCourt/2001/November/Opinions/Html/90439.htm
Few lawyers
have the opportunity to appear before the Illinois Supreme Court, and fewer
still win a unanimous reversal of the lower courts’ decisions. For
Michael Poulos and James Kenny, this was indeed a great honor.
1724 Sherman Avenue
Evanston, Illinois 60201
Telephone 847-492-9800
Fax 847-492-9801
Michael D. Poulos
James K. Kenny
Mark Hellner
C. Robert Black
Suzanne M. Poulos
Aine I. Ruane
We are located in downtown Evanston on Sherman
Avenue
above Starbucks Coffee and Kaehler's TravelWorks.
We are 1 1/2 blocks South of the eastern
extension of Golf Road,
5 1/2 blocks North of Dempster Street,
and 1 block East of the elevated tracks.
Sherman Avenue is a one-way street heading South.
Metered parking is available on the street.
There is a parking garage in the alley across
Sherman Avenue from our office,
one a block South on Sherman Avenue just past Osco,
and one just West of the elevated tracks.
We are just east and north of the Davis Street
elevated and Metra stations.
For our
clients, to be a full service law firm:
- To establish with each client a lifetime
relationship of confidence and trust earned every day by the work we do
and the advice we give;
- To meet all the legal needs of each client
promptly, economically, with the highest caliber of legal work and
advocacy, and with "bulldog" determination;
- To give each client sound advice, advice
that goes beyond the specifics of the case and takes into consideration
the client’s long term needs and objectives, needs and objectives we
understand based upon our long relationship with the client;
- To be a trusted resource for our clients so
that, whatever their needs or problems, once we are on the case the client
need have no worry; and
- To accord each client respect, dignity, and
loyalty.
For our
employees, to provide a work environment:
- Where each person can meet his or her full
potential as a professional in the practice of law;
- Where personal development and personal
objectives are respected and encouraged, even if they are unrelated to the
practice of law;
- Where a collegial relationship exists, and
where each person looks forward each day to working with all the other
members of the firm;
- Where problems and concerns are promptly
addressed and resolved;
- Where a variety of work and a broad base of
clients assures that each day will present new challenges;
- Where every attempt is made to keep the
stress often associated with the practice of law to a minimum; and
- Where each person can make a respectable
and comfortable living within the context of a reasonable workweek.
Michael
D. Poulos is a native of Evanston,
Illinois, and he lived for a few years as a child in the United States Virgin
Islands. He graduated from Evanston Township High School and went on to Ripon
College in Ripon, Wisconsin, where he earned a Bachelor of Arts degree in three
years majoring in English.
Mr. Poulos
attended Loyola Law School where he obtained his Juris Doctor degree. He was
admitted to the Illinois Bar on October 30, 1980, two weeks after turning 24.
He opened his own practice that day.
Michael
D. Poulos
Mr. Poulos is a
member of the American, Illinois, and Chicago Bar Associations and the
Association of Trial Lawyers of America. He is a member of the Illinois Bar and
is also admitted to practice before the United States Tax Court and the United
States District Court for the Northern District of Illinois. He served on the
CBA Election Law Committee. He is principal trumpet, assistant conductor, and
past chair of the Chicago Bar Association Symphony Orchestra and principal
trumpet and chairman of the board of the North Suburban Symphony Orchestra. He conducts an annual
performance of Handel’s Messiah to raise money for charity.
In
1999 Loyola Law School commissioned Lauren Uram
to create a portrait of Mr. Poulos in his role as a conductor
and featured it on the cover of the law school magazine.
While in
college Mr. Poulos served as state chairman of the Wisconsin College
Republicans and sat as a voting member on the governing committee of the
Wisconsin Republican Party. In 1984 he was the Republican nominee for State
Representative from Evanston. He received more votes than any other Republican
in the ten years of that district. With his wife, Suzanne, he served as
coordinator for Jim Edgar's gubernatorial campaign in Evanston in 1990. He
currently serves as national supreme counsel to the United Hellenic Voters of
America.
Mr. Poulos has
been quoted in many articles in legal publications and has been interviewed on
legal topics in newspapers and on radio and television.
Suzanne M. Poulos, Mr. Poulos's wife, is a
native of Oshkosh, Wisconsin, and holds a Bachelor of Arts degree from Ripon College
with a major in music. She works at the firm as a legal secretary and office
manager. She also appears with the Chicago Bar Association Symphony and the
North Suburban Symphony playing celeste and piano.
From 1986
through 1990 Mr. and Mrs. Poulos co-hosted "The World" on Radio
Earth, a groundbreaking program broadcast on shortwave, AM, and FM to the
Americas, Europe, the Middle East, and Northern Africa. Rated second in
popularity only to the BBC World News in North America among daily broadcasts
by the Review of International Broadcasting, Radio Earth, of which
Mr. Poulos is Board Chairman, pioneered a new style of broadcasting in
international radio.
Not content
with the hurdles presented by the practice of law, Mr. and Mrs. Poulos also
jump hurdles on horseback. Their vacations find them sailing and scuba diving
in the Caribbean and they enjoy cross-country skiing in the North Woods of
Wisconsin.
