Francis “Chip” Spina is now the firm’s senior counsel, following a multi-decade career as a civil trial and appellate attorney. He is one of the firm’s founding partners, and was its first managing partner, serving for over 14 years.  His practice included representing insurance carriers and insureds on disputes about policy obligations and rights in many varieties of insurance policies, including litigating those disputes in state and federal courts.  He represented employers and employees on a broad range of employment matters, including federal and state statutes, discrimination claims, common law actions, and personnel law issues.  Chip also has extensive experience in general tort litigation.  Chip recently served for several years as outside general counsel for the Amateur Hockey Association Illinois (AHAI), the exclusive Illinois state youth hockey affiliate of USA Hockey.

Chip is a graduate of the University of Notre Dame (B.A., 1977) and DePaul University College of Law (J.D., 1980).  Chip was admitted to the Illinois bar and to the U.S. District Court, Northern District of Illinois in 1980.  He was subsequently admitted to the U.S. District Court, Central District of Illinois; the District of Colorado; the Northern District of Indiana; the U.S. Court of Appeals, Seventh Circuit; and the Bar of the United States Supreme Court.

Chip was a member of the International Association of Defense Counsel (IADC), the American Bar Association and its Labor and Employment Section, and the Defense Research Institute and its Employment Law and Insurance Law Committees.  He was a long-time active member of the Illinois Association of Defense Trial Counsel (IDC), including serving on its Insurance Law Committee.  He served on the IDC’s Board of Directors and was a four-year editorial board member of the IDC Quarterly journal, including a term as its Editor in Chief.  For many years, Chip authored columns on tort law and employment law issues for the IDC Quarterly.  He was on the faculty of the IDC Trial Academy for many years, and has been a speaker at numerous seminars held by the DRI, the IDC, the Chicago Bar Association, and the Illinois Institute of Continuing Legal Education.