Heather Gilbert is the Administrative Partner of the firm’s Merrillville office. She also serves as a member of the firm's Executive Committee. Heather focuses her practice on health care litigation, including medical negligence and correctional health care, complex construction, employment, products liability, breach of contract, premises liability, transportation, professional negligence, and wrongful death matters. Heather maintains an aggressive motion practice, has obtained numerous pretrial dismissals for her clients, and has argued before the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit and for the Indiana Court of Appeals. Prior to joining Cassiday Schade, Heather worked as an Assistant Corporation Counsel for the City of Chicago, where she represented the City and its employees in personal injury cases. Her work included successfully drafting and arguing several motions to dismiss and motions for summary judgment, as well as serving as lead counsel at numerous arbitrations and jury trials in Cook County, Illinois. Heather also worked for a Chicago law firm where she focused her practice on medical negligence, with an emphasis on hospital liability, and handled cases involving a wide range of medical specialties. While in law school, Heather served as an extern for the Honorable Kenneth F. Ripple of the Seventh Circuit Court of Appeals. She was also a member of the Student Bar Association and served as Executive Articles Editor for Health Matrix: Journal of Law and Medicine. Heather is a member of several professional organizations including the American Society for Healthcare Risk Management, Chicagoland Healthcare Risk Management Society, Defense Trial Counsel of Indiana, Indiana State Bar Association, Lake County Bar Association, and the Women Lawyers’ Association of Indiana. She is also on the Board of Directors for the Indiana Society for Healthcare Risk Management.

Harry counsels predominately high net-worth families and closely held businesses in a broad range of matters, including areas of taxation (state, national and international), formation, real estate, trust and estates, and business succession planning. Harry advises clients on structuring transactions in a tax efficient manner. Harry has an acute understanding of the real estate and agricultural sector and helps clients meet their business objectives. Harry regularly advises corporations, partnerships, and individuals on a broad range of domestic offshore and cross-border transactions often focusing on complex and innovative structures to transfer wealth and business holdings. Harry’s experience includes acquisitions, dispositions (including like-kind exchanges), sophisticated financing, easements, and other asset management matters that add post-tax value to the respective client. Harry also helps individuals and families with sophisticated wealth planning and wealth preservation and multi-generational planning which minimizes income, estate, gift and generation-skipping transfer taxes. Understanding the desire to preserve wealth and closely held business enterprises, Harry ensures a client’s legacy is persevered while navigating potentially sensitive family dynamics. As part of legacy planning, Harry regularly counsels his clients in respect to charitable giving and has been involved with establishing private foundations, charitable lead and remainder trusts, and other not-for-profit entities. Harry remains active within the community. While not practicing law, Harry enjoys running basketball and hockey.

A longtime resident of Ohio, I have practiced law since 2003 after I graduated from The University of Akron, School of Law. I am committed to using my extensive legal insight to assist individuals and families struggling with complex matters related to family law, personal injury, estate planning and civil litigation. As the founder and principal of Gillespie Law, LLC, I take a hands-on approach when I represent my clients. When you hire my firm, you do not need to worry about having your case passed off to unfamiliar associates. My paralegal and I will be responsible for handling all your legal matters.

Area of Practice: General Litigation, Civil, Criminal, State, Federal, & Family Law