Best's Insurance Professional Resources
Client-Recommended Attorneys, Adjusters, Experts and TPAs
Best's Insurance Professional Resources
Client-Recommended Attorneys, Adjusters, Experts and TPAs


Best's Recommended Insurance Attorneys

General Defense

Feirich/Mager/Green/Ryan

2001 West Main Street, Carbondale, Illinois 62901

Mailing Address: P.O. Box 1570, Carbondale, IL 62903-1570

Established: 1909

Practice Areas

  • Insurance Defense
  • Medical Negligence
  • Casualty
  • Construction Litigation
  • Product Liability
  • Workers' Compensation
  • Civil Rights
  • Trial Practice
  • Appellate Practice
  • Professional Liability
  • Subrogation
  • Coverage Issues

About Us

FMGR's History
Feirich/Mager/Green/Ryan (FMGR) has come a long way, since being established by Charles E. Feirich and Judge W. W. Barr in 1909, to serve as district counsel to the Illinois Central Railroad Company.

FMGR Today
Today, FMGR offers a wide array of legal and practical expertise. As this region’s largest local law firm, our clients benefit from "one stop shopping" for many types of legal representation. Those representations include, among others, matters involving traumatic or workplace bodily injury, property damage, medical and professional malpractice, insurance coverage, employment, construction defect, real and personal property, contract negotiation, and corporate guidance.

You will find FMGR counsel to be strategically minded, communicative, and practical. We believe that clients who are fully informed in the facts, strategies, and progress of each matter are better equipped to make informed decisions.

FMGR's Commitment - Quality & Professionalism
While FMGR is diverse in its talents, FMGR attorneys’ skills are applied with a single purpose: to deliver fine legal representation with all the professionalism and responsiveness that a modern and diverse law firm can provide.

You will find that each and every FMGR attorney supports the following credo:

Provide each client with individualized, effective, quality legal representation by applying sound judgment and relentless effort to the highest levels of legal knowledge, strategy, communication, responsiveness and value-consciousness.

To those ends, FMGR serves our clients by constantly improving our methods and systems while maintaining strong commitments to continuing education and professional development. FMGR is proud to be recognized when our attorneys are commonly requested to serve courts, law schools, and professional organizations which mold and affect the practice of law.

FMGR's Commitment - Value
At FMGR we provide our clients with more than high quality legal representation; we consistently strive to provide the highest value possible. FMGR’s in-house para-professional staff work under close attorney supervision to accomplish tasks which might otherwise require attorney services. At FMGR, high-quality, effective legal representation is only the starting point. FMGR representation is cost-effective, as well.

FMGR is Highly Skilled Local Counsel
While FMGR is typically primary counsel before this region’s courts, we are regularly honored to receive assignments as local counsel, from distant legal specialty counsel who require our in-depth knowledge of the regional state and federal courts, local court rules, local jury pools, local contacts, and the use of our facilities in litigation support. FMGR welcomes your inquiries toward cost effective and capable local representation in class actions, environmental matters or other litigation.

Client Information

Insurance Clients

Non-Insurance Clients

  • Aid Association for Lutherans
  • Associated Physicians Management Company, Inc.
  • Illinois Compensation Trust
  • Illinois Municipal League Risk Management Association
  • Illinois Parks Association Risk Services
  • Management Services, Inc.
  • Rogers Adjustment Services
  • Southern Illinois Counties Insurance Trust
  • Southern Illinois Regional Social Services, Inc.

Personnel Information


John K. Feirich — (1909-1998)

T. Richard Mager — (1934-2002)

John C. Ryan

Carbondale, IL

Practice Areas
  • Insurance Defense
  • Medical Malpractice
  • Municipal Liability
Admitted
  • Illinois, 1976
  • Missouri, 1998
  • U.S. District Court, Southern District of Illinois
Memberships:
  • American, Illinois State and Jackson County Bar Associations
Education:
  • Southern Illinois University, J.D., 1976

Born: 1951

Kevin L. Mechler

Carbondale, IL

Practice Areas
  • Workers' Compensation
Admitted
  • Illinois, 1982
  • Kentucky, 1994
  • U.S. District Court, Central District of Illinois, 1982
Memberships:
  • American Bar Association (Tort and Insurance Section)
  • Illinois State Bar Association (Insurance and Workers' Compensation Sections)
  • Kentucky Bar Association
  • Jackson County Bar Association
Education:
  • Southern Illinois University, B.S., 1979
  • Southern Illinois University, J.D., 1982

Born: 1957

John S. Rendleman, III

Carbondale, IL

Practice Areas
  • Commercial Litigation
  • Corporate Law
  • Real Estate
Admitted
  • Illinois, 1987
  • U.S. District Court, Southern District of Illinois, 1987
Memberships:
  • American, Illinois State and Jackson County Bar Associations
Education:
  • Southern Illinois University Edwardsville, B.A., 1984
  • Southern Illinois University Carbondale, J.D., 1987

Born: 1958

Pieter N. Schmidt

Carbondale, IL

Practice Areas
  • Workers' Compensation
  • Insurance Defense
Admitted
  • Illinois, 1988
  • U.S. District Court, Southern District of Illinois, 1988
Memberships:
  • American, Illinois State and Jackson County Bar Associations
Education:
  • Southern Illinois University, B.A., 1981
  • Southern Illinois University, J.D., 1988

