Born Aurora, Illinois; admitted to bar,  Illinois; , U.S. Supreme Court; , California; , New York, U.S. District Court, Northern District of California, U.S. Court of Appeals, Ninth Circuit; , Trial Bar, U.S. District Court, Northern District of Illinois. Education: Purdue University (B.S., in Civil Engineering); Stanford University (M.S., in Civil Engineering and Construction Management); University of California at Berkeley (M.B.A., in Finance and Real Estate); Northwestern University, School of Law, Chicago ; University of California, Hastings College of the Law, San Francisco (J.D.); Institute on International and Comparative Law, Paris, France. Assistant Attorney General and Chief of Environmental Litigation Division, Attorney General of Illinois, Chicago.. Arbitrator, California State Construction Contract Arbitration Committee, California Office of Administrative Hearings.