Monday, October 1, 2012
Mayor offers "observations" as defense against legal report that casts him in unflattering light.
In response to the Godfrey and Kahn probe into the former village attorney now known as Tressler LLP, Mayor Dave Heilmann offered his own 46-page document of "observations" responding to some of legal report's findings. Subscribe to the Oak Lawn Patch newsletter and breaking news alerts. Last week, Heilmann blasted Godfrey and Kahn attorney Eric Wilson for leaving out a federal grand jury subpeona served on the village last year requesting all documents and records pertaining to the hiriing of Querrey and Harrow. The firm replaced Tressler after some board members raised concerns over the village’s tripling legal fees, leaving some question of whether village had allegedly been double-billed by its village counsel. The village settled …
Monday, September 24, 2012
Mayor Dave Heilmann charges that Godfrey and Kahn attorney Eric Wilson ignored federal criminal grand jury subpoena because of relationship to Trustee Tom Phelan, a former college fraternity brother. Read the federal subpoena.
Oak Lawn’s new “best seller” – the Godfrey and Kahn report – is apparently missing an important chapter, according to Mayor Dave Heilmann. Subscribe to the Oak Lawn Patch newsletter and breaking news alerts. Voicing his frustration with the “one-sidedness” of the Wisconsin-based law firm’s probe into the former village attorney now known as Tressler LLP, Heilmann blasted Godfrey and Kahn attorney Eric Wilson’s omission of a federal grand jury subpoena. Read the mayor's timeline and the federal grand jury subpeona. Godfrey and Kahn was hired by the village in May 2011, to look into the findings into alleged overbillings and botched litigation of Tressler by attorney Burt Odelson, who maintained that missteps by the former village attorney …
Sunday, September 23, 2012
Read all five installments of the Godfrey and Kahn legal investigation into the former village attorneys, paid for by the Oak Lawn taxpayers.
Friday, September 21, 2012
Read part 4 of the legal report into the former village attorney paid for by the taxpayers of Oak Lawn.
The Oak Lawn Village Board released a second investigative report into the former village attorney now known as Tressler LLP after questions arose about the firm's billings and handling of litigation. Godfrey and Kahn was hired by the village in May 2011 to conduct a second investigation into the former village attorney. The village board voted unanimously last April to accept a $500,000 from the firm. The settlement also carried an agreement to keep the final report confidential. Part 4 is the last installment of the Godfrey and Kahn Report. It is 504 pages long. The report was obtained by a Freedom of Information Act request filed with the Village. Read Part 1 of the Godfrey and Kahn Report. Read Part 2 of the Godfrey and Kahn Report. …
Wednesday, September 19, 2012
Read "Part 3B" of the legal report into the former village attorney paid for by the taxpayers of Oak Lawn.
The Oak Lawn Village Board released a second investigative report into the former village attorney now known as Tressler LLP after questions arose about the firm's billings and handling of litigation. Sign up for the Oak Lawn Patch newsletter and breaking news alerts. Godfrey and Kahn was hired by the village in May 2011 to conduct a second investigation into the former village attorney. The village board voted unanimously last April to accept a $500,000 from the firm. The settlement also carried an agreement to keep the final report confidential. The saga continues with Part 3B of the Godfrey and Kahn report. The 206-page document includes: And this is just a sampling. Warning: Documents contain some graphic language. The report was …
Monday, September 17, 2012
Read part 3A of the legal report into the former village attorney paid for by the taxpayers of Oak Lawn.
The Oak Lawn Village Board released a second investigative report into the former village attorney now known as Tressler LLP after questions arose about the firm's billings and handling of litigation. Godfrey and Kahn was hired by the village in May 2011 to conduct a second investigation into the former village attorney. The village board voted unanimously last April to accept a $500,000 from the firm. The settlement also carried an agreement to keep the final report confidential. Part 3A of the Godfrey and Kahn report includes a letter from the firm to Village Manager Larry Deetjen outlining its terms to the village and $375-per-hour fee and an analysis of the "Odelson Report," the first legal audit of Tressler LLP during its employ by …
Wednesday, July 18, 2012
Sensationalist commentary written by a real person who lives here.
I know this will come as a shock to many of you, but the Village of Oak Lawn has denied my freedom of information act request for a copy of the Godfrey and Kahn report. You know which report I’m talking about: the reinvestigation of the investigation of the former village attorney now known as Tressler LLP, originally undertaken by attorney Burt Odelson. The report that Oak Lawn taxpayers paid $453,000 for and were promised they’d get to read after the last “i” was dotted and “t” crossed. Subscribe to the Oak Lawn Patch newsletter and breaking news alerts. Tressler was fired as the village attorney in September 2009 after some Oak Lawn trustees expressed concern when the village’s legal fees tripled—even though they had approved paying …
Monday, June 25, 2012
Mayor Dave Heilmann wonders about "political motive" behind Godfrey and Kahn legal investigation because of ties to another trustee. Defends friend from former village legal team.
Saturday, June 23, 2012
Mayor calls post-settlement report a waste of taxpayer funds. Questions pending final report's objectivity because of its ties to another Oak Lawn trustee in that it continues to criticize a friend who was once part of village's legal team.
Mayor Dave Heilmann gave a hint of what might be included in the second of two legal investigations into allegations that the former village attorney overbilled Oak Lawn taxpayers and botched major litigation. Subscribe to the Oak Lawn Patch newsletter and breaking news alerts. A final report that will most likely never be made public because of a confidentiality agreement tied to a $500,000 out-of-court settlement with Tressler, Soderstrom, Maloney and Preiss, will be submitted to the village board in early July. The Oak Lawn Village Board voted unanimously in February to accept the settlement and a confidentiality agreement prohibiting village board members from speaking publicly about the terms and details of the investigation. …
41.720505
-87.752695
Village of Oak Lawn
9446 Raymond Ave, Oak Lawn, IL
/articles/heilmann-reviewing-observations-from-legal-investigation
327793
/locations/7310492
Wednesday, May 23, 2012
Residents may never get to see Godfrey and Kahn's final investigative report into legal billings by former village attorneys even though they paid for it.
Editor's Note: The headline of this story was changed to more accurately reflect the mayor's response to receiving the final legal investigative report into the former village attorneys. The rest of the story remains the same. Oak Lawn residents may never get the chance to see an investigative report into the legal billings by the former village attorneys because of a confidentiality agreement tied to a legal settlement. The Oak Lawn Village Board agreed to table penciling in a date to receive special counsel’s final report in alleged overbillings and malpractice by the law firm Tressler, Soderstrom, Maloney & Priess—now known as Tressler LLP—that served as the village attorney between October 2005 and September 2009. Following a report by…
41.720505
-87.752695
Village of Oak Lawn
9446 Raymond Ave, Oak Lawn, IL
/articles/mayor-tables-reading-of-final-legal-investigative-report
327793
/locations/7084573
Rich
4:19 pm on Friday, October 5, 2012
I would not call it an angry mob. It's a bunch of disgruntled, disappointed tax paying citizens of Oak Lawn. more ›