I am a local boy, having attended gradeschools in Wood River, East Alton, and O'Fallon, Illinois. Before going to college, I labored on my grandfather's farm, worked as a part-time janitor for O'Fallon Township High School, sold parts at the Sears repair facility in Belleville, waited on cars at the Steak N Shake in Fairview Heights, sold men's clothing at J A Severn Men's Shop in O'Fallon, prepared food for Dohack's Restaurant in Fairview, and I helped local farmers bale hay, cut weeds, paint, etc.

In high school, my speech-commuications instructor, Bill Waggoner, talked me into joining the debate team. I lived for debate in high school and college, winning scores of awards and tournaments.

After law school, my wife and I lived in San Antonio for a few years, where we had a child and discovered bankruptcy law. Before my daughter became school age, we moved back "home" and I started practicing bankruptcy law for a Belleville firm named McRoberts Sheppard Wimmer & Stiehl. After a couple of years with the McRoberts law firm, I took an associate attorney position with Carr Korein Tillery Kunin Montroy Glass & Bogard in East St. Louis. After five years with the Carr law firm, I started my own practice and have yet to look back.

I have over thirty years of bankruptcy experience, primarily representing creditors for the first ten years of my legal career and debtors for the last twenty years. I promise to bring this experience to the table with every client I meet.