Partner at Quarles & Brady, LLP
Mr. Cass is a partner and leads the Washington, D.C. office’s White Collar Crime and Internal Investigations Practice. He defends corporations and individuals in connection with a variety of federal criminal allegations, including health care fraud, conspiracy, mail and wire fraud, embezzlement, bank fraud, and money laundering. He also conducts proactive, internal investigations related to bribery, misbranding, and the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (FCPA). As a decorated federal prosecutor for over a decade, Mr. Cass has significant experience with white collar investigations and has litigated federal appellate and district court cases throughout the nation. Prior to joining Quarles & Brady, Mr. Cass was a senior trial attorney with the Public Integrity Section of the U.S. Department of Justice’s Criminal Division where he handled public corruption investigations and prosecutions of elected, appointed, and career government officials. Mr. Cass served as an Assistant United States Attorney in the Financial Fraud and Corruption Unit of the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Puerto Rico before working at the DOJ in Washington.

Richard M. Colombik & Associates, P.C.
Mr. Colombikis an award-winning attorney and CPA with a doctorate in Jurisprudence with distinction, who was formerly on the tax staff of one of the world’s wealthiest families. Mr. Colombik has also been a tax manager at a Big Four accounting firm, the State Bar’s liaison to the Internal Revenue Service, vice president of the American Association of Attorney-CPAs, vice chairman of the American Bar Association’s Tax Section of the General Practice Council and past chair of the Illinois State Bar Association’s Federal Tax Committee. Mr. Colombik is on the liaison committee to the IRS, including a stint with the Washington National office, and he is a member of the Asset Protection Committee, and the Captive Insurance subcommittee of the ABA. He was featured in an article from the National Law Journal and referred to as one of the nation’s top tax lawyers. He is also been named a Lawyer of Distinction ranking within the top 10 percent of all attorneys in Illinois. He is also a best selling author of a book on taxation called Keep It with Chauncey Hutter. He has taught approximately 100 lectures and published over 100 articles on taxation and planning.

Law Offices of James Creech
Mr. Creech is a sole practitioner with the law firm of Law Offices of James Creech and maintains offices in Chicago and San Francisco. In his practice, Mr. Creech represents individuals, businesses and corporate taxpayers before the IRS, federal and state courts, and state taxing authorities. These cases range from civil examinations and appeals, to litigation and tax collection matters. Mr. Creech holds leadership roles in a number of professional organizations. He is currently a member of the Illinois State Bar’s Federal Tax Section council, and he is an active member with the ABA’s Section of Taxation. He is the host of the ABA Section of Taxation’s People in Tax podcast.

Partner at Harrison & Held, LLP
Mr. Strouse concentrates his practice in the areas of federal tax litigation and federal tax controversies, including audits and appeals. Mr. Strouse has represented thousands of taxpayers that cut across diverse boundaries including, trusts, estates, federally recognized Indian tribes and tribal members, municipal governments, foreign taxpayers, hedge funds, high-net-worth individuals, qualified ERISA plans including leveraged and non-leveraged ESOPs, accountants, tax-exempt entities, TEFRA partnerships, individuals involved in Derivium transactions, and S and C corporations (publicly traded corporations as well as privately held). He has effectively litigated tax cases against the federal government in United States District Court, United States Court of Federal Claims, and the United States Tax Court. Mr. Strouse earned his BBA (double major- Finance and Accounting) and his J.D. degrees both from the University of Wisconsin-Madison. He is a frequent speaker on tax matters throughout the world.

Of Counsel, Levin Ginsburg
Mr. Weissman’s practice is devoted to financial and business transactions, especially the negotiation and documentation of a wide variety of financing transactions. He has also actively prosecuted civil and bankruptcy matters on behalf of financial institutions and defended lender liability lawsuits. He has a wealth of experience in the legal and business aspects of secured and unsecured lending for all types of credit facilities. During his career, he has represented most of the major banks and commercial lenders in the Chicago area. He applies his significant experience so that financing transaction deals are closed at reasonable cost and value is added for both lender and borrower. He formerly served as executive vice president and general counsel of the Bridgeview Bank Group, and was a partner at Foley & Lardner and Holland & Knight. He received his bachelor of science degree in Economics from Northwestern University, his M.B.A. degree from the Wharton Graduate Division of the University of Pennsylvania, was a Fulbright Scholar at the University of Sydney Faculty of Law, Sydney, Australia, and earned his J.D. degree from the Harvard Law School.