WALKER & WILLIAMS - Key Persons
Dale L. Bode was born in Edwardsville, Illinois, and graduated from Edwardsville High School in 1963. He received his B.A. in 1967 and M.A. in 1969 from Southern Illinois University at Carbondale. He received his J.D. degree in 1976 from University of Missouri-Columbia. He is licensed to practice law in the states of Illinois and Missouri and admitted to various Federal Courts. He has tried in excess of 100 civil trials to conclusion in the Federal and State courts of Missouri and Illinois. He is a member of the Madison County, St. Clair County, and Illinois and Missouri State Bar Associations.
Mr. Bode specializes in insurance defense, primarily asbestos, automobile, premises liability, and construction accidents. He also specializes in insurance coverage issues. He has presented lectures before various groups on issues such as insurance, litigation defense and tactics, and actions brought under the Federal Employer's Liability Act. He has appeared before and presented briefs to the Illinois Appellate and Supreme Courts.
Mr. Bode has also served as an arbitrator and mediator in numerous cases in Madison and St. Clair County, Illinois over the past 30 years.
Practice Areas
Insurance Defense
Donald J. Dahlmann is the managing partner of Walker & Williams, and has been a practicing trial attorney for more than 40 years. He began his career with the firm in 1975. Mr. Dahlmann's practice focuses on complex civil litigation on a national scale. He specializes in the areas of insurance, product liability, and toxic tort defense, particularly asbestos, benzene, and silica litigation in Madison County, St. Clair County, and surrounding areas in Southern Illinois.
Mr. Dahlmann has been retained as counsel of record in asbestos litigation matters since the 1980's. As National and Regional counsel for several manufacturers, distributors, and contractors throughout the United States, he has managed and supervised thousands of claims. In that capacity, he advises his clients regarding national strategy, asbestos litigation trends, and conducts negotiation with opposing counsel.
Having tried an extensive number of jury cases, Mr. Dahlmann is an experienced litigator in the areas of asbestos, product liability, and insurance defense. His trial experience has been at the state and federal court in Illinois and Missouri, including St. Clair, Madison, and other Southern Illinois Counties.
Practice Areas
Insurance Law
Job Titles:
- Partner
- in 2010 As an Associate
Elizabeth A. Dahlmann joined Walker & Williams in 2010 as an associate attorney. She concentrates her practice on the defense of complex civil litigation, including toxic tort and personal injury lawsuits in St. Clair County, Madison County, and surrounding areas in Southern Illinois and St. Louis City. Additionally, she oversees the firm's asbestos docket in St. Clair County.
As counsel for companies involved in insurance defense, Ms. Dahlmann has provided services including motion practice, defending depositions, and settlement negotiation. She has successfully arbitrated several automobile insurance defense lawsuits, and won a defense verdict after trying a case to jury in Clinton County.
Ms. Dahlmann is a native of Belleville, Illinois, where she graduated from Althoff Catholic High School. She then attended Purdue University for her undergraduate degree, and earned her law degree from Southern Illinois University School of Law. While in law school, Ms. Dahlmann was named to the Dean's List, and was a member of the Moot Court Board. She twice competed in the William E. McGee National Civil Rights Moot Court Competition in Minneapolis, MN. In recognition of her courtroom advocacy skills, Ms. Dahlmann was selected in 2010 as a National Member of The Order of Barristers.
Ms. Dahlmann currently lives in Belleville, Illinois and is an active member of the Greater St. Louis and Southern Illinois communities. Of personal importance is her membership in the Junior Service Club of St. Clair County, a service organization that supports numerous charitable organizations in St. Clair County. Outside of work and service she enjoys exploring the outdoors with her dogs, yoga, running, and attending hometown sporting events.
Practice Areas
Insurance Law
James C. Cook received his undergraduate degree from the University of Illinois, Champaign-Urbana in 1973 and law degree in 1976 from Loyola University of Chicago. He is licensed to practice law in the States of Illinois and Missouri and admitted to practice before the Supreme Court of the United States (1979), U. S. Courts of Appeal for the D. C. Circuit (1977), Seventh Circuit (1978) and Eighth Circuit (2002); and U. S. District Courts for the Central and Southern Districts of Illinois (1978 and 1979).
