Dittlinger, Stephen L

Cheryl Gill brings varied and extensive experience to her work both as an attorney at Johns, Flaherty & Collins and as a community volunteer.

She joined Johns, Flaherty & Collins in 2004 when members of her former firm, Collins, Quillin & Knothe, integrated with Johns & Flaherty. She specializes in civil litigation, including personal injury, commercial disputes, employment issues and criminal defense.

Cheryl graduated from the University of Iowa in 1979 with a bachelor’s degree in economics. After working seven years as a systems analyst, she entered Drake University Law School where she was Case Note editor for the Drake Law Review, a member of the Mock Trial team, and, a teaching assistant for legal research and writing classes. She graduated in 1989, cum laude, earning memberships in the Order of the Coif and Order of the Barristers.

Cheryl began her legal career in 1989 at the law firm of Stinson, Mag & Fizzell, Kansas City, Mo., practicing primarily commercial litigation. In 1991, she began working in the Attorney General's Office of the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands (CNMI), a United States insular area where she prosecuted criminal cases. Two years later, Cheryl became the chief of the criminal division and was appointed as a special assistant U.S. attorney for the District of Guam and the Northern Marianas. In1995, while serving as a special assistant attorney general for the CNMI, Cheryl researched the history of and rewrote the CNMI Criminal Code under a federal grant. During her five years in the CNMI, she also taught criminal law and procedure at the Northern Marianas College. She returned to the Midwest in 1996, settling in La Crosse and joining the Collins, Quillin & Knothe law firm.

Cheryl is a member of the Wisconsin State Bar, Missouri State Bar, Kansas State Bar, Bar Association of the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands, American Bar Association, Wisconsin Academy of Trial Lawyers and the La Crosse County Bar Association. She is admitted to practice in the United States Court of Appeals for the Seventh, Ninth and Tenth Circuits and the United States District Court for the Western District of Missouri, the District of Kansas and the Western District of Wisconsin.

In addition to practicing law for the last fifteen years, Cheryl has been involved in several professional, civic and community organizations. She has served on the Board of Directors for the Kansas City Youth Symphony and the CNMI Bar Association. In the latter position, she also served as Chair of the CNMI Bar Admissions Committee. From 1998 through 2001, she was the attorney coach for the University of Wisconsin – La Crosse mock trial team. Additionally, she served as treasurer of the Coulee Catholic Schools Home and School Association from 2000 through 2002.