
In-Person Attendance - WCLA Welcomes CWCL 4/4/2025
Includes a Live In-Person Event on 04/04/2025 at 1:00 PM (CDT)
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Register
- Non-member - Free!
- Member - Free!
- Board Member - Free!
You are invited to attend a three-hour symposium on the afternoon of Friday, April 4, 2025 from 1:00 pm to 4:15 pm at the Illinois Workers' Compensation Commission, 69 West Washington Street, 22nd Floor, Chicago, IL. This registration is for the In-Person attendance.
Non-members will need to set up a profile at, https://www.wcla.info/Subscribe-Non-members, to register. If you want Illinois CLE credit, be sure to include your IL ARDC#. No other CLE credit will be provided. Attorneys practicing outside Illinois may claim a certificate and submit it to their state to attempt CLE approval.
The symposium is being co-sponsored by the Workers' Compensation Lawyers Association who will provide three (3) hours of Illinois continuing legal education credit.
Agenda:
1:00 to 2:00
Post Covid Practice: A Reflection on the Changes to our Practice
- Kathryn Doerries, Commissioner at the Illinois Workers' Compensation Commission.
- Robert Wisniewski, private practice, representing injured workers.
- Jean Dickson, private practice, representing employer/insurance perspective.
2:05 to 3:05
A Changing Workforce: Is workers' compensation law still relevant in the "gig" economy?
- Mike Duff, law professor, St. Louis University School of Law.
- David Plufka, private practice, representing injured workers.
- Toney J. Tomaso, private practice, representing employer/insurance perspective.
3:10 to 4:10
Facing the Business Challenges of Practicing Workers' Compensation Law:
Hiring, retaining and training the next generation of workers' compensation lawyers and planning for retirement, disability or death
- Mary Andreoni, Staff Attorney, Attorney Registration and Disciplinary Commission of Illinois.
- Alan Pierce, private practice, representing injured workers.
- Amy Bilton, private practice, representing employer/insurance perspective.
3 hours general Illinois CLE credit. As always, all persons are welcome to attend.

David B. Menchetti (Moderator)
David B Menchetti’s a shareholder in Cullen, Haskins, Nicholson & Menchetti, P.C. in Chicago and concentrates his practice in the representation of injured workers throughout Illinois before the Workers’ Compensation Commission, the Circuit Courts and the Illinois Appellate and Supreme Courts. He graduated from Loyola University of Chicago School of Law (JD) and attained an undergraduate degree (BA) with distinction from Stanford University. Mr. Menchetti is a former staff counsel to Illinois State Senate President Philip J. Rock and concentrated in legislation dealing with insurance, pensions and licensed activities. He has served as counsel to Illinois State Senate President Emil Jones, Jr. and advised about and drafted reforms to the Workers’ Compensation Act in 1989 and 1991.
He is a member of: the Illinois State Bar Association (Workers’ Compensation Law Section Council Chair and Legislation Committee member); the Chicago Bar Association (Industrial Commission Committee Chair ); the Illinois Trial Lawyers Association (Workers’ Compensation Committee Chair); the Workers’ Compensation Lawyers Association (President); the American Association for Justice (Workplace Injury Section); the Workplace Injury Litigation Group; and the Board of the Chicago Area Committee on Occupational Health and Safety.
He has authored the chapter on “Penalties” in the Illinois Trial Lawyers Association Workers’ Compensation Notebook and has lectured on workers’ compensation issues for: the Illinois State Bar Association; the Chicago Bar Association; the National Business Institute: the Council on Education in Management; the Illinois Institute for Continuing Legal Education; the Illinois Workers’ Compensation Claims Association; the judicial training program for the Illinois Workers’ Compensation Commission; the Attorney Registration and Disciplinary Commission; the United Food and Commercial Workers Union; the Laborers International Union; Combined Orthopedic Specialists; the Illinois Bones Association; Kankakee Community College; the University of Chicago Hospitals.
He serves as an advisor to the Illinois AFL-CIO on workers’ compensation matters and participated in the negotiations and drafted the amendments contained in the historic 2005 and 2012 Workers’ Compensation reform legislation. He is listed in the Who’s Who in American Law, has been designated as one of the Best Lawyers in America and has been selected by his peers as a Leading Lawyer and a Super Lawyer. The Illinois Trial Lawyers Association has presented him the President’s Award. He has been selected as Lawyer of the Year by Best Lawyers in America.

Kathryn Doerries
Commissioner
Illinois Workers' Compensation Commission

Robert Wisniewski
Attorney
Private Practice
Representing injured workers.

Jean Dickson
Attorney
Private Practice
Representing employers/insurance

Michael Duff
Law Professor
St. Louis University School of Law
Law Professor, St. Louis University School of Law.

David Plufka
Attorney
Keefe & Griffiths, P.C.
Representing injured workers.

Toney J. Tomaso
Attorney
Heyl Royster
Representing employers/insurance

Mary F. Andreoni
Illinois Attorney Registration and Disciplinary Commission (ARDC)
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.

Alan Pierce
Attorney
Pierce, Pierce & Napolitano
Representing injured workers.

Amy Bilton
Attorney
Nyhan, Bambrick, Kinzie & Lowry, P.C.
Representing employers/insurance
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