Michael Lee Tinaglia is a Member in the firm’s Appellate Litigation, Banking and Finance, Business Litigation, and Employment Law practice groups. With more than three decades of experience, his practice has included extensive work in trial and appellate matters, business and commercial matters, and labor and employment law.

Michael regularly counsels clients on a broad range of business and commercial matters, including lender and debtor litigation and counseling, loan and financial litigation and workouts, breach of contract, mortgage foreclosures, breach of fiduciary duty, fraud and consumer fraud, class actions, trade secret and covenant not to compete litigation, corporation and partnership disputes, director and officer liability, and liquidation and bankruptcy litigation.

He has represented clients before governmental agencies, including the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, the Illinois Human Rights Department and Commission, the United States Department of Labor, the National Labor Relations Board, and multiple administrative agencies in several states. Michael has also practiced before federal and state trial and appellate courts throughout the United States.

PROFESSIONAL BACKGROUND

Since 2000, Michael has managed his own firm, the Law Offices of Michael Lee Tinaglia, Ltd. The firm focused on the legal needs of individuals, banks and small and medium-sized businesses throughout Illinois, with an emphasis on efficient transactional and litigation services. Michael joined Aronberg Goldgehn in 2026.

SPEECHES AND PUBLICATIONS

• Guest Speaker, “The Employment Hour”, a public service television program. Topic of discussion for one hour episode was non-competition, non-solicitation and related covenants in the employment setting, 2007

• Speaker, seminar entitled “Sexual Harassment After Oncale v. Sundowner Services,” sponsored by the Chicago Bar Association, Young Lawyers Section, 2000

• Speaker, Equal Employment Practices Overview sponsored by the Southland Chamber of Commerce, 1995

PUBLICATIONS:

• Tinaglia, Michael Lee, "Same-Sex Harassment in Illinois After Oncale v. Sundowner Offshore Services," Illinois Bar Journal, Vol. 86 (June 1998): 310-329.

 

• Co-Authored the following chapters in the Matthew Bender publication, “Business Organizations, Labor Law, Theodore W. Kheel”:

Chapter 48: General Regulation of Wages, Hours and Child Labor: The Fair Labor Standards Act and Portal to Portal Act
Chapter 49: Wage and Hour Standards on Federal Projects
Chapter 52: An Overview of Employment Discrimination Laws
Chapter 53: The Reconstruction Era Civil Rights Statutes
Chapter 54: Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 – Substantive Issues
Chapter 55: The Equal Pay Act of 1963
Chapter 56: Age Discrimination in Employment Act of 1967
Chapter 57: Handicapped Discrimination and the Nondiscrimination Obligations of Federal Contractors Under Executive Order 11246
Chapter 58: State Employment Discrimination Laws
Chapter 59: Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964: Administrative Procedures at the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission
Chapter 60: Litigation under Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964.

REPRESENTATIVE MATTERS

• On behalf of Plaintiffs settled officer and director breach of fiduciary duty and shareholder oppression case in 19th Judicial Circuit, Lake County Illinois for over twenty-five million dollars, 2024

 

• Practice area allocation is approximately seventy (70%) business litigation, twenty-five (25%) labor and employment litigation and five (5%) non-litigation contract and transactional work.

• Business litigation matters include breach of contract, breach of fiduciary duty, fraud, mortgage loan origination litigation, lender liability, shareholder oppression, corporation, limited liability company and partnership disputes, director, officer and manager liability, trade secrets, covenants not to compete, injunction, intentional torts, mortgage foreclosure and bankruptcy.

• Labor and employment litigation matters primarily on management side include wage and hour, employment discrimination, retaliatory discharge, federal and state civil rights laws, and administrative proceedings at the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, U.S. Department of Labor, the National Labor Relations Board, and several administrative agencies in Illinois and other states.
  

RELATED NEWS

• Seventh Circuit Delivers Major Win for Employers in BIPA Litigation

• Aronberg Goldgehn Welcomes Member Michael Lee Tinaglia