EDWARDSVILLE – Heyl Royster announced a new attorney and a new partner in its Edwardsville office, according to two recent and separate announcements issued by the firm.
Brian Connolly, one of 16 lawyers who joined the firm in 2017, and Keith Hill, newly elected to the firm's partnership, both are now part of Heyl Royster's Edwardsville office.
With more than 100 attorneys in offices in Peoria, Champaign, Chicago, Edwardsville, Rockford and Springfield, Heyl Royster provides legal services for businesses and corporations, professionals, health care organizations, governmental entities, universities, insurance carriers and other major institutions, its website states. Heyl Royster lawyers have represented clients in the federal courts and all of Illinois' 102 counties, as well as courtrooms in Indiana, Iowa, Missouri and Wisconsin.
"Our attorneys also counsel clients on all aspects of business life," said the Heyl Royster press release announcing the addition of Connolly for the firm's Edwardsville office. "Through our lawyers' participation in bar and industry activities, we identify and help develop trends in the law which we believe will be of benefit to our clients."
Connolly, a St. Louis University School of Law graduate and who is also listed on Missouri and Kansas Super Lawyers as a Rising Star, Personal Injury General Defense for 2016-2017, got his start at a small defense firm in St. Louis, Missouri, according to his profile on Heyl Royster's website. There he primarily defended agrichemical class actions and other toxic tort litigation. From there he moved on in 2017 to a mid-sized St. Louis firm where he spent five years in toxic tort defense, commercial litigation and general insurance defense litigation.
As part of Heyl Royster's Edwardsville office, Connolly concentrates product liability and premises liability defense with a focus on injury claims arising from environmental and occupational exposure to toxic substances such as asbestos. Connolly also defends corporate clients in ongoing business and commercial litigation, the law firm's website states.
Hill, along with Tyler Robinson of Heyl Royster's Springfield office, was recently elected to the firm's partnership, according to a Heyl Royster announcement issued on Jan. 19. Hill, a University of Illinois College of Law graduate and a member of the Illinois Association of Defense Trial Counsel and the Defense Research Institute, started his legal career with Heyl Royster, according to his profile on the firm's website. Hill became an associate in Heyl Royster's Urbana office in 2002. From 2007 to 2013, he practiced at a civil litigation defense firm in Carbondale before returning to Heyl Royster.
Hill concentrates on civil litigation, defending clients in product liability, premises liability, professional liability, automobile accidents, employment and labor law, and civil rights. Hill also takes on to toxic tort litigation, particularly that involving asbestos. Hill has handled cases in state courts in central and southern Illinois and in federal court in the Central and Southern Districts of Illinois. Hill also has been active in appeals before the 4th and 5th District Appellate Courts and the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 7th Circuit.