Joan Marie Fenstermaker

There are three things I look for in an attorney. (1) They are well versed in the law pertaining to your need, (2) they communicate with you timely and concisely and most importantly (3) they care. Joan is all three of these x 1000! She won the case but even if she had not there is no doubt she was d...iligent and always had our interest in mind. Excellent lawyer and I would highly recommend!!!!!

Attorney Joan Fenstermaker and her associate attorney, Nicholas Bailey, did a phenomenal job on a difficult situation for me, involving a rented Chicago house which did not meet the city’s heating code, due to, as we found out, zero insulation, and complicated by a landlord who was, to put it mildly,... reluctant and slow to remedy the situation (not least because he wasn’t the one paying the heating and cooling bills, so what’s the rush?) , and who tried via various angles to later install the needed insulation without consideration for the tenant’s continued habitation inconvenience. Despite owning multiple income properties, the landlord was clueless on the RLTO rules and regs (including even the most basic ones around security deposit protocol), and summarily presumed that all rights ran to him as landlord and all obligations ran to me as tenant. Joan brought action against him on multiple violation charges, including on a subsequent retaliatory eviction effort on his part, and we eventually received a solid, fair settlement and averted a courtroom trial. For the uninitiated, note that the process is long and winding and, in this case, took over two years from start to finish – pack your patience, and be able to document your claims via photos and records; you are entering into an active partnership with the attorney on your case. Joan was excellent throughout the process – she defended my rights when I didn’t even fully comprehend “the game” that the other side was playing to get a release from the landlord’s RLTO violations and ongoing obligations, and she brought long years of industry-specific legal experience, negotiating savvy, and a calm, professional demeanor to the conflict. Nicholas was excellent as her second-in-command, and great at keeping me informed and involved. I’m confident that I could not have had a better outcome. This should be your go-to team for tenants’ rights.

My husband and I hired Joan to represent us in a dispute with an individual with a long history of "problemmatic" behavior. Due to the nature of the settlement, I can't disclose specific details. However, I can share that Joan advocated on our behalf *relentlessly*. She provided us with consistent up...dates about the case and ultimately negotiated a settlement of all of the money we sought (we were very pleased). I have *never* had a reason to hire a lawyer before and I was pretty devastated that we would even be in a position to need to hire one. Joan reassured us early and throughout the process that she was able to handle our case successfully. She delivered on all of her promises. A lot of people think that the law is a "do it yourself" kind of thing with pre-paid legal and other "services". It's not. I'm glad that we had Joan as a lawyer on our side. I would highly recommend her for any real estate dispute.

We were referred to Joan thru a colleague and within hours of our first call with her we had information that laws had been broken and in our case we were rewarded $15k+ within 2 months. Joan knew the details of our case minute to minute and we both agree that Joan is one of the best lawyers we have... encountered. When your lawyer is focused and cares like Joan does, it is apparent in the outcome of your case. We can't rave enough about her expertise and professionalism, this resulted in a quick settlement on our rental agreement. Our landlord thought they could take advantage of good paying people that didn't want to have to file a law suit, we are so thankful we did. Honest people do win!