Jonathan W. Powell

Jonathan W. Powell joined Spesia & Taylor in 2016 as a law clerk prior to his admission to the Illinois Bar in 2018. He was raised in Bourbonnais, Illinois, where he currently resides. Mr. Powell received a B.A. in Criminal Justice from University of Illinois-Springfield where he also played on the School’s NCAA Division II men’s soccer team. Off the field, Mr. Powell was named President of the Criminal Justice Honor Society (Alpha Phi Sigma) and selected as the marshal for the College at graduation.

Mr. Powell attended law school at Michigan State University College of Law where he received his Juris Doctor. He was awarded the Jurisprudence Achievement Award (awarded to the highest achieving student) in both Consumer Law and Law Practice Management for his coursework. During law school, he worked as law clerk at Spesia & Taylor, assisting in various matters including assisting John Spesia, Kent Slater and Jacob Gancarczyk in their representation of the estate of a deceased woman and her injured daughter. The mother was tragically killed, and the daughter was injured, in a car accident in 2004, after a police officer, who had been pursuing a DUI suspect through a college town at speeds in excess of 100 mph, collided with the passenger side of her minivan. At trial the jury returned a record-breaking verdict of more than $4.1 million in damages. This verdict is the highest ever awarded by a jury in the 9th Judicial Circuit. He has also assisted in appellate matters such as Enbridge Energy, Ltd. P’ship v. Fry, 2017 IL App (3d) 150765; Enbridge Pipelines (Ill.) L.L.C., n/k/a Ill. Extension Pipeline Co. L.L.C. v. Kuerth et al., 2016 IL App (4th) 150519; Enbridge Pipeline (Ill.), LLC v. Hoke, 2017 IL App (4th) 150544; and Enbridge Pipeline (Ill.), LLC v. No. 4-15-0807 Monarch Farms, LLC, 2017 IL App (4th) 150807.

Publications:

Mr. Powell is credited with assisting John Spesia and Jacob Gancarczyk in publishing the article Demonstrative v. Substantive Evidence: Know the Important Difference
(Illinois Bar Journal – January 2017)