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Meet our Attorneys
| John J. Westra
John is one of the founding members of the firm. He concentrates his practice in personal injury litigation, criminal defense, family law, estate planning, probate work and litigation. John initially started practicing law in the DuPage County Public Defender's office. He holds the distinction of being the only attorney in DuPage County to have successfully advocated for a client to be spared the death penalty in a capital criminal case. John has achieved the largest salmonella food poisoning case settlement in DuPage County. He has obtained verdicts and settlements for his product liability clients for claims related to toxic shock syndrome, railroad crossing equipment defects, automobile air bags, mislabeled medications and other products.
In 1978, he began the firm with Tom Johnson, a State's attorney at the time, with a vision to begin a practice based upon the foundation of their common Christian faith. Because of his solid experience and success as a litigator, in addition to his experience in assisting clients with their estate plan, John has experience in the area of probate litigation, focusing on matters involving guardianship and decedents' estates, as well as related tort, contract, or equitable actions.
John is an active member of his church in Wheaton, Illinois. He is also an active volunteer with several non-profit organizations, and currently is on the Board of Directors for Fairview Retirement Center and Donka Computer Training for the Handicapped. He has represented over thirty not for profit clients and churches. He is a member of the Dupage County Bar Association, Christian Legal Society, and the Illinois Trial Lawyer's Association.
John is a graduate of Wheaton College and of the Ohio Northern Law School.
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| Howard W. Broecker
Howard W. Broecker has practiced law in Chicago and the western suburbs since 1966. Mr. Broecker is currently a partner in the law firm of Johnson, Westra, Broecker, Whittaker & Newitt where his practice focuses in family law. He has lectured extensively in the area of family law and family law mediation for the American Academy of Matrimonial Lawyers, Illinois State Bar Association, Kane and DuPage County (IL) Bar Associations, and the Law Education Institute of Milwaukee (WI).
Mr. Broecker has been utilizing problem-solving and mediation skills in his practice for over 30 years. He maintains sharp skills and an innovative, personalized approach through his active mediation practice as well as through on-going continuing mediation training, including a forty-hour program at the Center for Dispute Resolution in Boulder, Colorado. Mr. Broecker has served as co-chair, faculty member and trainer for the American Academy of Matrimonial Lawyers’s Mediation Study Committee and has trained over 250 Academy members in divorce mediation.
Mr. Broecker is a Fellow of the American Academy of Matrimonial Lawyers and served as vice-president of the Illinois Chapter of the Academy. He has written and lectured for the Illinois Institute for Continuing Legal Education and co-authored, among other documents, the IICLE Family Law Judgement Relief Manual. He has served as President of the Chicago-Kent College of Law Alumni Association and Chair of the Partnership Program for the College of Law.
Education
North Central College
Illinois Institute of Technology, Chicago-Kent College of Law, J.D.
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| Donald S. Whittaker
Don is a shareholder of the firm. He concentrates his practice in real estate, estate planning, and probate work. He is also experienced in developing straightforward estate plans and accomplishing the efficient and cost-effective administration of probate estates. Don practices with the end in mind and conscientiously serves his clients.
Before Don went into law in 1979, he worked with Young Life Ministries in the Chicagoland area, and also earned a masters degree in church history from the Trinity Evangelical Divinity School. After he graduated from law school, Don worked three years at Cabrini Green Legal Aid assisting indigent clients.
Don is an active member of his church in Western Springs, Illinois. He is also an active volunteer with several non for profit organizations and is on the national board of Koinonia House. He is a member of the Dupage County Bar Association and Christian Legal Society.
Don received his bachelor’s degree from Taylor University and his Juris Doctorate degree from DePaul College of Law.
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| Timothy B. Newitt
Tim has been a lawyer since 1974 when he graduated from Georgetown University Law Center. He has worked in the public sector, for a corporation and in private practice. He joined the firm in 1988 and became a partner in 1992. His practice consists mainly of civil litigation. He handles commercial, family law and real estate cases among others. He has tried more than 120 cases to verdict. He has tried cases in Federal and State Courts all over the Chicago area. He has handled appeals in the Seventh Circuit Federal Court of Appeals, the Illinois Supreme Court and various intermediate Illinois Appellate Courts.
Tim takes a practical, client-oriented approach to litigation. He listens carefully to his clients and works with them to resolve their matters in the most efficient way possible. His goal is always to settle a matter amicably if that is possible. He recommends mediation and other alternative dispute resolution procedures in cases where they are appropriate. He works with opposing counsel to get to an amicable resolution of a matter whenever possible. In those cases where it becomes necessary, he never hesitates to use all available tools of litigation, including trial to resolve the matter in court.
