Charles Alan Krugel

As a management side labor & employment attorney & human resources (HR) counselor, I have 14 years of experience in the field & have been running my own practice for more than 7 years; .  Furthermore, I’m aligned with The Human Resource Store (HR Store); , as its Director of Legal & Compliance related services; i.e., I provide labor & employment law counsel & representation to our clients.  The HR Store specializes in providing "A-Z" human resources services to clients.  Also, I’m part of the Integra Security Alliance; , a consortium of workplace security and investigation related companies. 

In my own practice, my clients are small to medium sized companies in a variety of industries.  In addition to providing traditional labor & employment law services, I represent companies desiring to institute preventive & proactive HR functions.  These functions include policies & procedures, which help to efficiently and discreetly resolve issues in-house & prevent lawsuits & complaints; they also help to reduce costs & act as catalysts for increasing productivity & profits. 

I have been a negotiator for more than 100 labor & employment agreements & contracts, including noncompete & severance/separation agreements, collective bargaining & related labor agreements.  Additionally, I have argued more than 11 arbitrations, 13 mediations & 39 agency cases/complaints & have resolved 100-plus labor grievances & similar in-house complaints & completed over 100 in-house investigations.  Moreover, I'm a published author in my field & frequently the subject of labor & employment law related TV, radio & print interviews.  My website contains all of my media interviews. 

My career choice is the result of a long running fascination with workplace behavior, management styles, & how & why people pursue particular vocations.  While in college, I advanced my interest by majoring in psychology.  After college, I pursued graduate study in industrial/organizational (I/O) psychology with the thought of being an I/O consultant.  During my first year of graduate school, I realized that the practice of I/O psychology was too "touchy feely" for me.  Consequently, I decided that once I earned my masters degree in I/O psychology, I would attend law school. 

I earned my law degree (Juris Doctorate) from Ohio Northern University.  My MA degree in I/O psychology is from the University of North Carolina at Charlotte.  My BS degree in psychology is from Bradley University.  During law & graduate schools, I was a graduate student representative for each school’s university senate.  During college, I was a rush chairman & executive board member for my fraternity. 

Relative to civic & association involvement, presently, I'm on the following boards of directors:  Board President & member of the Board of Directors for Youth Communication (), the publisher of New Expression, a multimedia news source for Chicago teens; Chairman of the Board of Directors for the YMCA Alliance (), the welfare-to-work, jobs training & adult education branch of the YMCAs of Chicago; member of the Board of Directors for ChildServ (—also, co-chair of the board’s human resources committee).  ChildServ is a 113 year old orphanage, adoption and family services agency in Chicago; and I’m a member of the Junior Board for Urban Gateways (), an arts education organization.  Additionally, I’m a member of the Advisory Board for the Law & Policy Institutions Guide; & I’m a volunteer "big brother"/mentor via the Jewish Children's Bureau.  Also, I’m an active member of the Chicago chapter of the Labor & Employment Relations Association, the Chicagoland Chamber of Commerce (member–Employment Law & Workforce Education Committees), the Greater O'Hare Association (a regional chamber of commerce; member–Government Affairs Team), the Chicago Bar Association & the World Trade Center Illinois. 
Finally, some personal background information.  I'm a native Chicagoan.  Born & raised in West Rogers Park.  I graduated from Rogers Public School.  For high school, I graduated from Niles North in Skokie.  It was during childhood that I was indoctrinated into the ways of business, self-employment & entrepreneurship.  My father owned & ran his own chain of pharmacies in Chicago for 35 years.  My grandfather was an immigrant businessman who owned his own grocery stores in Chicago.  Family taught me the value of hard work & how to compete & succeed in business.