Chuhak & Tecson, P.C., is pleased to announce that Kristen Hudson, a highly successful and respected litigator, has joined the firm as a principal.
With a primary focus on representing businesses in complex commercial litigation, Hudson has won high-stakes legal challenges in state, federal and appellate courtrooms across the nation. She comes to Chuhak & Tecson after eight years at a litigation boutique, where she was a partner.
“I made this move because I view Chuhak & Tecson as a full-service firm that I can call home,” Hudson said. “Everywhere I’m surrounded by like-minded professionals who are hard workers and good at what they do. There’s also an entrepreneurial spirit that I find exciting; I think it’s the perfect place to grow my practice.”
Steve Wood, a principal who leads the firm’s litigation practice group, said Hudson represents a powerful addition to the team.
“Kristen has accomplished a great deal already in her legal career,” Wood said, “and I’m certain she will eclipse those achievements as a principal in our firm. We’re confident she will bring even greater strength to the Chuhak & Tecson team as we work to solidify our reputable standing in the Chicago legal community.”
Hudson’s commercial litigation practice involves contract disputes, business torts, fraud and the protection of trade secrets and intellectual property rights. She also has a thriving practice representing policyholders in insurance coverage disputes. Recovering millions of dollars for clients with commercial policies of all kinds, Hudson enjoys knowing her efforts help put money back in her clients’ pockets.
She takes her insurance work as seriously as her general business litigation.
“You don’t dabble in insurance coverage,” she said. “It’s a difficult area of law to practice if you don’t know what you’re doing. The rules differ from other kinds of contracts. You can’t advise a client about coverage if you don’t understand the way the contracts are written and the language that is used.”
Along with standard business policies such as directors’ and officers’ liability, employment liability and others, Hudson also is an advisor for cyber liability policies. She serves as one of the co-chairs for Women in Insurance, a subcommittee of the American Bar Association’s Insurance Coverage Litigation Committee.
In 2014, she was selected by Law Bulletin Publishing Company as one of “40 Illinois Attorneys Under Forty to Watch.” She also has been recognized as an Emerging Lawyer, a distinction earned by fewer than two percent of all Illinois-licensed attorneys.
A native Southerner, Hudson still embraces the values of hospitality she learned as a child.
“I feel very connected to the notion that you say, ‘yes sir, no sir, yes ma’am,’” Hudson said. “Being polite still matters today. That’s really important to me. And having integrity. If my name is on the document, I’m not going to compromise my values. I’m actually very grateful for my traditional upbringing, which unfortunately is less and less common in today’s world.”
Hudson taught high school French in the North Carolina public school system before entering The John Marshall Law School in Chicago. She finds that her second career has much in common with her first.
“As a litigator, you teach your client what to expect as you go into a case,” she said, “and you teach the court what the relevant facts of the case are, the relevant facts of the law and how they should be applied.”
Firmly committed to the idea of “giving back,” Hudson is a big believer in pro bono work and has poured herself into Chicago Volunteer Legal Services for 15 years. Helping a woman become free of an abusive marriage or enabling an elderly couple to adopt their orphaned grandchildren is as rewarding for her as it is for the working poor who come to CVLS.
Hudson currently serves on the CVLS Board of Directors and as the Executive Vice President for Development.
“The bottom line is that I think it’s our job as lawyers to do what we can to help those in need,” Hudson said. “It’s our responsibility to provide legal services for those who cannot afford it.
“Chicago Volunteer Legal Services is special to me because I got my very first experiences as a courtroom lawyer with them,” she said. “It was my honor to chair their anniversary gala last fall, and we raised more than $100,000.”
Source: www.chuhak.com
