Velasco & Rickard LLC
Attorneys At Law
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Our Approach
Velasco & Rickard LLC works effectively and honorably to resolve issues in the areas of business and family law. The firm's approach is both professional and direct. We listen. We educate. We set clear, coherent and reasonable expectations. We evaluate possible outcomes. We explore realistic timelines. Of equal importance, we confer about strategies to control costs.
Business & Litigation Issues
From forming the corporation to taking part in litigation, Velasco & Rickard LLC provides services for any and all business needs.Personal & Family Issues
Velasco & Rickard LLC provides a wide range of services to take care of our client’s personal and familial needs: including divorce, child custody, civil union agreements, premarital agreements, asset protection and EB-5s
Our Firm
Firm Profile
James Velasco and Danielle Rickard founded Velasco & Rickard LLC in 2007 to address the corporate and familial needs of their clients. In order to handle these needs, the firm operates in a number of practice areas.
James Velasco and Danielle Rickard merge their skills and experience to provide their clients with the most effective representation and dynamic solutions.
Business & Litgation
Our Services
Velasco & Rickard, LLC serves as business lawyers to entrepreneurial and family owned businesses. We help clients in forming business entities, in drafting both personal and business contracts, in drafting leases, in settling membership and ownership issues, in drafting employment policies, in resolving business disputes, in reviewing operating agreements, and in providing legal representation in court
Velasco & Rickard, LLC also offers services related to foreign investor participation in the EB-5 government program and asset protection, often essential for all business owners and investors.
James Velasco heads the business side of the firm.
Personal & Family
Our Services
Velasco & Rickard LLC offers services related to all matters of personal and family law issues, including divorce, child custody & support, civil union agreements, premarital agreements, asset protection and EB-5s.
At Velasco & Rickard LLC, we pride ourselves on our communication, planning and professionalism. We inform our clients of what is possible and present the most direct plan for achieving the possible.
Danielle Rickard heads the personal and family law side of the firm.
Mediation
Our Services
Divorce Mediation is a cooperative and creative problem-solving method in which both parties can inventory marital assets, develop current and future income information, establish parenting rights and responsibilities, and negotiate their own divorce settlement. The mediation process is designed to eliminate the competition and hostility associated with divorce and to reduce costs and time spent in the divorce process.
Velasco & Rickard has a Center for Conflict Resolution certified mediator on staff who is ready and able to guide any couple through the process of mediating their divorce.
EB-5
Our Services
For foreign investors who are interested in participating in the EB-5 USA immigration program, Velasco & Rickard LLC offers assistance at every stage of the process.
Obtaining EB-5 status is a complex and detailed process. Velasco & Rickard LLC assists the investor in overcoming difficulties along the way.
Although Velasco & Rickard LLC does maintain membership in AILA, we limit our legal assistance in immigration matters to foreign investors seeking EB-5 status for themselves and their families.
Our Attorneys
James Velasco
James Velasco is one of the founding and managing partners of Velasco & Rickard LLC. He received his undergraduate, graduate and law degrees from Loyola University Chicago where he was a Presidential Scholar in 1968 and a member of Alpha Sigma Nu, the Jesuit Honor Society.
James has spent the past three decades litigating complex legal issues. Although he has extensive trial experience, his primary goal is to negotiate the best settlement possible for the firm’s clients and to avoid the high cost of litigation whenever possible.
Before attending law school, James taught Classical Greek at Loyola Academy in Wilmette. James has volunteered to teach a colloquium about justice and litigation at Northside College Prep High School, where his daughter is currently a sophomore. He lives with his wife, a Chinese artist, and his daughter.
Leslie T. Lederer
Leslie T. Lederer has recently joined Velasco & Rickard LLC on an of counsel basis. He received both his Bachelor’s degree in accounting and Juris Doctorate from the University of Illinois in Champaign-Urbana. Along with being a member of the Illinois State Bar, Les is also a Certified Public Accountant in Illinois.
Les came to Velasco & Rickard LLC from the corporate setting where he was both general counsel and vice president for a fortune five hundred corporation. He has played an active role in taking a major corporation from a $250 million enterprise to a leading USA manufacturer with revenues in excess of $7 billion. He has also played a major role in acquisitions and mergers worth billions of dollars.
Danielle Rickard
Danielle Rickard earned her bachelor’s degree from Indiana University Bloomington in 1994. She received her Master’s Degree from Loyola University Chicago where she was trained as a family therapist and worked with families and children at Catholic Charities. Danielle then earned her law degree from Loyola University Chicago.
Danielle's previous training as a family therapist enabled her to develop the useful skills she uses in counseling the firm’s clients throughout the divorce and custody processes.
Brittany Roebke
Brittany Roebke has recently joined Velasco & Rickard LLC as an associate attorney; she, during law school, had worked at Velasco & Rickard LLC as a clerk and researcher. Brittany received her undergraduate degree from Truman State University and her Juris Doctorate from Chicago-Kent College of Law.
Brittany was awarded the President’s Scholarship from Truman State, an academic based scholarship that covered the full cost of her undergraduate tuition. She was also awarded a full tuition scholarship from Chicago-Kent.
During her time in law school, Brittany became a Center for Conflict Resolution Certified Mediator. She also worked as an extern for the Honorable Michael Panter in Parentage and Child Support Court.
Contact Us
Contact Address
Velasco & Rickard LLC
161 N. Clark
Suite 3200
Chicago, IL 60601
Telephone: +1 312 240 1122
Fax: +1 312 240 0072
E-mail: vrlaw@me.com
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