Aronberg Goldgehn is pleased to announce the addition of Ralph Dado, a partner from Kirkland & Ellis LLP’s Chicago office, to lead Aronberg’s new White Collar Investigations, Risk & Integrity practice group.

Over 15 years at Kirkland, Dado has become a national leader in investigations for both companies and institutions, high-stakes white collar defense, and crisis management. Dado’s practice also specializes in helping companies prevent and respond to catastrophic safety events and in conducting high-profile research integrity investigations.

“We are thrilled to add a lawyer of Ralph Dado’s caliber,” said Elizabeth Lazzara, co-chair of Aronberg Goldgehn’s Executive Management Committee. “His leadership of the new White Collar Investigations, Risk & Integrity group will make Aronberg a premier destination for white collar work of the highest level both in Chicago and nationa.”

In 2024, Dado served as a member of the senior staff for the Independent Review Panel commissioned by the president of the United States to conduct an independent, bipartisan security review of the assassination attempt against then-former President Trump in Butler, Pennsylvania. In 2023, he represented the Stanford University Board of Trustees in the conduct of the investigation into research misconduct allegations concerning Stanford’s president.

In his white collar defense work, Dado recently defended Boeing in the criminal inquiry related to the 737 MAX incidents and Boeing’s 2021 deferred prosecution agreement with the government, and his team also defended BP in the Justice Department’s criminal investigation into the Deepwater Horizon incident. In 2022, Dado completed work on the five-year monitorship of Pacific Gas & Electric in response to the San Bruno pipeline explosion, where he focused on improving the company’s gas operations and safety and risk processes.

Describing his departure from Kirkland, Dado said, “In my time at Kirkland I was privileged to work with an extraordinary group of mentors and practitioners of the highest ability and integrity. They set the stage for my next chapter at Aronberg, where my new partners have the perfect platform to grow a national boutique white collar practice:

● First, Aronberg has a storied history here in my home city and, as a mid-sized firm, is nimble and efficient. This will allow us to more effectively provide elite white collar service, both in traditional areas like investigations and government enforcement defense and areas that are currently underserved in the legal marketplace, such as safety and risk reform and research integrity work.

● Second, I have a ‘Day One’ team of great lawyers already at Aronberg, including Mike Hayes, who has a long history of leading investigations, both in private practice and inside government (especially while holding senior leadership positions in the office of the Illinois Attorney General); Rob Andalman and Rachael Blackburn, seasoned litigators and corporate advisors who have handled a wide range of white collar defense matters over decades of practice; and John Sciaccotta, one of the city’s best-known litigators.

● Finally, white collar — and especially investigations — work has long been in Aronberg’s DNA. The highest-profile judicial inquiry in the history of Illinois was the 1969 ‘Greenberg Commission,’ appointed by the Illinois Supreme Court to investigate corruption allegations. The Commission was chaired by Frank Greenberg, who was then a senior partner in the firm (then known as ‘Greenberg Keele Lunn & Aronberg’) and was also serving as President of the Chicago Bar Association. The Commission’s work resulted in the resignation of two Illinois Supreme Court Justices and launched the public career of future Supreme Court Associate Justice John Paul Stevens, who served as the commission’s general counsel.”

Sciaccotta, who recently completed his term as 2024-2025 President of the Chicago Bar Association and is a member of Aronberg’s Executive Management Committee, will join Dado as initial Co-Chair of the white collar practice to support the development of the group.

“Ralph is truly one of the nation’s leading next-generation white collar practitioners, and his body of work speaks for itself,” Sciaccotta said. “He is going to build something special here in Chicago.”

Aronberg’s White Collar Investigations, Risk & Integrity group launches effective September 16, 2025, with sub-practices in Investigations, Government Defense, Safety & Risk, Research & Academic Integrity, and Crisis Management.

About Aronberg Goldgehn Davis & Garmisa

Aronberg Goldgehn is a full-service law firm based in Chicago that, for more than 130 years, has been serving the business and personal legal needs of companies and their owners. The firm was recently named by “Crain’s Chicago Business” as one of Chicago’s Best Places to Work 2025.