Archive Webinar - Professional Responsibility Boot Camp for Workers’ Compensation Lawyers - 2/12/2021

Mary F. Andreoni is Ethics Education Counsel for the Illinois Attorney Registration and Disciplinary Commission (ARDC) where she develops and implements the ARDC’s ethics education initiatives, including the ARDC Ethics Inquiry Program and the Illinois Professional Responsibility Institute, where she is also an instructor. She has authored several articles including the ARDC publication, Client Trust Account Handbook and spoken at hundreds of programs on legal ethics.

Prior to joining the Commission, Ms. Andreoni was law clerk to Illinois Appellate Court Justice Mel R. Jiganti and later practiced commercial litigation with the law firm of Peterson & Ross in Chicago. While in practice, she also served as a board member on the ARDC Inquiry and Hearing Boards. Active in the Chicago Bar Association (CBA), she has served on a number of committees, and is past chair of the CBA Professional Responsibility Committee (2014-2015). Ms. Andreoni received her J.D. from Loyola University School of Law in Chicago.

Dr. Diana Uchiyama is the Executive Director of the Illinois Lawyers’ Assistance Program (LAP).  Prior to joining LAP, she was the Administrator of Psychological Services for DuPage County and ran a licensed outpatient substance use treatment program, including a Mentally Ill Substance Abuse (MISA) program and Seeking Safety program for individuals with substance use problems, who were also trauma survivors.  While at DuPage County she also ran a 26-week Domestic Batterer Intervention Program for a court mandated population of clients. 

Dr. Uchiyama has also worked for the Kane County Diagnostic Center, as both a Staff Psychologist and Juvenile Drug Court Coordinator, and has an extensive background doing court ordered evaluations including psychological, sanity, fitness, fitness to parent, and sex offender evaluations.  She is a licensed sex offender evaluator in the State of Illinois.   She has implemented numerous changes to court ordered programs both in Kane and DuPage County and is a SAMSHA certified trauma informed care trainer.  Dr. Uchiyama also conducts therapy with adults and adolescents, is a Certified Advanced Alcohol and Drug Counselor, and has an Advanced Mindfulness Training Certificate, teaching mindfulness skills to others in order to increase their wellbeing.

Prior to obtaining her masters and doctorate in Clinical Psychology, Dr. Uchiyama was an Assistant Public Defender in Cook County working in various felony courtrooms at 26^th and California in Chicago  for over a decade. She obtained her law degree from Pepperdine University School of Law.

Dina Ninfo is a partner at Angelini, Mills, Woods & Ori Law where she focuses her practice on representing injured workers and also practices in other areas of Plaintiff’s personal injury. Dina heads the workers’ compensation division of her firm.

Dina is currently the Corresponding Secretary of the WBAI, and prior to that was a Director of the WBAI since 2014. She has participated in multiple committees and is a co-chair of Community Outreach Committee. Dina has co-chaired two Annual Dinners in a row, including the Annual Dinner celebrating the Centennial of the WBAI.  She received the WBAI Service Award in 2013.

In her free time Dina can be found anywhere there is live music taking full advantage of the legendary music scene that Chicago has to offer.

Vitas J. Mockaitis has 32 years of experience handling Illinois workers’ compensation claims.  Respected as a leading trial lawyer, Vitas has briefed and successfully argued many cases before the Illinois Workers’ Compensation Commission during the course of his distinguished career.

With his extensive knowledge and experience in workers’ compensation law and related fields of legal practice, Mr. Mockaitis has presented numerous seminars on the theme of injured workers’ rights and benefits, addressing unions and labor organizations throughout the state of Illinois.  In addition, he has authored and co-authored several guidebooks and information pamphlets concerning workers’ compensation issues as they relate to injured workers in Illinois.  Subjects of the publications have included repetitive trauma and overuse injuries and injured workers’ medical rights, among other topics.