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John J. Pembroke

Of Counsel

847.698.9600
jpembroke@robbinsdimonte.com

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A tax and transactional attorney since 1979, John Pembroke draws on a wealth of experience in serving corporate and individual clients, obviously comfortable in mastering and managing a large body of rules. Centering his practice on taxation and estate and business planning, he has earned over the course of his career a reputation for resolving seemingly intractable controversies by applying novel solutions. John’s financial background adds an important dimension to his work in organizing and structuring new businesses, acquisitions, joint ventures, contracts, informal workouts, shareholder disputes and minority buyouts. A licensed certified public accountant for more than 40 years, John has acted on occasion as interim chief financial officer for startups. His accounting background provides him an invaluable perspective when advising on tax, business and financial planning and related matters, either independently or as part of a client’s financial planning team. He enjoys helping clients to prepare their gift, estate and income tax returns, both state and federal, and to better plan for optimizing their tax burden.

Of law John says, “I continue to enjoy its intellectual challenge and the notion that each day, clients have pressing issues demanding attention.” He takes pleasure in applying the rule of law in a practical manner, striving to give each client an edge or the right answer.

Following brief bouts in business management and accounting, law is his third career. He passed his CPA exam on his first attempt while still a student, and ran his own tax practice during law school, when he conducted an audit for a founding member of the Chicago Mercantile Exchange. Nominated for a Wigmore Scholarship, awarded annually to the graduating student most exemplifying the ideals of Northwestern University’s school of law, John served as social chair while there.

A lifelong resident of Illinois, widely traveled, John believes “one of the best places to pursue career and family goals is right here in Cook County, Illinois.” Gregarious and personable, he recently ran in the Democratic primary for the Tenth Judicial Cook County Subcircuit vacancy. In a field of meritorious candidates, he did not win, but from the experience gained incomparable exposure to a realm of government unknown to most and participated in a civics lesson few attorneys experience. In endorsing John, longtime client Adlai E. Stevenson III, U.S. Senator from Illinois, said: “I have known John Pembroke as a lawyer and accountant for 14 years. He has a solid record as a professional, undoubted integrity and an agreeable personality and demeanor. Based on my lengthy experience with John, he is a public-spirited citizen who would make a fine Judge of the Cook County Circuit Court.”

Married with two children, John is committed to local education and to his own edification. He has taken dozens of continuing education classes over the years, both in law and taxation, often up to 40 hours a year. Beginning in 1999, John pursued various insurance agent licenses and took seminars on securities law and related subjects, culminating in certification as a personal financial specialist (PFS) in 2002. This designation is equivalent to a certified financial planner (CFP), but available only to licensed CPAs; it qualifies each bearer to Illinois licensing as an investment advisor representative.

  • An IRS tax appeal of a $10 million issue on foreign currency and price adjustments.
  • The purchase of a business for $8 million after John assisted in litigating a TRO and preliminary injunction.
  • A damage claim against a major financial planner, the award of which, two weeks after taking the case, John calculated would be $475,000, which proved close to the mark years later when the Seventh Circuit Court of Appeals awarded $482,000.
  • The sale of a business interest following litigation, where John initially assessed the client’s sale income would range from $1.25 million to $1.5 million; a near bull’s-eye, the case settled following a successful but unusual motion for summary judgment of $1.175 million.

While practicing at Schuyler, Roche and Zwirner (SRZ), attorney John Pembroke had the opportunity to participate in several significant cases, one of which—Oddi v. Ayco—made new law in Illinois. It was among the earliest cases nationwide in which a law firm, in this case SRZ, succeeded in persuading a court that adverse tax consequences resulting from a financial planner’s bad advice are recoverable. After the Seventh Circuit Court published its opinion favoring our client, the Wall Street Journal announced the win on its front page.

John also contributed to a case reported on the front page of the Daily Tax Reporter of the Bureau of National Affairs. In George F. Harding Museum v. United States of America, SRZ defeated a $30 million jeopardy assessment the IRS had made against the assets of the museum. In a related case—People of the State of Illinois ex rel. William J. Scott v. Herman Silverstein—then the longest open case on the docket of the Illinois Attorney General—the AG’s office was on the verge of settling when the IRS intervened with a novel use of its power to make jeopardy assessments in an attempt to seize a charity’s assets for its own benefit and to short-circuit the settlement. The judge in the state case, the Honorable Albert Green, then hired SRZ to defend against the jeopardy assessment, which SRZ succeeded in doing. For several years thereafter, attorneys from across the nation telephoned John seeking guidance; theretofore in criminal drug cases, the IRS commonly employed the remedy of a jeopardy assessment, which defense counsel rarely defeated.