Howard M. Bain

howard@esb-law.com

Howard M. Bain was born in Chicago, Illinois in 1948. Mr. Bain attended the University of Illinois, College of Communications. He graduated with a B.S in Journalism (Honors) News Editorial in 1971 before attending the graduate program at the University of Illinois in radio and television. Mr. Bain also worked as a Rhetoric Instructor on Project 500, a federal grant to include more minorities at the University of Illinois in 1972.

Mr. Bain attended Northern Illinois University College of Law in DeKalb, Illinois and graduated in 1978 in the top of his class. He was also admitted to the Illinois Bar in 1978. Mr. Bain was invited to Law Review, but declined in order to help Vietnam era US Military vets secure discharge upgrades for benefits under a federal grant: Project Verdict.

He was admitted to the District Court, Northern District of Illinois (June 1978), also in 1978 he was admitted to the Seventh Circuit Court of Appeals. Mr. Bain was admitted to the Northern District of Illinois Trial Bar in 1982 and in 1983 he was admitted to the United States Tax Court.

Mr. Bain is a member the American Bar Association, Illinois State Bar Association. Mr. Bain has also been an Associate member of the Asbestos Abatement Council. He is a member of the International section for ABA and has traveled extensively to give seminars on US Mechanics Lien Laws.

Mr. Bain is a partner in the law firm of EMALFARB, SWAN & BAIN and has practiced as a trial lawyer and negotiator in the Federal and State Courts, representing clients in the areas of Business and Construction Corporate matters, Civil Rights Violations and Employment Discrimination. Additionally, he has appeared before the United States Railroad Retirement Board, Social Security Administration, Equal Opportunity Employment Commission, Illinois Industrial Commission, Illinois Department of Human Rights, Postal Service Arbitration Board, Merit Systems Protection Board and Army, Navy and Marine United States Military Discharge Review Boards.

Mr. Bain has also served as a bar examination tutor and pioneered in the area of consumer access to the legal profession by founding and managing the Legal*Shops in the Montgomery Ward Stores beginning in 1979.

Mr. Bain has developed and chaired a series of intensive workshop seminars for construction attorneys. The annual seminars have been ongoing since 1986. A representative seminar was titled The Construction Lawyer’s Smorgasbord: Material Suppliers and UCC, New AIA Contracts, Falling Buildings, and Minority Contractors. Topics included Material Suppliers and the UCC, AIA A201 – General Conditions of the Contract for Construction, the New B141 – Architect Owner Contract, Construction Failures: Rounding up the Usual Suspects, Minority Contractors: Jobs and the Law, Architecture, Bankruptcy and its Effect on Construction Litigation, Air Quality Litigation, Engineering Consultants, and Arbitration. Additionally, Mr. Bain periodically co-hosts seminars for construction professionals other than attorneys by providing round table seminars on national topics that are of current interest to the construction industry.

Mr. Bain has been interviewed by various association Trade Publications and authored several articles for construction industry newsletters. He has designed and developed the Lien Machine III , which is now in its twelfth printing. The Lien Machine III is a slide chart designed as an informational tool, which provides clients with timelines and deadlines for taking initial actions in the various states in the area of construction lien and bond claims.

Mr. Bain practices primarily in the area of Construction Matters and Claims and represents several Fortune 500 companies providing them services including Mechanics’ Liens, Bond Claims, Lien’s against Public Funds, Stop Notices and Miller Act Claims Filings and Complaints. Mr. Bain has traveled extensively providing seminars on construction liens, in the U.S. and Asia. The firm is now extending its services to Europe and Latin America as well.