Broad Based
My broad-based legal experience helps me to identify legal issues other lawyers commonly overlook or underestimate as insignificant. At Sam Zell’s Equity Group Investments in Chicago, I focused on real estate and environmental law. Next, at DLA Piper, I handled a wide variety of matters, with a focus on intellectual property and business transactions. Several DLA clients who retained me to handle a particular type of matter soon also retained me as their outside General Counsel, appreciating my ability to not miss the forest for the trees.
Entrepreneurial
Coming from a family of entrepreneurs, and having worked for many entrepreneurial clients, I understand entrepreneurship requires not just risk taking, but careful risk taking. My grandfather, upon arriving from Russia at the age of 8, sold eggs from a pushcart, later building a successful local grocery chain. My father, in his early 20s, persuaded a lender to make a small loan and went on to build a successful nationwide commercial real estate business. Clients count on me to provide a clear picture of legal risks so they can decide with confidence which risks are worth taking in the context of what stands to be gained.
Intellectual Property Focus
While at DLA Piper, to better serve my clients’ intellectual property needs, I earned a Master’s Degree in Intellectual Property law. I then formed Shkolnik GC Law to act as Outside General Counsel and Intellectual Property Counsel for several aggressively growing clients. In 2014, I enhanced my IP litigation services by joining the boutique IP litigation firm of Partridge Partners PC, as Of Counsel.