Cheryl Dancey Balough

Professional Experience

Cheryl Dancey Balough focuses her practice on helping clients to protect their ideas, their intellectual capital – including trademarks, copyrights, trade secrets – and their privacy. She has represented:

· Small businesses starting up new Internet ventures                                    

· A former employee accused of trade secret theft

· A national telecommunication firm

· Organizations involved in contractual disputes

· Individuals who have been defamed or accused of defamation

Before becoming an attorney, Ms. Balough spent 20 years as a marketing executive. She understands the challenges facing businesses and their need to continually innovate without incurring excessive risks. She also applies her expertise in academia, having served as senior faculty in communication and business planning at Keller Graduate School of Management.

Ms. Balough is currently vice-chair of the Website/Newsletter/Public Relations Committee of the Intellectual Property Law Association of Chicago (IPLAC), co-chair of the Newsletter Committee of the Chicago Bar Association’s Alliance for Women, and a member of the Membership Committee of the Professional Women's Club of Chicago.

While in law school, Ms. Balough externed for the Honorable Ann Claire Williams of the Seventh Circuit Court of Appeals; Justice Jill K. McNulty of the Illinois Appellate Court, First District, Sixth Division; and Judge Jeffrey Lawrence of the Circuit Court of Cook County, Illinois, Law Division, Motions Section.

Education

Ms. Balough earned a JD degree with high honors from Chicago-Kent College of Law, where she received numerous CALI Awards for Excellence and was inducted into the Order of the Coif. She earned a Masters in Business Administration with concentrations in Marketing, Finance, and Management Policy from Northwestern University’s Kellogg School of Management, where she graduated first in her class. Other degrees include a Masters of Arts in Liberal Studies, with a focus in English and History, from Northwestern University and a Bachelor of Arts with high honors, with a major in French and minors in English and Education, from Michigan State University.

Admissions

Supreme Court of Illinois

U.S. District Court, Northern District of Illinois

Languages Spoken

Portuguese and French

Community Activities

Ms. Balough’s civic and community activities have included the Human Concerns Commission of Holy Name Cathedral. She was elected to the board of the National Coalition on Donation, serving as External Communications Committee Chair, and was appointed to the Illinois Department of Public Health Ambulatory Surgical Treatment Center Licensing Board. She has also served as Communications Chair and Membership Chair for the Women Health Executives Network.