Our History

Ancel Glink has an almost 100 year long tradition of high quality representation of Illinois local governments. Our attorneys understand public service and the challenges that public officials and entities confront with limited resources and an increasing demand for more services.

Our tradition began with the vision of Louis Ancel. Lou was one of the first attorneys in the state to make the representation of governmental bodies the centerpiece of his law practice. Lou expanded the firm to assist municipalities through the difficulties of wartime shortages during World War II and the boom that followed. Lou was also the Secretary of the Illinois Constitutional Study Commission, which was instrumental in the revisions of Illinois’ previous constitution.

In the 1960’s, Lou invited two brothers, Marvin and Ronald Glink, to join him in his quest to provide quality legal representation to Illinois public bodies. Marvin had served as Corporation Counsel for the Village of Skokie and City Attorney for the City of Naperville and was ultimately awarded the Lifetime Achievement Award by the International Municipal Lawyers Association. Ronald was an experienced trial attorney and represented public bodies in litigation. In 1967, Stewart Diamond, a former municipal attorney, economic planner, and law professor caught Lou’s attention. Lou, Marvin, Ronald, and Stewart formed the cornerstone of our current firm.

Ancel Glink continues to follow the vision of our founders and predecessors to serve Illinois public bodies by providing them with practical legal advice. During the 1980s, Rob Bush and Tom DiCianni joined Ancel Glink, and we greatly expanded our representation of municipalities, park districts and for organizing and representing risk pools, as well as expending complimentary services such as workers compensation. The 1990s brought us Bob Rolek, Keri-Lyn Krafthefer and Derke Price, further solidifying Ancel Glink’s status as the premiere local government law firm in Illinois and further expanding our complimentary services in areas of election law, township law, and expanding our reach into the private sector through representation of waste management and resources recovery firms, as well as expertise in construction law and navigation of state and federal regulatory agencies and processes. Since the 1990s, Ancel Glink has continued to grow and expand its services to both the public and private sectors, using its deep well of experience that leads to effective and efficient results for our clients.

We are very proud of our accomplishments, including the trends and innovations in local government law that have created a dynamic local government legal environment, that has indirectly and directly served our private sector clients.

Each Ancel Glink attorney is committed to providing quality legal services to effectively and efficiently advise our local government and private sector clients. We invite you to learn about our attorneys by visiting their biographies. We look forward to carrying Ancel Glink’s solid tradition of high-quality, cost-effective legal work into the next 100 years. We welcome the opportunity to be a part of your team.