Stacey Shonkwiler is a native of the Flossmoor area. She graduated cum laude and with honors distinction in legal research and writing from the University of Illinois College of Law — where she met John — in 1999. Following law school, Stacey moved to Chicago and joined her family’s law practice in the suburbs, where she practiced a short while before being offered a two-year appointment to serve as a staff attorney for the Illinois Supreme Court in Springfield, Illinois.

 

In 2000, Stacey and John moved to Leland Grove, a little known municipality located in the heart of historic Springfield. While with the Supreme Court, Stacey wrote recommendations on petitions for leave to appeal, bench memoranda for cases decided by the court and supervisory orders.  Stacey turned down the offer for a second term, deciding instead to return to her home town of Flossmoor.

 

Stacey and John moved to Flossmoor in 2002, and Stacey went to work for the First District Illinois Appellate Court in Chicago, where she spent the majority of her tenure with Justice Robert Cahill. She served as Justice Cahill’s “elbow clerk” for close to seven years, writing legal opinions for the Judge in hundreds of civil and criminal cases, including several highly publicized, landmark decisions. Stacey left the Appellate Court in 2011 to open a law practice in Flossmoor.  

 

Stacey founded Leland Grove Law, LLC in 2012. Her primary areas of practice include civil litigation, appeals, and estate planning.