On February 13, the National Basketball Players Association elected David Kelly as its next executive director. His term will begin at the end of July, when he will succeed Andre Iguodala, who described Kelly as “a transformational leader and one of the most respected legal minds in the game” in a statement. Kelly joined the NBPA in February of 2025 as managing director and general counsel after several years with the Golden State Warriors.

Dania Duncan Moreno has joined Duane Morris LLP as a partner in the firm’s Real Estate Practice Group in its Dallas office. Before joining Duane Morris, Duncan Moreno was a partner at Bell Nunnally & Martin LLP. Duncan Moreno focuses her practice on both domestic and cross-border real estate and corporate transactions. Licensed in Texas and Mexico, she regularly handles hospitality, retail, industrial and residential projects throughout Mexico. In Texas, her practice emphasizes retail and industrial real estate matters.

Matthew Louis Brown passed away unexpectedly on Saturday, January 10, 2026. He began his legal career as an associate with the Chicago firm of Sachnoff & Weaver, Ltd., later continuing his work after its merger with Reed Smith, LLP, before joining his father at Brown Law Group in 2010. A full obituary is available online.

United States Magistrate Judge Noelle C. Collins was sworn in for a five-year term as Chief Magistrate Judge for the Eastern District of Missouri on December 30, 2025. Judge Collins has served as a Magistrate Judge since 2013. Prior to that, she worked as an Assistant U.S. Attorney in St. Louis, specializing in human trafficking prosecutions for the last three years of her nearly ten year-tenure as a federal prosecutor.

Latoya Hughes has been appointed Director of the Illinois Department of Corrections.

Ava George Stewart ’03, of Chicago, Illinois, was appointed by Governor J.B. Pritzker to a second term as a member of the Illinois Guardianship and Advocacy Commission, where she has been elected Vice-Chair of the Commission.

On December 1, Kilpatrick announced the addition of Lauren Ferrante, Counsel, to the firm’s State and Local Tax Team. She represents clients at all stages of state and local controversy disputes at the audit, administrative, and judicial levels.

Robert Kiepura has joined Raytheon as Director and Senior Counsel with the company’s Naval Power Strategic Business Unit. He was previously with the U.S. Department of Justice’s Civil Division.

Abad Lopez was awarded the “2025 Latino Lawyer of the Year” by the Hispanic Lawyers Association of Illinois.

Kevin Berrill recently became President of the Lake County Bar Association. Kevin is a prosecutor in the Lake County State’s Attorney’s Office, where he is Chief of Special Investigations as well as Chief of Financial Crimes & Public Integrity.