William (Bill) P. Schuman focuses his practice on securities and complex commercial litigation, class actions, Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) defense litigation, internal investigations and dealer/distributor litigation. Bill also has broad experience representing nonprofits, officers and directors, and attorneys and other professionals in fiduciary duty litigation.

Bill has extensive experience in the field of legal ethics and professional responsibility. He has chaired the Firm’s Professional Responsibility Committee since 1994 and is an adjunct professor in Legal Ethics at Northwestern University Law School.

Bill also has extensive experience in constitutional law. In 1985, he won an Illinois Supreme Court decision in Sanelli v. Glenview State Bank, regarded as seminal in the area of separation of powers doctrine. In 1993, he won an important decision in the Illinois Appellate Court, on due process grounds, in ChemRex, Inc. v. Illinois Pollution Control Board.

Bill has represented clients in admiralty litigation as well. He was one of the lead counsel representing the ship owner in Grubart v. Great Lakes Dredge & Dock, where admiralty jurisdiction was upheld in the US Supreme Court in 1995.

Bill has handled litigation in the federal and state courts in California, Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, District of Columbia, Florida, Hawaii, Illinois, Indiana, Michigan, Minnesota, Mississippi, Missouri, Montana, New Jersey, New York, North Carolina, Ohio, Oregon, Pennsylvania, South Dakota, Texas, Washington, DC and Wisconsin.

Paul Helms helps clients navigate their most serious securities and fraud-related challenges, acting as both a trusted counselor and steady advocate. A former senior attorney at the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), where he served as counsel to the Director of Enforcement, Paul draws on his government experience to defend clients in SEC enforcement matters, internal investigations, and private securities litigation.

As the co-lead of McDermott Will & Schulte’s SEC enforcement practice, Paul represents public companies, investment advisers, accounting firms, and corporate leaders nationwide. He knows that investigations and lawsuits are not just legal matters – they can be personally and professionally disruptive. Paul’s approach centers on clear communication, practical strategy, and securing the best possible outcome while minimizing the impact on clients’ lives and businesses.

With experience on both sides of the table, Paul has handled the full spectrum of SEC matters: accounting and disclosure issues, investment adviser and broker-dealer compliance, offering fraud, market manipulation, public finance, Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (FCPA), insider trading, and professional liability. He has led high-profile internal investigations into complex fraud and compliance problems and successfully defended clients in shareholder derivative suits and securities class actions, achieving dismissals and favorable settlements.

Paul also dedicates time to pro bono work. He serves as external general counsel of Episcopal Charities in Chicago and has led fraud-related investigations for nonprofit organizations. Earlier in his career, Paul clerked for Judge James H. Michael Jr. of the US District Court for the Western District of Virginia and served as editor in chief of the Vanderbilt Law Review. He is a Chartered Alternative Investment Analyst (CAIA) and a Certified Fraud Examiner (CFE).

Steven (Steve) S. Scholes focuses his practice on SEC investigations, shareholder litigation, including class and derivative actions, and internal investigations. He is an experienced trial lawyer, and he has tried civil, criminal and administrative cases in federal and state courts. Steve regularly represents clients before the Securities and Exchange Commission, state securities regulators and self-regulatory organizations, such as the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority, the Public Company Accounting Oversight Board and stock, options and futures exchanges. He has served as the global head and operations partner for the Firm’s Litigation Practice Group and the head of both the Chicago Trial Group and the Firm’s SEC Defense Group.

Steve has substantial experience in securities class and derivative actions, including cases alleging accounting irregularities, illegal trading and breaches of fiduciary duty. He regularly represents public companies and their officers and directors in merger and acquisition litigation, including class and derivative actions, across the country. He has significant experience in conducting internal investigations in numerous industries, including the real estate investment trust, healthcare, manufacturing, logistics and higher education industries, among others. He has also represented audit firms and corporate officers and directors in internal investigations.

A former attorney in the SEC’s Division of Enforcement, Steve has been appointed by three different federal judges in Chicago to serve as receiver in SEC civil enforcement proceedings. In this role, he conducted fraud investigations, prosecuted fraudulent conveyance claims, enforced judgments, marshaled and liquidated assets, and developed and implemented plans of distribution. Stemming from his work as a receiver, Steve has extensive experience in prosecuting and in defending a wide variety of fraudulent conveyance claims.

Steve frequently speaks on securities litigation and enforcement topics. He has appeared numerous times in the press and has authored various materials concerning the federal securities laws.

Sarah advises high-net-worth clients on a broad range of testamentary and inter vivos estate planning matters. She has extensive experience drafting and customizing wills, revocable trusts and irrevocable trusts. She is fluent in the administration of complex estate planning strategies including GRATs, CLATs, QPRTs, installment sales, intra-family loans, closely-held companies, charitable vehicles and leveraging techniques. She excels at designing transactions with unique assets or to accomplish specific planning objectives. Sarah also has experience administering large and complex estates and trusts.

Sarah enjoys working with numbers and using financial models and tax projections to guide clients in their planning. She develops complex models to project the impact of wealth transfer transactions, or assess the interaction between clients’ balance sheets and their estate plans. She uses those models to spot issues that may arise during the administration phase, such as liquidity shortages, and devises and implements solutions to those problems.

Sarah distills complex transactions and concepts into simple terms, and explains them to clients in summary fashion, whether through graphics, diagrams or bullet points.

Sarah is highly approachable and adept at developing relationships with clients of all ages and backgrounds. She is well-suited to advise multi-generational families, and particularly enjoys educating younger family members about estate and asset protection planning. Sarah regularly prepares premarital agreements and advises on other family law matters that may intersect with a client’s estate planning.

While in law school, Sarah was awarded the Edward H. McDermott Scholarship. She was president and founder of the Real Property/Trust & Estates Club. She was also a co-chair of the Northwestern Student Bar Association Admissions Committee and a member of the Northwestern Journal of Law and Social Policy.

L. Timothy Halleron focuses his practice on high-net-worth tax and estate planning matters. Tim advises individuals and family offices in planning for the preservation and transfer of wealth within families without the imposition of gift, estate or generation-skipping transfer tax.

Tim’s practice includes:

• Advising on design and drafting of estate planning documents, including wills, revocable and irrevocable trusts (including charitable trusts), family limited partnerships, shareholder agreements, and intra-family sale agreements
• Pre-liquidity event tax planning, including leveraged sales of interests in private companies to dynasty trusts, transfers to grantor retained annuity trusts, and pre- and post-sale charitable planning
• Advising on investment diversification, asset protection, and corporate and family governance issues, including the reorganization of private companies to improve the tax efficiency of those organizations
• Counseling on the formation and administration of a variety of tax-exempt and charitable entities
• Transfer situs of trusts to more favorable jurisdictions to take advantage of tax efficiencies and modernized trust laws, and advise clients with respect to state fiduciary income tax issues
• Structuring and implementing judicial and non-judicial modifications of irrevocable trusts
• Advising on the structuring and formation of private trust companies in various jurisdictions
• Preparing and reviewing estate and gift tax returns, including complex reporting and valuation issues, and negotiate settlements with the IRS on audited estate and gift tax returns
• Advising on litigation disputes between trustees and beneficiaries and in contested trust and tax matters, and consult with fiduciaries in probate and trust administration

Tim is a fellow of the American College of Trust and Estate Counsel (“ACTEC”), and Tim frequently writes and speaks on a variety of tax and estate planning subjects.