Born: 1956

R. James Giacone

Carbondale, IL

Practice Areas
  • Insurance Defense
  • Workers' Compensation
Admitted
  • Illinois, 1998
  • U.S. District Court, Southern District of Illinois, 2002
Memberships:
  • American and Illinois State Bar Associations
Education:
  • Southeast Missouri State University, B.S.B.A., 1995
  • University of Missouri, J.D., 1998

Born: 1973

Kara L. Jones

Carbondale, IL

Practice Areas
  • Appellate Practice
  • Insurance Defense
  • Medical Malpractice
Admitted
  • Illinois, 1994
  • U.S. District Court, Southern District of Illinois, 1995
Memberships:
  • Illinois State and Jackson County Bar Associations
  • Illinois Appellate Lawyers Association
Education:
  • Saint Louis University, B.S.B.A. (magna cum laude), 1991
  • Southern Illinois University, J.D., 1994

Born: 1969

Angela M. Povolish

Carbondale, IL

Practice Areas
  • Real Estate
  • Estate Planning
  • Guardian and Conservatorships
Admitted
  • Illinois, 2005
Education:
  • Elmira College, B.A. (summa cum laude), 1998
  • Southern Illinois University, M.A., 2001
  • Washington University School of Law, J.D., 2005
  • Southern Illinois University, Ph.D., 2008

Born: 1977

Jonathan A. Mitchell

Carbondale, IL

Practice Areas
  • Insurance Defense
  • Workers' Compensation
  • Family Law
Admitted
  • Oklahoma, 2001
  • Illinois, 2004
  • U.S. District Court, Southern District of Illinois, 2006
  • U.S. Court of Appeals, Seventh Circuit, 2010
Education:
  • Baylor University, B.B.A., 1996
  • The University of Oklahoma, J.D. (with honors), 2001
Honors:
Order of the Coif; Order of the Barristers
Military:
Commander, U.S. Navy Reserve, Judge Advocate General's Corp (2000-present)

Born: 1973

D. Brian Smith

Carbondale, IL

Practice Areas
  • Workers' Compensation
  • Civil Litigation
  • School Law
Admitted
  • Illinois, 2005
  • U.S. District Court, Southern District of Illinois, 2012
Additional Biographical Details:

National School Board Association Council of School Attorneys; Illinois State Board of Education Council of School Attorneys

Memberships:
  • Illinois State Bar Association
Education:
  • Southern Illinois University School of Law, J.D., 2005

Born: 1980

Brandy L. Johnson

Carbondale, IL

Practice Areas
  • Workers' Compensation
  • Employment Law
  • Appellate
Admitted
  • Illinois, 2003
  • Missouri, 2004
  • U.S. District Court, Eastern District of Missouri
  • U.S. Court of Appeals, Eighth Circuit
  • U.S. District Court, Southern District of Illinois, 2005
Memberships:
  • Illinois State (Standing Committee for Disability Law) and Jackson County Bar Associations
Education:
  • Southern Illinois University Carbondale, B.A., 2000
  • Southern Illinois University School of Law, J.D. (magna cum laude, with honors), 2003

Born: 1976

Bentley J. Bender

Carbondale, IL

Practice Areas
  • Estate Planning
  • Tax Litigation
  • Business Law
  • Business Formation
Admitted
  • Illinois, 2004
  • Louisiana, 2005
  • Missouri, 2007
  • U.S. District Court, Central and Southern Districts of Illinois, 2009
  • U.S. District Court, Eastern District of Missouri
  • U.S. District Court, Northern District of Illinois, 2011
Memberships:
  • American, Illinois State and Jefferson County Bar Associations
  • The Missouri Bar
  • Bankruptcy Association of Southern Illinois
Education:
  • Washington University in St. Louis School of Law, J.D. (Dean's List), 2004
  • Washington University in St. Louis School of Law, M.L.T., 2007

Born: 1979

Of Counsel


Michael F. Dahlen

Carbondale, IL

Practice Areas
  • Insurance Coverage & Defense
  • Workers' Compensation
  • Appellate Practice
  • Arbitration
  • Mediation
  • Medical and Hospital Defense
  • Occupational Disease Defense
  • Coal Mine Defense
Admitted
  • Illinois, 1974
  • Kentucky
  • Missouri, 2011
  • U.S. District Court, Northern District of Illinois, 1974
  • U.S. District Court, Southern District of Illinois, 1979
  • U.S. Court of Appeals, Seventh Circuit, 1982
  • U.S. Supreme Court, 1989
  • U.S. Court of Appeals, Eighth Circuit, 1991
Memberships:
  • American, Illinois State, Kentucky and Jackson County Bar Associations
  • Illinois Association of Healthcare Attorneys
  • Illinois Appellate Lawyers Association
  • Defense Research and Trial Lawyers Association
  • Illinois Association of Defense Trial Counsel
Education:
  • Loras College, B.A. (magna cum laude), 1971
  • DePaul University College of Law, J.D., 1974

High Profile Cases

Bagent v. Blessing Care Corporation d/b/a Illinois Community Hospital, 224 Ill. 2d 154, 862 N.E.2d 985, 308 Ill. Dec. 782, (Ill. 2007)

Service Areas

Benton, Illinois, USA 32 miles

Harrisburg, Illinois, USA 38 miles

Jonesboro, Illinois, USA 22 miles

Marion, Illinois, USA 17 miles

Murphysboro, Illinois, USA 8 miles

Pinckneyville, Illinois, USA 32 miles

Vienna, Illinois, USA 36 miles

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