Following graduation from law school in 1976, Cook served a two-year clerkship with Justice John T. Reardon of the Illinois Appellate Court, Fourth District. He joined the law firm in 1978 establishing a trial and appellate practice in the Federal and State Courts focusing on insurance defense in Southern Illinois including Madison and St. Clair Counties.
John Wendler has practiced in the areas of automobile negligence, insurance defense and business law for the past 38 years. He has been with private firms and managed a field litigation office for CIGNA Insurance in the past. He has practiced in all areas of Missouri and Illinois and has practice in Federal Court in Illinois. He has also had experience in courts in Chicago, Illinois and the Kansas City, Missouri area. He taught construction law at the SIU Edwardsville School of Energy for 27 years. He has jury and administrative trial experience. He has advised clients on state, federal and local issues. In the past he has been a speaker at a number of continuing education seminars. He has had extensive experience on challenging expert witnesses under the Frye and Dauber Rules. John is familiar with Medicare reporting and compliance and has Appellate experience. John maintains an extensive workers compensation defense practice.
John grew up in Edwardsville, Illinois and was a scholarship athlete in football. He received the Lloyd K. Harris award at SIU Edwardsville for being the outstanding government student.
Practice Areas
Toxic Torts
Patrick J. Waller joined Walker & Williams in August of 2017 as an associate attorney. He concentrates his practice on the defense of complex civil litigation, including toxic tort and personal injury lawsuits in St. Clair County, Madison County, and surrounding areas in southern Illinois and St. Louis City.
Mr. Waller was raised in Belleville, Illinois and graduated from Althoff Catholic High School. He then attended the University of Missouri, Columbia receiving a B.A. in 2014, and earned his J.D. in 2017 from St. Louis University School of Law. While in Law School Waller was an intern for the St. Louis County Prosecutor's Office working on high level criminal trials. After receiving a Rule 13 Certification in Missouri, Waller was assigned to the preliminary hearing docket in the Prosecutor's Office handling victimless felony preliminary hearings as well as bond hearings.
Mr. Waller resides in St. Louis, Missouri. Mr. Waller also enjoys working in Intellectual Property Law. Outside of work he enjoys playing sports such as basketball, tennis and golf.
Practice Areas
Insurance Law
Paul P. Waller, III received his undergraduate degree from the University of Notre Dame in 1977 and his law degree from St. Louis University in 1980. After graduating from law school, he served as a Law Clerk to U.S. District Court Judge William Beatty in the Southern District of Illinois for one year and since has focused his practice on insurance defense and insurance coverage litigation, primarily in the Southern Illinois counties of Madison and St. Clair, and the City of St. Louis, MO. He joined the firm in 1987.
He is licensed to practice in the state courts of Illinois and Missouri, as well the U.S District Courts for the Southern and Central Districts of Illinois and the U.S. Seventh Circuit Court of Appeals.
He has tried dozens of major civil jury and arbitration cases to verdict including F.E.L.A., automobile, premises liability and first party property claims. He currently spends a majority of his time participating in the firm's large asbestos defense practice. He has obtained summary judgment in multiple insurance coverage cases. In addition he has participated in numerous civil mediations and is a regular arbitrator in uninsured and underinsured motorist claims. He has argued appeals in the Illinois Fifth District Court of Appeals and the U.S. Seventh Circuit Court of Appeals.
He is a life-long resident of St. Clair County where his father practiced law for over 50 years and his grandfather served as St. Clair County Circuit Clerk. While in law school, he worked as a law clerk to Judge Robert Dowd in the Appellate Court for the Eastern District of Missouri. Prior to law school, he worked as a legislative intern to U.S. Congressman Melvin Price in Washington, D.C.
He is a member of the Defense Research Institute, the Illinois Association of Defense Trial Counsel (Insurance Law Committee), the Illinois Bar Association, the Missouri Bar Association and the St. Clair County Bar Association.
He authored the following articles published in the IDC Quarterly of the Illinois Association of Defense Trial Counsel: Uninsured and Underinsured Motorist Coverage Set-offs, Vol.22, No. 4 (4th Qtr. 2012), and Piecemeal Amendments to Illinois' UIM Statute Have Increased Carriers' Potential Exposure, Vol.17, No.4 (Fall 2007).
Practice Areas
Insurance Coverage Opinions and Litigation