Suzanne
Poulos riding along a costal plain in Jamaica.
C. Robert Black, of counsel to the firm since 1991, practices law part time
in addition to his work as owner of the Evanston and Chicago Band and Orchestra
Companies and the Saxophone Shop, Ltd., the area’s leading musical
instrument retail and rental businesses.
A 1989 graduate
of DePaul University College of Law, Mr. Black previously worked as a litigator
for Kempster and Associates. While in law school he externed for the City of Evanston
law department and represented clients at the DePaul Legal Clinic.
Mr. Black
received his Bachelor of Music degree from Northwestern University in 1974 and
the Premier Prix du Saxophone from the Bordeaux (France) Conservatoire in
1972.
An internationally
acclaimed saxophonist, Mr. Black was awarded a "GRAMMY" for Best New
Classical Artist in 1986. He has made numerous recordings including an
appearance on the Chicago Symphony Orchestra Centennial Collection, and he
regularly performs with the Chicago Symphony and the Grant Park Symphony (often
with his son, Jeremy, playing violin) and the Lyric Opera Orchestra.
Mr. Black and
his wife, Patti, have two other children, Ryan and Jennifer.
James K. Kenny
is a
native of Oak Lawn, Illinois, and hails from a family of 10 brothers and
sisters. He is an alumnus of St. Laurence High School and John Carroll
University in Cleveland, Ohio, where he was awarded a Bachelor of Arts in
English and received the Robert Beaudry Senior Award in recognition of high
academic scholarship and community service.
Mr. Kenny
graduated from Loyola University of Chicago School of Law and was admitted to
the bar in 1992. While at Loyola he co-authored portions of the annual
supplements to Lane’s Goldstein Trial Technique and Goldstein’s
Medical and Hospital Negligence Guide, and he clerked at Cooney & Conway and
McKenna, Storer, Rowe, White & Farrug and finally Michael D. Poulos, P.C.
which he joined upon admission to the bar.
During his
tenure at Michael D. Poulos, P.C., Mr. Kenny has practiced before the United
States Supreme Court, the United States Court of Appeals for the Seventh
Circuit, the Illinois Supreme Court, the Illinois Appellate Courts, and the
local, state, and federal courts.
Mark
Hellner has a national
reputation as an outstanding litigator and attorney. His professional
activities include the chairmanship of judicial evaluation and civil practice
committees. He is an experienced speaker and published author and the recipient
of the Illinois State Bar Association's Board of Governor's Award in 1999.
Mr. Hellner’s
practice includes civil litigation, general business planning and transactions,
real estate development and related transactions, and representation of
professionals, including lawyers and doctors. He has litigation, mediation,
arbitration and business experience in over twenty-five states.
As an associate
and partner at Schwartz & Freeman, a forty lawyer firm in Chicago, he was
principally involved in civil litigation activities for manufacturers, banks,
and developers with primary emphasis on product liability defense and general
business litigation. He co-managed the firm's litigation department and was a
member of the Finance Committee.
Upon leaving
Schwartz & Freeman, Mr. Hellner practiced law on his own in Chicago and in
an of counsel capacity for Strauss & Malk in Deerfield.
Mr. Hellner
received his law degree from the University of Illinois College of Law, and his
undergraduate degree from Illinois State University with a BS in English and
Political Science. His honors included the Robert G. Bone Scholar (the
university's highest academic honor), an interdisciplinary fellowship to pursue
graduate studies in English, political science and educational administration,
and the Governor's Summer Fellowship to study tenant organizations in public
housing. He served for two years as the Assistant to the President and
Secretary of Illinois State University. He pursued graduate studies at the
University of Chicago and the Newberry Library.
Mr. Hellner is
a member of the Illinois State Bar Association and served on its legislative
governing body, the Assembly, from 1995 through 2001. His other past bar
activities include:
- Chair of the ISBA Judicial Evaluation
Committee from June 1998 through June 2000.
- Chair of the Standing Committee on Supreme
Court Rules.
- Member and Acting Chair of the Executive
Committee of the Alliance of Bar Associations for Judicial Screening.
- Chair of the 1996 Allerton House Conference
on conflicts between the media, the courts, and lawyers.
- Chair of the Civil Practice and Procedure
Section Council, the largest Section of the ISBA with approximately 12,000
members.
- Co-chair of 1994 Allerton House Conference
on Expert Witnesses.
- Chair of Legal Education, Admission, and
Competence Committee.
- Chair of Mandatory Continuing Legal
Education Special Committee.
- Speaker at numerous seminars on topics
including expert witnesses, trial preparation, jurisdiction, contribution,
statutes of limitations, statutes of repose and sanctions.
- Co-author of Civil Practice Update text and
several Trial Briefs articles.
- Co-author with Illinois Appellate Court
Justice Richard Goldenhersh of a Chapter in process for the Illinois
Institute of Continuing Legal Education addressing Federal Causes of
Action.
- Volunteer lawyer for the Legal Clinic for
the Elderly and Disabled since its inception.
- Volunteer lawyer for Chicago Volunteer
Legal Services Foundation.
