Brown, Hay & Stephens, LLP

10/06/2025

Cereal Drive Success!

BHSers collected 54 boxes of cereal--weighing in at 67 pounds--for the Central Illinois Foodbank's 4th Annual Cereal Drive in partnership with Hickory Point Bank!

A big shoutout to our Office Assistant Brett, who delivered our donation with a smile!

09/02/2025

We are deeply saddened to share that our long-time Partner, Pat Joyce, passed away on Saturday, August 30, 2025. Pat was a pillar of our firm and the central Illinois legal community for nearly five decades. Pat’s friend, Partner, and successor as Managing Partner, Jeff Wilday, summarized: “Pat was the preeminent real estate attorney in central Illinois during his 49 years of practice. He was the person title companies and other lawyers called when they were stumped. And he was the person lawyers at BHS sought out for counsel with professional as well as personal problems. Pat was always calm, patient, and fair-minded...a friend upon whom we could always count. Those of us who had the privilege to work with Pat are better people because of it.” Our deepest sympathies are with Jan and their four children. Rest in peace, Pat.

John Patrick Joyce Jr. (Pat Joyce) born November 10, 1947, in Chicago, Illinois, passed away on August 30, 2025. Pat grew up in Oak Park, IL, was...

07/30/2025

We had a great summer with our 2025 Summer Interns at Brown, Hay & Stephens, LLP: Clay Johnson (3L), Northern Illinois University College of Law; Piper Hill (2L), University of Nebraska College of Law; Charles Jessup (2L), University of Illinois College of Law; Emma Yard (2L), Southern Illinois University School of Law; Lane Dowell (2L), Southern Illinois University School of Law; and Michael Patton (2L), University of Missouri School of Law.

07/08/2025

We are saddened to share that longtime BHS Partner, Ed Cunningham, passed away on Friday, July 4. Ed’s obituary captures well the life of a devoted family man and an exceptional lawyer. In 1965, he was recruited to BHS by his law school classmate, Harvey B. Stephens. That move marked the beginning of a professional partnership and friendship that spanned decades. Together, Ed and Harvey helped build the modern version of BHS with the next generation of lawyers they recruited. Ed’s legacy lives on—in the firm he helped shape, in the lawyers he guided, and in the Springfield community he served so faithfully. He will be deeply missed by all who knew him.

Celebrate the life of Edward Cunningham, leave a kind word or memory and get funeral service information care of Boardman-Smith Funeral Home.

06/19/2025

To express our gratitude for the quick and courageous response to the fire in downtown Springfield on Adams Street one year ago today, we delivered cookies from the re-launched Cafe Moxo to our Springfield Illinois Fire Department stations. We are incredibly fortunate to have such a skilled and selfless team standing watch over our city, and we are happy to see Cafe Moxo thriving once again.

05/07/2025

Brown, Hay & Stephens, LLP is please to introduce two recent additions: Maureen Faller (Springfield Office) and Veronika Miles (Decatur Office). Among other areas of practice, both Ms. Faller and Ms. Miles bring many years of experience representing financial institutions. Please see www.bhslaw.com for more information.

12/30/2024

Please join us in congratulating Tony Schuering for being elected as a Partner of the firm effective January 1. Since joining us as a Summer Intern in 2018, Tony has become a talented lawyer and active community member. He will fit in great as a Partner, and he is a key part of our future success. Congrats to Tony!

12/02/2024

Brown, Hay & Stephens, LLP is pleased to announce that Taylor Ingram (SIU Law) and Cressa Wagner (Stetson Law) have joined our Springfield office, while Brooke Burke (SLU Law) has joined our Decatur office. All three women are recent law school graduates and central Illinois natives.

10/08/2024

We are excited to announce that John Kim has joined Brown, Hay & Stephens, LLP as an Of Counsel attorney. John served for the previous five and half years as the Director of the Illinois Environmental Protection Agency, where he managed the agency’s policies and operations and collaborated with various stakeholders, including the regulated community, environmental advocates, and government officials. Before his role as Director, he was the General Counsel at the Illinois EPA, providing legal guidance to the agency’s leadership. Moreover, John has extensive experience engaging with the U.S. EPA, enabling him to consult clients not only on Illinois-specific issues but also on matters involving federal law across the country.

With his extensive background in environmental law, John is a valuable addition to our team. Please join us in welcoming John to Brown, Hay & Stephens, LLP!

07/31/2024

We had a great summer with our 2024 Summer Interns at Brown, Hay & Stephens, LLP: Kyle Kendall (2L), Washington University School of Law; Imani Johnson (3L), University of Illinois Chicago School of Law; Rachel DeFries (2L), University of Illinois Champaign School of Law; Abigail Fierstos (3L), St. Louis University School of Law; and, Lane Dowell (2L), Southern Illinois University School of Law.

06/24/2024

Our Springfield office unfortunately had a bird’s-eye view of the tragic fire on Adams Street last Wednesday. We were awed by the work of the Springfield Illinois Fire Department to combat the fire, and now the work of the community to help the Adams Street business owners. Brown, Hay & Stephens, LLP will be hosting an envelope party at our office (U.S. Bank Building – 10th Floor, 5th & Adams) on Tuesday at 5:00 p.m. to help Cafe Moxo employees and the restaurant bridge the gap. Please message us if you would like to contribute but are unable to attend. Thank you!

01/03/2024

Brown, Hay & Stephens, LLP is pleased to announce new additions to our firm: Lauren Lurkins – Springfield Office & Bloomington/Normal, and Scott Sievers, Springfield Office. Ms. Lurkins was most recently the Director of Environmental Policy at the Illinois Farm Bureau, and she focuses her practice primarily in the fields of environmental, agricultural, natural resources, administrative and regulatory law. Mr. Sievers brings experience at the Illinois Attorney General’s Office, the Illinois Environmental Protection Agency, and the Illinois Department of Natural Resources, and he focuses his litigation practice primarily in environmental, administrative, civil rights, and general civil litigation. In addition to providing other benefits to our clients, the addition of Ms. Lurkins and Mr. Sievers deepens our bench in environmental law and helps us better serve the needs of clients in the Illinois ag economy and in the Bloomington/Normal market. For more on Ms. Lurkins and Mr. Sievers, please see: https://www.bhslaw.com/attorneys.