Steve Morrill. Mr. Morrill is a principal in Morrill & Fiedler, LLC, which provides non-legal Illinois state and local government relations services; separately, he is a Chicago and Washington, D.C. “of counsel” attorney in the Barnes & Thornburg Government Services and Finance Department, where he concentrates on federal government relations and legal services (though independent from one another, Morrill & Fiedler and Barnes & Thornburg collaborate on various state and local government relations matters).
Morrill has served as a lawyer, lobbyist and government official for more than 30 years. He graduated from Northwestern University with a B.A. in Economics. Immediately after college, Morrill was a Governor’s Fellow in Springfield, working for a year in various areas of the Illinois Governor’s Office. Following graduation cum laude from the Northwestern University School of Law, where he was an editor of the Law Review, Morrill served as Parliamentarian of the Illinois Senate and staffed the Senate Judiciary Committee during the tenure of Senate President Philip J. Rock (D-Oak Park). Morrill thereafter practiced for six years in the governmental, administrative law and litigation departments of the Chicago law firm Winston & Strawn before founding Morrill & Associates and its successor M&F.
As a lobbyist, Morrill has represented scores of clients before the Illinois General Assembly, Illinois Joint Committee on Administrative Rules, and Cook County Board. As a lawyer, Morrill has practiced before virtually every Illinois agency and executive branch office, as well as in the state and federal courts.
Morrill’s governmental experience includes service as Commissioner of the Illinois Human Rights Commission, the agency that adjudicates anti-discrimination claims with respect to employment, housing, education and public accommodations; Special Assistant Attorney General; Special Assistant Cook County State’s Attorney; Special Counsel to the Cook County Board; contract lobbyist for the Cook County Board for 16 years; Counsel to the State Employees’ Retirement System; Counsel to the Board of Trustees of the Teachers’ Retirement System of Illinois; and Member of the Illinois Attorney General Advisory Board on Not-For-Profit Corporations.
Morrill has served on transition teams of state constitutional officers, on the boards of charities, and as a member of numerous legal and civic organizations. Morrill has published articles in such publications as the Northwestern University Law Review, DePaul University Law Review and Illinois Bar Journal, as well as magazines such as Chicago Southland Business, Chicago Office, Associated Food and Petroleum Dealers Bottom Line, and Illinois Cemetery and Funeral Home Association Newsletter.
Morrill has been recognized by his peers in the Illinois legal community as a “Leading Lawyer” in his field, a designation maintained by the Law Bulletin Publishing Company, and is a member of the Illinois State Bar Association and the Chicago Bar Association.
Morrill resides in Glenview, Illinois.
