Jerome F. Crotty

While attending John Marshall Law School in its evening division, Jerry examined state and national banks throughout the Chicagoland area for the Illinois Commissioner of Banks and Trust Companies. His primary emphasis as a bank examiner was the examination of trust departments to ensure their compliance with federal and state banking and trust rules and regulations. Upon graduation from law school and admission to the bar, Jerry was appointed acting technical advisor to the Commissioner of Banks. He served in that capacity until he entered the private practice of law in Chicago, Illinois, in September 1976.

Since September 1976, Jerry has been engaged in the private practice of law. He has been admitted to practice before the United States Supreme Court. He has briefed one response to a petition for a writ of certiorari for presentation and decision by the Supreme Court. (Such a case was decided in our client’s favor without argument before the Court.) He has argued cases in the United States Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit of Appeals, the Illinois Supreme Court, and the Illinois Appellate Court. Jerry’s trial practice is not concentrated in any one particular area of the law. His practice involves representing clients in Federal and State courts throughout the country and before FINRA (formerly NASD) and other tribunals. Although Jerry concentrates his practice in the areas of corporate and commercial litigation in state and Federal Courts, the range of cases in which he has been involved is broad indeed, from real estate, trust, probate litigation, and estate administration. He has served as co-lead counsel in nationwide class actions, resulting in millions of dollars of relief for class members.

Jerry takes pride in being retained to represent many of our legal community’s most successful lawyers in connection with their legal affairs and litigation, as well as several banks and firms of certified public accountants. Jerry has been appointed by the Chief Judge of the Cook County Circuit Court in two separate cases to administrate multi-million dollar settlement funds. He has also represented petitioners and respondents before FINRA and served as a panel member and Chairman of several FINRA arbitration cases. He is also an arbitrator in the Circuit Court of Cook County Arbitration Program.

Jerry is a member of the American, Illinois, and Chicago Bar Associations. He is a co-trustee of the Streska Family Foundation, a charitable foundation with Ronald P. Duplack and Kevin P. Brown. Jerry was appointed V.P. of Administration and was a member of the Board of Trustees of The Cove School in Northbrook, Illinois, in 1998. Subsequently, he was elected President of The Cove School Board in 1998 and 1999. The Cove School is a private school that educates children with learning disabilities in grades 1 through 12. Its 140 students are generally mainstreamed after several years at Cove. He previously served as a member of The Board of Directors of the Well of Mercy, which provides shelter and guidance to mothers and their newborn children.

Jerry, his wife, Patty, and their four adult children live in Chicago, Illinois, in the Edgebrook Community.