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bio: Andrew J. Rukavina/CEO - founder/attorney at law
Born and raised in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. One of ten children to parents Martha and Louis Rukavina. Father of two children. Attended Saint Monica Grade School in Whitefish Bay, Wisconsin. Attended Nicolet High School in Glendale, Wisconsin. Enrolled at the University of Minnesota as a business major. Played College football for the University of Minnesota Golden Gophers. Transferred to the University of Notre Dame. Boxed in the Notre Dame Bengal Bouts. Worked two jobs continuously and concurrently through all four years of college. Graduated from the University of Notre Dame with a degree in Economics. Upon graduation, worked as an industrial salesperson for the Signode Corporation for one year. Enrolled at DePaul University Law School. Worked two jobs concurrently while attending DePaul University Law School. Graduated upper 20% of class with a JD degree in law.
Began law career at a small general practice law firm in Fox Lake, Illinois, which job also included local Village prosecutorial duties. Left that position to start USBC, Inc., a progressive real estate company which charged less commission for listing and selling homes than companies had historically done.
Concurrent with founding USBC, Inc., started a law practice concentrating in residential and commercial real estate closings. This was a progressive law firm which actively marketed low fee closings for buyers and sellers. This practice grew to include numerous attorneys and support staff. The law firm representation expanded to include bilingual service capabilities. The firm has successfully conducted thousands of closings. Have participated and prevailed in government land condemnation lawsuits. Initiated successful Federal class action law suits against banks for over charging interest on FHA loan payoffs. Have successfully assisted homeowners in obtaining loan modifications on existing high interest rate loans. Have successfully represented homeowners in property short sales. Have successfully defended homeowners in bank foreclosure actions. Have successfully worked with bankruptcy attorneys in eliminating debt and staving off foreclosures.
While running the aforesaid law firm, also founded a documentation preparation service company to assist other real estate attorneys in the collection and preparation of required closing documentation and paperwork. Also developed new real estate closing software to streamline and automate the storage, collection, usage and communication of information, documentation, and paperwork to improve the efficiency and professionalism of real estate closings.
Became a prolific title insurance agent in Illinois, writing title insurance for several large title insurance companies. Later founded Etitledirect.com, an online Illinois licensed title insurance company which automated and introduced the public to online ordering of title insurance directly by individual homeowners thereby resulting in fifty percent reductions in title fees for the homeowner consumer. Became an Illinois licensed loan originator to expand service capabilities into a more comprehensive and complete service provider. Became founder of The Tax Appeal Company to assist Illinois homeowners in reducing the burden of high real estate taxes in the context of spiraling home values, high unemployment and severe economic depression. To date we have reduced our client's property tax assessments by 10's of millions of dollars.
Coming from moderate means and facing the same everyday struggles as most of my clients, I endeavor to make the legal system more transparent, understandable and affordable to them. It has not always been easy. For over 30 years I have been met with resistance by the status quo. First, when over 33 years ago I took the initiative and introduced lower legal fees for representation at closings, and second, when I introduced an online title insurance ordering company which sought to drastically lower title insurance fees for home sellers by allowing them to order their own title insurance online. Neither of these innovations were met with high praise by my contemporaries and competitors. The sheer volume of our clients and are low fee structure bring us under constant scrutiny from our competitors. Through all of our many thousands of clients, we have evolved, and we have overcome many obstacles and challenges by legal traditionalists, yet one thing remains constant. We are, always have been, and always will be, committed to progressive, innovative, caring and consumer oriented high end professional legal services and representation at consumer friendly pricing. Protecting my client's interests and saving my clients money is a high priority for me and through the years I have been quite successful in my efforts in that regard.
Andrew J. Rukavina
B.A. Economics/University of Notre Dame
J.D. Law/DePaul University School of Law
Illinois licensed attorney at law
Illinois licensed title insurance agent
Illinois licensed real estate broker
Illinois licensed loan originator (former)
Illinois licensed notary public