With the departure of former Chief Deputy General Counsel Howard Maltz to the 7th Circuit bench in December, General Counsel Cindy Laquidara has appointed Derrel Chatmon as the new chief deputy general counsel.
Chatmon joined the office in December 1999. He specializes in labor matters for the City and its independent agencies. He was previously promoted to deputy general counsel, Labor and Employment Law in July. Before joining the office, Chatmon worked as an assistant public defender for the 4th Judicial Circuit.
“Our clients are facing many changes, as are we, and this will be a most interesting year with which to be employed by the Office of General Counsel. While a few staff positions remain vacant, efforts are being made to fill those as soon as practical,” said Laquidara.
Moving on to the judiciary isn’t new for the staff.
Joel Toomey was selected as a U.S. Magistrate Judge and Thomas Beverly joined the 4th Judicial Circuit bench in 2010. Before those moves, Virginia Norton preceded Beverly on the Circuit bench after being elected in 2008.
At the start of 2012, the office was staffed with 38 attorneys and it currently employs 32 attorneys.
A total of 12 attorneys are gone from the office’s staff roster. Some, like Steve Rohan, retired. Some, like Kristina Nelson, went into private practice. And others, like Twane Duckworth, moved across the hall to the mayor’s office. Duckworth is the City’s risk manager.
Recent additions to staff include Katy Harris, labor and civil rights litigation; Rita Mairs, commercial litigation; Paige Johnston, legislative affairs; and John Sawyer, Corporate and Real Estate department.
Peggy Sidman joined the office in 2003 and was appointed chief of the Legislative Services department in 2009. She will now serve as deputy of legislative affairs and managing deputy general counsel.
New staff members include Connie Atkins, a litigation paralegal who joins the General Litigation department. It is anticipated she will work with Mairs and Cherry Shaw.
Charlene Walker also will join the department and work with Carol Mirando and Jason Teal.
Merriane Lahmeur has joined the Legislation department after working for the City’s Legislative Services department. She will assist Sidman and Johnston.
In addition to her staff coordinator role, Christine Schmelz-Lyle will assist Jon Phillips and Katy Harris.
Laura Sagy will continue to assist Gabriella Young, in addition to Adina Teodorescu.
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