Chicago Lawyer and Alderman Indicted on Corruption Charges Removed as a Partner from Law Firm Which Includes His Daughter

Indicted Chicago Alderman Edward Burke out as Partner at Law Firm, records show

Embattled Ald. Edward Burke is no longer a partner at the downtown law firm where he did property tax appeal work for a long list of influential businesses and where federal authorities allege he tried to strong-arm people into becoming clients in exchange for help at City Hall, records show.

According to paperwork the Klafter & Burke law firm filed with Secretary of State Jesse White’s office in April, Burke dissociated from his partnership in the firm. That leaves Burke’s daughter, Jennifer, and two others as partners in the firm, according to the documents.

Reached by phone earlier this month, the alderman declined to discuss his relationship with the firm. Representatives of the firm could not be reached for comment.

The firm is at the center of the federal criminal case against Burke, Chicago’s longest-serving alderman and for years one of the city’s foremost power brokers.

The paperwork announcing his intention to end his partnership with the firm was signed on April 12. That’s the same day a federal indictment was made public against a real estate developer alleging the developer steered legal work to Burke in exchange for help at City Hall with a permit and $2 million in tax increment financing for a Northwest Side project.

It was unclear from the paperwork whether Burke retains a relationship with the firm or if he profited from dissociating himself from the partnership.

Burke was charged with attempted extortion in January and indicted in May on racketeering and bribery charges alleging he tried to muscle developers into hiring Klafter & Burke to appeal their property taxes. Burke has pleaded not guilty.

Klafter & Burke filed the paperwork less than two weeks after Lori Lightfoot won the mayoral election on a platform that prominently featured her hammering the alderman as a vestige of the bad old days of Chicago politics where connected insiders get rich and the public suffers because of it. Lightfoot has called on Burke to resign as alderman.

In July, aldermen unanimously passed Lightfoot’s signature City Council ethics reform package, which prohibited aldermen from holding outside work that could conflict with the city’s interests.  That includes property tax appeals of the kind Klafter & Burke often handles.