Oak Brook Area Welcomes Father-Daughter Legal Team

The Law Offices of Hoy & Sahlas, Ltd. was recently featured in an article in the Spring, 2011 issue of the Business First Newsletter Published by the Greater Oak Brook Chamber of Commerce.  The article is below.

            In 2009, after 24 years in Oak Park, the Law Offices of Hoy & Sahlas, Ltd. moved its practice to the Oak Brook East Building at Oakbrook Center.

            After sizing up the myriad benefits of their new location, from short commutes to free parking to world-class shopping and dining, the firm’s partners are in agreement.  “Moving to Oak Brook has been a refreshing experience,” they exulted. “We only wish we had moved here sooner.”

            The law firm, headed by partners David E. Hoy and his daughter Colleen L. Sahlas, is the very definition of a family success story.  David Hoy, who received his Juris Doctor degree in 1983 from Northern Illinois University and was admitted to practice in November 1983, founded the law firm in Oak Park in 1985, under the name The Law Offices of David E. Hoy.

            Over the ensuing 15 years, he would build a thriving practice on estate planning, estate administration, business law, condominium representation and commercial real estate.  David Hoy is a registered title agent for Prairie/ Commonwealth Land Title Insurance Company, Ticor Title Insurance Company and First American Title Insurance Company.  He is also a member of the DuPage County Estate Planning Council, The National Lawyers Association, the Illinois State Bar Association and the Christian Legal Society. Mr. Hoy serves on the Planned Giving Committee of Elmhurst College and has given many seminars on estate planning for clients of various Chicago-area financial service firms and not-for-profit organizations.

            The next significant milestone came in 2000, when the firm welcomed David Hoy’s daughter, Colleen L. Sahlas.  The recipient of a Juris Doctor degree from the John Marshall Law School in Chicago in May 2000, Colleen Sahlas was admitted to practice law in Illinois in November 2000. 

            Colleen Sahlas concentrates her legal practice in residential real estate, decedents’ estates including estate administration, small estate affidavits, Illinois probate in Cook and DuPage Counties, trust administration, guardianships of disabled adults and minors and related adoptions.

            Mrs. Sahlas has handled numerous, complex Illinois Probate matters in both Cook and DuPage Counties.  For nearly a decade, Mrs. Sahlas has represented hundreds of clients in their real estate sale and purchase closings including condominium conversion, new construction, foreclosed properties and short sales.  Mrs. Sahlas has conducted several seminars for real estate agents and was quoted in the Illinois Bar Journal regarding the attorney’s role in a real estate transaction in the August,2006 issue, Volume 94 No. 8.

          In 2004, she received the “Champion Poster” Award from the Illinois State Bar Association “in recognition of her selfless participation in sharing her skills, experience and legal knowledge”. She’s a member of the Illinois Bar Association, the Illinois Real Estate Lawyers Association and the Christian Legal Society.  She is a registered title insurance agent for Commonwealth Land Title Insurance Company.

            It’s the desire of the partners to provide excellent legal services to the firm’s clients while making them “feel comfortable and cared for.”  Their goal is to provide the highest professional services to their clients, but to also be personable and supportive throughout the entire legal process. “There are plenty of high-powered, large, impersonal law firms that charge through the nose, and provide little or no accessibility to their clients,”David says.  “We hope our clients feel free to call us any time with their legal needs, and that we can assist them with genuine care and high-quality services.”