ABOUT

STEVEN A. DENNY

Background

Prior to becoming an attorney, I was a Patient Rights Advocate/ Ombudsman for six years with the Department of Patient and Family Relations at Rush-Presbyterian-St. Luke’s Hospital in Chicago, Illinois.

Prior to that I was a Pastor for two churches in Indiana for ten years, the Palestine Christian Church in Wolcott, Indiana, and the Reynolds Christian Church in Reynolds, Indiana.

While being a Pastor, I also was a college teaching assistant and instructor of Greek New Testament at Lincoln Christian College in Lincoln, IL, and a teaching assistant in the History Department at Illinois State University in Normal, IL. In addition to my Masters degree in History and my Masters degree in Hebrew and Old Testament Studies, I have completed all residency requirements (dissertation pending) for a Ph.D. in Northwest Semitic Philology at the Oriental Institute of the University of Chicago.

After completing the Juris Doctorate degree from the John Marshall Law School (now known as the University of Illinois Chicago Law School) in Chicago in 1986, I passed the bar exam and became an attorney.

My first law job was as a plaintiff’s attorney for a small Chicago firm which specialized in worker’s compensation claims. I then worked four years for a larger defense firm where I litigated general tort defense including medical malpractice cases. In 1992, I left the defense practice to join with a medical doctor who was also an attorney specializing only in catastrophic medical malpractice cases. After two years of focusing on Medical Negligence cases, I determined that I wished to start my own firm and took steps to wean myself into being a sole practitioner. In March of 1997, I founded the Law Office of Steven A. Denny, P.C., and opened my office on LaSalle Street in downtown Chicago. In 1998, I added family law to my practice and also started a mediation center named CivilAgreement®Mediation Services, Inc. Because of my non-law background, I have greatly enjoyed mediating cases between disputing parties.  In 2020 I closed the mediation practice and now only work as a trial attorney on medical malpractice, childhood sexual assault, personal injury, and legal malpractice cases.

Avocations include Bob Dylan music, college basketball (especially University of Kentucky Wildcat basketball), the Iditorad dogsled race, reading (especially the men’s book club which I founded in 2003), train travel, cello music (especially when played by my cellist children), and German white wines.

Credentials

  • Ombudsman for a large Chicago hospital
  • Ordained Clergy and Pastoral Counselor
  • College Instructor in Biblical Greek
  • Attorney and Founder of the Law Office of Steven A. Denny, P.C. 
  • Mediator and Founder of CivilAgreement® Mediation Services, Inc.
  • Member of the Association of Conflict Resolution (formerly known as the Academy of Family Mediators and the Society of Professionals in Dispute Resolution) and the Mediation Council of Illinois
  • Completed the 40-hour basic family law mediation course with Zena Zumeta (former President of The Academy of Family Mediators)
  • Advanced mediation training at The Center for Conflict Resolution in Chicago, IL
  • A nine-month internship in Divorce Mediation with Lynn Carp Jacob, former President of the Academy of Family Mediators
  • Conflict Resolution training with PeaceMakers Ministry
  • Active member of the Christian Legal Society, Workshop Presenter at Annual Conference (2012)
  • Author: “The Merton Prayer: An Exercise in Authenticity” (ACTA Publishing, 2022)

Education

  • B.A. Lincoln Christian College (Christian Ministries)
  • M.A. Lincoln Christian Seminary (Old Testament)
  • M.A. Illinois State University (Ancient History)
  • Ph.D., Dissertation Pending, University of Chicago (Northwest Semitic Philology)
  • J.D. John Marshall Law School (University of Illinois at Chicago Law School)

Email address: sdenny@dennylaw.com