Built one client at a time
Elena Marchetti and Warren Crane opened the firm in 2001 in two rented rooms above a bank on Harrison Row. One of them drafted the agreements; the other argued about them when they broke. That split still shapes how we staff a matter: the person who writes a document talks to the person who may one day have to defend it.
We grew slowly and on purpose. An employment practice came in 2008 when longtime business clients kept asking the same questions about their own staff. Real estate followed in 2012, after we opened in Oak Brook to be nearer the owners and landlords we were already advising. Immigration joined in 2016, when Sofia Delgado brought her practice to our Evanston office.
Today thirteen attorneys work across three offices. We are big enough to put a partner, an associate and a paralegal on a file, and small enough that the partner still reads the file. We do not take every matter that comes in. When another firm is a better fit, we say so and make the introduction.
Our clients are mostly owner-run companies, their families and the people who work for them. Many have been with us for more than a decade, which means we often already know the history behind a new question. That history saves them time and money.
We bill in plain terms and put estimates in writing. If a matter is going to cost more than we first said, you hear about it before the work is done, not on an invoice.
We would be glad to hear what brings you here.
2001