- Former member of the Board of Directors of
Prairie State Legal Services Corporation.
- Chair of several dozen arbitration
proceedings through the Cook County Mandatory Arbitration process.
- Member of the American Bar Association, and
several of its sections, since 1977.
- Former chair of the Chicago Bar Association
Symphony Orchestra and a member of the orchestra since 1986.
- Member of the Barrister's Big Band.
Mr. Hellner is
admitted to practice in Illinois, before the United States Supreme Court,
before the United States Courts of Appeals for the Sixth, Seventh and Eighth
Circuits, and the United States District Courts for the Northern and Central
Districts of Illinois, the Northern District of Texas, the Northern District of
Mississippi, the Western District of Michigan, the Middle District of
Pennsylvania, and the Western District of Connecticut.
Aine
Ruane (formerly Nancy Monzo) is the firm
receptionist and office clerk. She is active in the fight against the death
penalty. She also works part time at McCormick Animal Hospital.
- A successful case in the Illinois Supreme
Court on the implied warranty of habitability
- The 51st highest tort settlement in Chicago
Lawyer
Magazine's 1999 survey–won in only 49 weeks
- A constitutional challenge to the Illinois
Pension Code: the legislature has since amended the law to correct the
injustice we fought
- A highly publicized police brutality
incident leading to acquittals of our clients after 17 days of trial
- A constitutional challenge to a handgun law
on equal protection grounds resulting in the prosecution dismissing the
charges against our client
- Successful opposition to a major west
suburban annexation
- Bankruptcies, including chapter 11 and
creditor representation
- Criminal and traffic cases and multiple DUI
offenders
- Family law cases, including a divorce trial
that took an entire year
- Construction defect litigation
- Mortgage foreclosure defense
- Contested probate claims and guardianships
- Housing discrimination
- Housing code violations and zoning disputes
- Real estate tax appeals
- U.S. Tax Court litigation
- Self-insured international manufacturers in
business litigation and product liability suits
- Commercial and financial matters
- Employment
- Intellectual property
- Unfair competition
- Probate litigation
- Securities
- Antitrust
- Professional disciplinary matters
- White collar criminal defense
- Landlord-tenant
- Zoning (from a front porch to a nursing
home addition to “the case of the invisible building)
- Real estate closings
- Other residential, commercial, and
investment real estate transactions
- Organizing and advising of businesses in
real estate development, construction, insurance, computer software,
medical products, publishing, broadcasting, office equipment, personal
services, architecture, music, and other areas
- Advising not-for-profit organizations
- Advising condominium associations
- Closings on condominium association loans
- Estate planning, probate, and non-probate
estate settlement
- Contracts
- Secured transactions
- Sales and purchases of businesses
We are
currently interviewing for a litigation associate.
This would be a
particularly appropriate position for a state's attorney, public defender, or
other government litigator who wishes to move into private practice, or a
litigation associate with a larger firm who would like to move to a suburban
practice with greater responsibility and client contact.
However, we
will consider a truly outstanding recent graduate with trial practice or 711
experience if the resume is accompanied by a strong letter of recommendation
from the applicant's teacher or supervisor attesting to the applicant's trial
skills.
This position
is only open to currently licensed attorneys.
This is a
position for a person who can become a noted lawyer and who will quickly make
his or her mark in the Evanston legal community. The successful candidate will
have a strong personal presence, excellent writing and research abilities, and
well honed courtroom skills. He or she must be reliable and versatile, with
sufficient experience and confidence to work independently with minimal
guidance. Additional helpful attributes include:
- Bright, detail oriented, highly motivated,
creative self starter
- Strong computer skills
- Willing to tackle new and unfamiliar
assignments
- Career trial experience, advanced trial
practice, CLE, legal clinic work
- Empathy and respect for the clients
- Some transactional or business background
The person
hired for this position will handle some cases independently and will work in a
supporting role on others.
Michael D.
Poulos, P.C. was established in 1980, and we have been located in downtown
Evanston ever since. We have attorney-client relationships going back to the
early days of this practice. We have many clients who were teachers,
classmates, and family friends of the firm's owner, but even the newest client
receives the same dedication as a friend of forty years. We are honored to
receive many referrals from colleagues who prefer not to handle litigation.
Our clients
include individuals from all walks of life: homeowners, businessmen, lawyers,
real estate developers, condominium associations, computer software developers,
and musicians. In addition to all types of litigation we handle business and
real estate transactions, estate planning, probate, and sometimes just common
sense advice.
While the
practice of law invariably carries with it stresses, we are committed to trying
to keep those stresses to a minimum.
We offer a
diversified practice, a collegial atmosphere, and a reputation for scholarship
and tenacity. We offer health insurance and 401(k) plan.
If this
position interests you, please provide us with your resume, a summary of
litigation experience, a writing sample, and references.
Michael D. Poulos, P.C. is an equal
opportunity employer committed to a policy against discrimination in employment
based on sex, marital or parental status, race, color, religious creed,
national origin, sexual orientation, age, or handicap.
Copyright
2002, Michael D. Poulos, P.C., All Rights Reserved