Catherine M. Chapman, Partner

Ms. Chapman has been a partner of the Firm since January 1999. She began her career at Baum Sigman in 1990. Ms. Chapman counsels and represents multi-employer fringe benefit funds, public and private sector unions, individuals, and employers in employment and labor law. She coordinates and supervises the firm's employment discrimination cases and employment law services.

Ms. Chapman has litigated numerous employment discrimination and ERISA cases in federal court and tried contract and commercial actions in state court. She has argued before the Seventh Circuit for the Northern District of Illinois Court of Appeals and the Illinois Appellate Court. She has extensive experience in mediation in both employment and labor matters and has arbitrated many grievanced.

Ms. Chapman was a co-speaker for the following employment and labor law programs, including, in the General Session: December 2004 "Labor Law Implications for Trust Funds" at the International Foundation of Employee Benefit Plans 50th Annual Employee Benefits Conference in New Orleans, LA; in the Workshop: November 2003 "Health Care Issues" at the 19th Annual Public Sector Labor Relations Law Program at Chicago-Kent College of Law in Chicago, IL; "Collective Bargaining and the ADA, FMLA, and Workers' Compensation Acts" at the 17th Annual Public Sector Labor Relations Law Program at Chicago-Kent College of Law in Chicago, IL in October, 2001; "Employment Law Issues in the Professions," "Truste as an Employer - Part I," and "Trustees as an Employer - Self-Administered vs. Third Party" at the International Foundation of Employee Benefit Plans 46th Annual Employee Benefits Conference in Honolulu, HI in November, 2000; and "The Union as Employer" workshop at the AFL-CIO union lawyers conference in New Orleans, LA in May, 1999. She is also the co-author with Joseph J. Burke of "The Trustee as Employer," published in Employee Benefits Digest for the International Foundation of Employee Benefit Plans in June, 2001.

Ms. Chapman is admitted to practice in Illinois and is admitted to the bar of the United States District Court for the Northern District of Illinois/Trial Bar, and the United States Court of Appeals, Seventh Circuit. She also has a Certificate of Proficiency in Employment Law from New York University School of Law, and received training from the Center for Conflict Resolution Mediation Program in Chicago, IL. Ms. Chapman received her undergraduate degree from Marquette University and her law degree from DePaul University.