Stacey Cischke
Cassiday Schade LLP
Defense

Stacey Cischke, an educator and litigator, possesses a great deal of skill and knowledge when it comes to medical malpractice and health law.

The 39-year-old focuses on medical malpractice defense at Cassiday Schade, LLP.

Cischke is a partner in the firm’s healthcare practice group. Cischke represents physicians, dentists and hospitals. She handles all aspects of litigation, including pre-litigation planning and strategy, and has tried a number of medical malpractice cases to verdict.

Members of both sides of the bar know acknowledge that they are working a smart and tough lawyer when they see Cischke’s name attached to a case.

Martin Head, of Hilfman & Head, P.C., first met Cischke at Bollinger, Ruberry & Garvey.

“Ms. Cischke exhibited the skills that were necessary to become a successful litigator in this arena. Ms. Cischke showed great insight in her questioning during depositions and strong acumen when handling key motions in the courtroom,” Head said. “She was able to steer steadily through the discovery process and cut to the key issues, rather than waste time as one ordinarily sees with young associates and even some young partners these days.”

About four years ago, Head switched from the defense to the plaintiff side of the medical malpractice area. He has now also experienced working with Cischke as opposing counsel.

“Knowing of her prior skills, I realized that I would be in for a battle and, unfortunately, her skills prevailed to my detriment,” Head said, adding Cischke is the youngest capital partner at her current law firm.

Attorney Sherry Mundorff, of Markel, previously practiced medical malpractice defense in Chicago and represented co-defendants on many cases with Cischke.

“Stacey is an exemplary attorney. She is diligent, thoughtful and extremely well prepared,” Mundorff said. “I have watched Stacey take depositions and also interact with her clients. She is not only kind, but I have heard many medical professionals comment on her grasp of medicine. She is able to not only converse with physicians, but also to impart her medical knowledge to lay people.”

Sarah Pacini, Vice President for Risk Management & Insurance with Advocate Health Care, said Cischke has handled all aspects of medical malpractice litigation for the company.

“She becomes personally invested in each case and has the unique ability to identify workable solutions to complex issues,” Pacini said. “Her insights into defense and trial strategy are second to none and her trial experience is superb.”

Stephen Pavkovic, Director of Patient Safety for University HealthSystem Consortium, formerly worked with Cischke at Anderson Bennett & Partners, LLP, now known as Anderson Rasor & Partners. Pavkovic called Cischke a valuable peer resource for matters of legal proceeding, case strategy and communicating with clients. He said Cischke is a great person to have on your team.

“In the 13 years I have known Stacey we have collaborated on several professional projects which greatly benefitted from her exceptional communication skills,” Pavkovic said. “Stacey has a unique ability to capture and share complex legal ideas with any audience.”

She is also a frequent speaker locally and nationally.Cischke speaks to physicians, medical practice groups and hospitals on topics such as: understanding the defense of birth injury cases; preparing for depositions; legal issues involving electronic medical records; and improving reliability in discovery responses. She also frequently speaks about various litigation issues to numerous professional organizations.

Cischke is also an educator.

She is an adjunct professor of law in the Online Legal Education Beazley Institute for Health Law and Policy, Loyola University Chicago School of Law, where she also earned her law degree. Cischke teaches a course entitled “Legal Issues in Electronic Health,” focusing on the emerging legal issues surrouding the digitization of health information, ranging from confidentialty, to regulatory compliance to litigation and e-discovery rules.

In addition to presentations, Cischke’s expertise on the intersection of risk management principles and litigation is reflected in Principles for Strategic Discovery, a book chapter she co-authored in the book, “Principles of Risk Management and Patient Safety.´