WILLIAM J. COTTER...
is the founding member of the firm. Mr. Cotter has concentrated his practice in estate planning and wealth transfers, business succession planning, business consulting and tax planning for small and medium businesses, commercial, industrial and residential real estate, and general corporate and business law. He has been in the continuous private practice of law since 1979, after spending nearly two years as a personal trust administrator with First National Bank of Chicago.

A 1975 graduate of Purdue University and Chicago's DePaul University College of Law, Mr. Cotter was also an instructor at the DePaul University School of Law. He taught a practicum course of his own design captioned "Legal Documentation for Business Transactions." He has written articles on estate and business planning, corporate law, and general business management issues, that have been published in such periodicals as the Bar News (of the DuPage County Bar Association), the ICPAS News Journal, Illinois Institute for Continuing Legal Education's Annual Federal Tax Course, and the Chicago Bar Association's YLS Journal.

In addition to public speaking engagements on various legal and tax issues, personal and estate planning topics, Mr. Cotter is also a business owner and the operator of several small real estate development and investment companies, and was elected to the Board of Education for Center Cass School District 66, DuPage County, Illinois, in the November, 1991, 1995 and 1999 general elections, and has served as President of that Board from 1993 to his retirement from service in 2003.

RACHEL A. RUPP...
has nearly ten years experience in estate planning, probate and real estate transactions. She is also experienced in general corporate and business entity law.

After graduating in 1996 from Northern Illinois University College of Law, Rachel spent 2 ½ years as a trust officer with Grand Premier Trust and Investment. Since leaving Grand Premier, she has practiced law in Chicago and Skokie, and has also worked as a writer and editor in the estate tax department of CCH, a leading provider of tax and business law research materials. She is a member of the Illinois State Bar Association and the DuPage County Bar Association.

Affiliated Relationships:

CARMEN D. SOLDATO...
is an owner of, and general counsel to, Kottke Associates, LLC, a worldwide financial services firm with offices in Chicago, New York and London. Mr. Soldato, a 1986 graduate of DePaul University School of Law, was also the Mayor of the City of Darien, Illinois for 15 years. Mr. Soldato has previously served as a Staff Attorney and Arbitration Administrator for National Futures Association, the self-regulatory body to the futures investment industry, and he currently serves as an arbitrator for National Futures Association. In addition, Mr. Soldato has served as Vice President of the DuPage Mayors and Mangers Conference and as Chairman of the Conference's Intergovernmental Relations Committee. Mr. Soldato consults with Cotter & Associates, LLC on a number of special projects.