Support and assist the Managing Partner with directing resources to ensure well-motivated, trained and developed attorneys and staff, serve as the office's hiring partner, and handle day-to-day administration of our award-winning pro bono program.

Grippo & Elden has joined Shook, Hardy & Bacon. Shook is a 500-attorney, top-tier litigation and trial firm with several nationally recognized practice areas, including product liability, intellectual property, class actions, employment, and environment/toxic tort. My practice will continue to focus on complex business litigation.

My practice focuses on complex commercial litigation, including cases involving breach of contract and breach of fiduciary duties, employment law and restrictive covenants, intellectual property rights, insurance coverage, and fraud. My experience includes:• Achieved complete victory for a trading firm and its CEO through early motion practice in a suit brought by a former trader, alleging breach of contract, breach of fiduciary duties and fraud. As the lead associate on the case, I collaborated on strategy and—rather than move to dismiss—drafted the answer, counterclaims and a motion for judgment on the pleadings. The strategy worked, as the court recently entered judgment with prejudice in our clients’ favor on each claim. • Developed new strategy for national manufacturer and retailer whose Midwest business was threatened by a broad injunction (granted while the company was represented by another firm) that prohibited use of its national trademark for certain product lines in Chicagoland. While aggressively pursuing new avenues for modification, I spearheaded the negotiation of a settlement that relieved the client of the most onerous aspects of the injunction and allowed the company to get operations back online quickly. • Defended a Chicago law firm in three-week arbitration hearing on issues of legal malpractice and fraud, culminating in the plaintiff admitting upon cross-examination that critical underlying allegations of its complaint were entirely untrue.I have also served as the firm’s associate in charge of recruiting and co-chair of the summer program and particularly enjoy the connections I make with new attorneys and playing an active role in their development.

While at Latham & Watkins, I focused on contract, securities, white collar, and complex general business litigation.

Summer internship focused on complex general business litigation.

Directed marketing, sales, public relations, customer service and administrative efforts for 25 percent of this college admissions company's $1.5 million in annual business. Representative experience includes:• Led sales and marketing efforts integral to entrepreneurial company growing from 40 students in 1997, to more than 1,000 students by 2005.• Managed teaching staff of 10 and instruction of more than 150 students. • Analyzed statistical data to increase student performance, improve teaching curricula, identify target population for marketing drives, and optimize sales.• Honed strong oral communications skills giving presentations to large groups of students and parents as well as handling one-on-one recruitments.