Wheaton law firm celebrates 50 years in business

The firm of Peregrine, Stime, Newman, Ritzman & Bruckner completed 50 years of law practice in Wheaton this fall.

Leaders of the firm said a commitment to teamwork and partnering with its clients has kept it going strong over the past 50 years.

While it has represented some clients for decades, the practice is constantly shifting to accommodate new clients and their individual needs, company officials said.

The co-founders of the firm were Hartman Stime, now deceased, and Roy I. Peregrine. On Sept. 9, 1959, Stime and Peregrine left separate practices in Chicago to begin a law firm in Wheaton. Through the years the firm has added attorneys who provide expertise for its clients in most areas of the law.

One of the early partners, Carl Henninger, became chief judge in the Circuit Court of DuPage County.

The firm's current attorneys are Roy I. Peregrine, Thomas M. Newman, Roger A. Ritzman, Dale W. Bruckner, Robert T. C. Kay, David W. Clark, Elizabeth Schaffer, Mary P. Neal and Laura L. Hois.

In 1977 the firm purchased the Marcellus Jones House from School District 200 and moved it to its present location at 221 E. Illinois St. in Wheaton. The house was built about 1865 by Marcellus E. Jones, a former captain in the Union cavalry during the Civil War. According to the "Portrait and Biographical Records of Leaders of Cook and DuPage County" published in 1899, Jones "was one of the valiant defenders of the Old Flag during the late war, and fired the first shot at the battle of Gettysburg."

Through the years, the firm has specialized in personal injury and commercial litigation, corporate and business planning and transactions, trials and appeals, banking law, estate planning and wills and trusts, probate, family law, real estate, local government law, worker's compensation and collections.

For information on the firm, call 630-665-1900 or visit www.psnrb.com.