Chicago attorney Michael Grieco was among the many lawyers honored at the American Association for Justice’s 2023 annual convention in Philadelphia this July.

An AAJ Board of Governors member since 2022, Grieco was presented with the F. Scott Baldwin Award, which recognizes a young trial lawyer with one or more outstanding trial verdicts who has made a significant contribution to the New Lawyers Division of the AAJ. Grieco also serves on the executive committee for the Professional Negligence section of the AAJ. The award was presented by AAJ officer Jared Smith of Jared Smith Law in Kentucky.

Grieco was recently named partner at Romanucci & Blandin, a Chicago-based national trial practice concentrating in negligence, abuse and wrongful death cases. He is a member of the executive board of the Justinian Society of Lawyers and was recently elected secretary of the Justinians, beginning his succession through the ranks of officers to president.

Grieco was among several lawyers at Romanucci & Blandin to be listed in the 2024 Edition of the Best Lawyers in America. Others include Founding Partners Antonio Romanucci and Stephan Blandin, Managing and Senior Partner Gina DeBoni, Senior Partner Frank Sommario and Partner Bruno Marasso.

Back in 1889, the automobile had barely been invented, and the airplane was still a gleam in the Wright brothers’ eyes. Yet, Italian immigrant Vincent Formusa had the foresight to found a company to meet his paesani’s growing demand for food products from their homeland. And so, V. Formusa Co. was launched at 710 W. Grand Ave. in Chicago.

A century and a quarter later, the company turns out a wide array of Italian specialty food products at their modern plant at 2150 Oxford Road in Des Plaines, packaging them in distinctive red and yellow Marconi Foods bottles and shipping them across the country. Product lines include giardiniera and other pickled vegetables, olive and vegetable oils, vinegars and salad dressings, herbs and spices, tomatoes and pastas, and olives and other condiments.

The company began modestly enough, with Vincenzo importing a handful of food products from his native Sicily. His son, Peter, later joined the company, expanding the factory and adding products. Peter’s son-in-law, Bob Johnson, took over in the 1970s, after which he and his wife, Sue, grew the business exponentially, adding product lines and expanding into broader markets.

Today, the company is in the hands of the fourth generation, with two of Bob and Sue’s children, Jeff and Joanna (Joey), serving as president and vice president, respectively, and Bob serving as CEO. Bob is celebrating his 50th anniversary with the company.

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Chicago-based Romanucci & Blandin was recently ranked among the area’s top law firms in U.S. News’ 2023 Best Lawyers list. The firm received a Tier 1 ranking in the Chicago region for Plaintiffs Personal Injury Litigation and Claimants Workers’ Compensation Law. It also received a Tier 2 ranking for Plaintiffs Product Liability Litigation and a Tier 3 ranking for Plaintiffs Medical Malpractice Law.

Several of the firm’s partners and attorneys have been listed in Best Lawyers in America for 2023. Antonio M. Romanucci and Frank A. Sommario are listed for Workers’ Compensation Law – Claimants; Antonio M. Romanucci, Stephan D. Blandin, Gina A. DeBoni, Joseph E. Kolar, Jason J. Friedl, Robert S. Baizer, Martin D. Gould, Michael R. Grieco, Bryce T. Hensley, Bhavani K. Raveendran and David A. Neiman are listed for Personal Injury Litigation – Plaintiffs; Stephan D. Blandin, Martin D. Gould, Joseph E. Kolar, Robert S. Baizer and Michael R. Grieco are listed for Medical Malpractice Law – Plaintiffs; Stephan D. Blandin, Michael E. Holden and Bruno R. Marasso are listed for Product Liability Litigations – Plaintiffs; Martin D. Gould and Bryce T. Hensley are listed for Mass Tort Litigation/Class Action – Plaintiffs; Bhavani K. Raveendran, Martin D. Gould and Bryce T. Hensley are listed for Civil Rights Law.

Marasso currently serves as president of the Justinian Society of Lawyers, and Romanucci and Sommario are past presidents of the local Italian-American bar association.

Launched in 1998, Romanucci & Blandin is celebrating its 25^th anniversary.

Chicago attorney Antonio Romanucci received the Howard Twiggs Award from the American Association of Justice at the organization’s annual conference in Seattle on July 18. The award is given to an AAJ member whose “passion, civility, cordiality and professionalism reflect the high standards set by Attorney Howard Twiggs; and whose courtroom advocacy and distinguished service to AAJ have brought honor to the trial bar and the legal profession.” A founding partner at Romanucci & Blandin, Romanucci has served in a wide variety of posts at the AAJ over the years.

Chicago law librarian Eugene Giudice has been named a fellow of the Special Libraries Association. The designation reflects the work Giudice has done and will continue to do on behalf of the profession and the SLA. SLA fellows are expected to act as mentors to those entering the profession and offer their knowledge and wisdom in the governance of the SLA. The senior research services training specialist at the Chicago office of Dentons US LLP, Giudice is chair of the SLA Legal Community, has chaired the Workplace Emergency Preparedness Council, and has been a member of several task forces and committees.

Robert Fioretti has been ranked as a top attorney by the AV Peer Review system created by Martindale-Hubbell. As a partner in the law firm Roth Fioretti LLC, Fioretti handles cases in complex litigation and governmental law. A longtime civil rights lawyer, he was a senior supervising attorney for the General Litigation Division of the Corporation Counsel for the city of Chicago under Mayor Harold Washington. His personal trial experiences have led to more than 100 state and federal verdicts and appellate court decisions. A former special assistant attorney general and special assistant state’s attorney, Fioretti served for two terms as a Chicago alderman.

Eugene Giudice has received the Advocate of the Year Award from the Private Law Librarians and Information Professionals Special Interest Section (PLLIP-SIS) of the American Association of Law Libraries (AALL). The award is given annually to a librarian who demonstrates leadership and excellence in advocating for law libraries and librarians. Giudice has hosted weekly Zoom coffee breaks with librarians around the world to keep the community connected during the pandemic. He was also praised for his “strong, contributing presence” on several AALL and PLLIP-SIS committees and for serving as a “catalyst and moderator” for continuing education webinars. Giudice is a senior research services training specialist with the Chicago office of Dentons U.S.

The Salvino Wealth Management Team has hung out its own shingle, launching Performance Wealth in January. The independent registered investment advisor manages $2.2 billion in client assets and will operate out of offices in Hinsdale, Illinois; Naples, Florida; and San Diego. The team’s mission is to “create detailed financial plans and investment portfolios using the best research tools available,” according to firm CEO Tom Salvino.

“The wealth management industry has evolved considerably in the last 20 years,” Salvino says. “Our decision to create Performance Wealth was driven by the realization that we could do a lot more for our clients as an independent firm than we could affiliated with a financial services corporation. We believe results matter, and as a fiduciary committed to transparency, we make sure our clients always know exactly what they own, what they are paying and who is doing the work.”

The nine-person firm includes family patriarch Al Salvino, a veteran wealth advisor who began his financial career in 1963, and his sons, Tom and John, both of whom are certified financial planners. Grace Salvino represents the third generation of her family at the firm.

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Businesses everywhere have been hit hard by the pandemic, with owners scrambling for creative ways to roll with the fiscal punches COVID-19 has thrown at them. Louis Imbrogno of Louis for Men has tackled the challenge head-on, keeping people stylishly safe while celebrating his heritage and paying a few bills. The Downers Grove men’s clothing store and tailor now includes handmade masks among its sartorial offerings. Suitable for both men and women, they come in white, black or Azzurri, all with red, white and green piping. (louisformen.com)