Tim is a member of the publication committee of the Dupage County Bar Association. He has been the lead articles editor of several issues of the Dupage Bar Brief and has written articles for that publication. He is the author with Howard Broecker of the chapter on Relief from Judgments in the Illinois Institute of Continuing Legal Education Family Law Manual.
Tim went to Wheaton College where he majored in French. He received the M.A. in French from the University of Illinois and taught foreign language at the college level before enrolling in law school at Georgetown. He and his wife Judy have two grown sons. Tim is active in his church where he sings in the choir, is a lay reader and plays the trumpet. He is also in the trumpet section of the Symphony of Oak Park and River Forest where he served as a board member and board president. He is currently a board member of the Winfield Chamber of Commerce.
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| William J. Parkhurst
Bill Parkhurst is a shareholder with the firm who concentrates his practice in the field of family law. Bill favors obtaining a favorable out of court settlements for his clients. However, as an experienced litigator, Bill has represented clients at trials and hearings related to custody, removal, child support, visitation and virtually all other areas of contested family law. Bill has been successful in obtaining numerous awards of penalties against employers who have failed to withhold child support. In a recent case, his client received $15,000 in penalties from the ex-spouse’s employer who failed to withhold child support. Bill was also able to obtain a court order reuniting his client with the client’s child in a case where the Department of Children and Family Services (“DCFS”) wrongly removed the child from the client’s home.
Bill also represents families attempting to adopt children and is familiar with the laws and procedures related to all types of adoptions. Bill is listed as a DCFS certified adoption attorney for DCFS subsidized adoptions.
Bill has written an article related to unallocated family support which was published by the DuPage County Bar Association. He has donated his legal talents to help Administer Justice clients (a legal clinic in Dundee, Illinois) and Court Appointed Special Advocates clients (“CASA”). In 2005, Bill was awarded the pro bono attorney of the year award from CASA.
Licensed in Illinois (1991) and Michigan (1987), Bill is a member of the Kane County Bar Association, the Illinois Bar Association and the Michigan Bar Association.
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| Alfred S. Lee
Alfred joined the firm in 1996, and became partner in 2002. Born and raised in the Chicagoland area, Alfred returned to his hometown after his studies, led him out of state and out of country. He attended Dartmouth College graduating in 1992. Alfred then went to Seoul, Korea to learn about and discover his cultural heritage and roots. While teaching English and serving at an English speaking church, Alfred attended the Yonsei University Korean Language School where he graduated in 1993, and received a Certificate of Fluency. Alfred then attended Notre Dame Law School and graduated in 1996. He was President of the Christian Legal Society Chapter at Notre Dame, and was introduced to the firm through the organization.
Concentrating on estate planning and trust and probate administration, Alfred is married with two young children. Alfred is an active member of his church in Itasca, Illinois. Alfred is also an active volunteer with several non for profit organizations, and was an officer of the Dartmouth Alumni Association of Chicago. Alfred is a member of the Northwest Suburban Estate Planning Council, Chicago Bar Association, Northwest Suburban Bar Association, DuPage County Bar Association, and Christian Legal Society.
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 | Tina Miller
Tina joined the firm in 2004. Her practice concentrates in family law and immigration. She is a certified family law mediator. Prior to joining the firm, Tina had worked for an investment banking firm, and received her masters in business adminsitration from the Keller Graduate School of Management while working at that firm.
Tina is a native of the western suburbs of Illinois, graduated from Roosevelt University, and obtained her law degree from DePaul University College of Law. She is an active member of the Kane County Bar Foundation, where she is a Board Member, as well as an active member of the Kane County Bar Association and DuPage County Bar Association
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| Marshall H. Hong
Because of the recent changes in immigration law and immigration enforcement, it is now more important than ever to have an immigration lawyer with the skill, experience, and knowledge to help you navigate the complex immigration rules and regulations. Marshall Hong has ten years of immigration law experience and is very familiar with current U.S. immigration law. He provides prompt, professional service in matters of family immigration, employment immigration, and removal defense. Attorney Hong strives to be a friendly, accessible immigration lawyer, and he spends time getting to know each client as an individual and providing honest answers to immigration questions.
For more detailed information about immigration and learn more about the firm's immigration practice, please click the following link.
Marshall H. Hong of the Law Firm of Johnson Westra Broecker Whittaker & Newitt, P.C.
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