J. Joseph Little
Heather Stern
J. Joseph Little
Jay Little received a Bachelor of Science in Business Administration Degree from the Ohio State University in 1973. In 1975, he became a certified public accountant, gaining solid experience in auditing major corporations at national public accounting firm Price Waterhouse & Co. Later, while working in Arthur Andersen & Co.’s tax consulting division, he enrolled in the evening program at Loyola University Chicago School of Law, ultimately switching to full-time and graduating in 1979 with a Juris Doctor degree.
Jay’s early legal career at Stone, McGuire & Benjamin, a specialty tax law firm principally involved in tax consulting and business acquisitions, gave him keen insight into what was later to become one of his core skill sets. By 1983, he had become affiliated with the law firm of Hamblet, Casey and Oremus, concentrating his practice in business transactions and related tax and financial planning for closely held corporations and individuals.
As a principal in the Law Offices of J. Joseph Little, Jay continues to represent a wide variety of companies and individuals, all of whom appreciate his combination of seasoned business acumen and depth of tax knowledge and strategy. Jay describes his present practice area as “… involving business owners, families and individuals in all areas of their personal and business planning, permitting a continuing ‘big picture’ implementation of plans to accomplish refined objectives over time….”
Jay’s clientele routinely calls upon him to perform a multitude of tasks requiring diplomacy, tact and assertiveness. He is as comfortable at the negotiating table as he is on the construction site, in the industrial office or manufacturing plant. His burgeoning list of satisfied clients is testament to his take-charge attitude and calm demeanor in the face of the very real business obstacles he navigates on their behalf on an almost daily basis. He has also acquired extensive knowledge and experience in the area of nonprofit entities, both from the legal and accounting perspectives. At his current stage in life, although he is very satisfied with the nature and extent of his practice, Jay welcomes the addition of projects with high social and altruistic significance.
Jay’s philanthropic interests have included being a former Board Member of Chicago’s Randolph Street Gallery and the non-equity Stormfeld Theater, in addition to supporting numerous causes across decades in various ways. Together with his wife and law partner, Heather Stern, he has long been actively involved in all aspects of dog rescue through the nonprofit organization Playing Again Sams of Wisconsin, having transported, evaluated, fostered and adopted many Samoyeds over the years. Jay has recently become very interested in supporting and volunteering with Veterans relief organizations, a humanitarian effort especially dear to his heart since both his sons have served in the United States Army.
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Heather Stern
Heather Stern holds a Master of Arts degree (with teaching certification) from Aberdeen University, Scotland, and a Juris Doctor with High Honors from Illinois Institute of Technology, Chicago-Kent College of Law. While in law school, she received numerous academic awards and merit scholarships, and served on Chicago-Kent’s prestigious Law Review from 1981–1983. She took second prize in the 1983 John P. Rattigan Student Essay Award Competition, sponsored by the National Journal of Law & Medicine for her then-cutting-edge article, “Surrogate Parenting: A New Dilemma for the Courts?”
For more than 12 years, Heather owned and operated Personal Profiles, Inc., a Chicago-based consulting firm. She directed marketing, promotional and public relations, while presiding over a staff of five that handled sales and service aspects of the business. In addition to editing and publishing a quarterly informational newsletter with a 5,000-plus circulation, her creative press releases garnered feature stories in such media outlets as Fortune Magazine, the International Herald Tribune, Newsweek, TIME Magazine and the Chicago Tribune. She also orchestrated an enviable amount of local, regional and national radio and television coverage. During this period, she taught and coached extensively on a broad array of life enhancement issues, through such forums as the Latin School of Chicago, Francis Parker School, Heartland Spa and the Learning Annex
In 1993, after adopting three infants - two from Romania - Heather realized a childhood dream by becoming a freelance journalist. Despite a lack of formal journalism training and education, for several years she contributed regularly to the Chicago Tribune and River North News on a wide variety of topics. Her work has also appeared in many national and regional publications, including USA Today, Modern Bride, Woman’s World, Conscious Choice and Muscle & Fitness. In addition, she handled ongoing newsletter and public relations efforts for several Chicago-area companies and nonprofit organizations, such as Jane Addams’ Hull House Association and Gift from the Heart Foundation. She received two Excellence in Writing Awards from Chicago Women in Publishing, and commenced a longtime membership affiliation with the American Society of Journalists and Authors.
Throughout this time, Heather never lost sight of the personal importance and societal value of pro bono service. She was a volunteer contributor to EarthDay Chicago, and served as editorial adviser for the Lakeview Magazine, published by students of Chicago’s Agassiz Public School. Her contributions most often combined her legal and journalistic skills to benefit causes she believed in, such as helping establish a Wisconsin-based, nonprofit agency, Haven of Hope, to give increasing numbers of Romanian orphans a second chance at life, and to establish a modern orphanage in the Romanian countryside for those children still awaiting adoption. For several years, she and her children actively participated in Jane Addams’ Hull House Association’s “Baby Brigade,” a group of parents and preschoolers that visited Chicago-area nursing home residents on a weekly basis.
Thanks to an early international education and extensive personal travel, Heather spent four-plus years teaching English as a Second Language in the Far East, both privately and through Taipei Language Institute, Taiwan. Shortly after her return stateside in 1977, she was offered a teaching position in the newly formed, federally funded Indo-Chinese Resettlement Program at Chicago’s Truman College, a position she held in various capacities until receiving her law degree in 1983. As a result of these many and varied life experiences, Heather brings a myriad of skills to the table, skills she believes are best utilized in situations requiring focus, persistence, attention to detail and passion for a cause.
With their children now grown, Heather and her husband-partner, attorney/CPA J. Joseph Little, along with their senior rescue dogs, Sashka and Bombay, divide their time between the Streeterville neighborhood of Chicago and the Holy Hill area northwest of Milwaukee. Each is currently licensed to practice in both Illinois and Wisconsin, while Heather is also a licensed independent real estate broker in both states. Heather’s philanthropic interests have long included dog rescue and rehabilitation. Since 2004, she has sat on the board of, and is legal counsel to, Playing Again Sams of Wisconsin, a nonprofit organization devoted to rehoming Samoyeds across a five-state area. Prior to that, she was an active volunteer and donor at the Anti-Cruelty Society in Chicago, and has enjoyed the company of companion animals her entire adult life.