Illinois Business Journal - Attorney blends compassion, expertise in counseling clients

CARROLLTON - After nearly two decades of practicing law in his hometown of Carrollton, Richard Gillingham knows firsthand that who you are and how you treat others relates directly to the profession of being an attorney.

A sole practitioner, Gillingham, 43, has owned his own practice for 13 of the 18 years he's been an attorney. For the past eight years, he's been the primary shareholder of Gillingham Abstract & Title Co., and is also a shareholder in a third business, Blackacre Inc., a real estate firm.

A University of Tulsa Law School graduate and an alumnus of Central Missouri State University, Gillingham's specialty is in real estate and estate planning.

It's no surprise that many of his clients are businesses in the business of agriculture - along with companies whose success rides on the success of the community's farming economy.

"I work with clients in a number of areas specific to agriculture," Gillingham said. "For example, my business frequently assists clients who are farmers and need to borrow money to buy farmland or to plant crops. Companies that supply fertilizer, chemicals and seed to farmers are also among my clientele. Nearly the entire community of Carrollton and most of Greene County is affected by agriculture one way or the other."

Farmers, he says, have way more dollars invested in assets than do many non-agricultural business owners.

"What a lot of people don't understand is that many farmers can have tens of thousands if not hundreds of thousands of dollars tied up in equipment," Gillingham said.

Providing real estate assistance to corporate farms - farms whose assets include literally thousands of hogs, for example - is another facet of the Carrollton attorney's practice; environmental regulation over issues such as waste disposal and odor are a few of the concerns affecting these corporate farms and their bordering property neighbors.

"People in communities occupied by corporate farms are desiring legislation to address these issues," he said. "When a farm operation is as large as this, more and more environmental concerns become very real."

Working with clients to help them settle the estate of a deceased loved one is another big part of Gillingham's practice.

And it is here that he says compassion, coupled with ethical principles, can separate the honest business owner from the questionable one.

A Baptist who became a Christian as a youth, Gillingham says his faith really grew with the birth of his first child.

"I wouldn't call it a 'Road to Damascus' experience, but I look at it this way: I'm involved in a job in which I come across people who often times have problems that need to be solved," he said. "Sometimes people have lost a loved one. Sometimes a relationship has turned sour. There may be a divorce. A business partnership may have ended negatively. People may come for legal guidance when they've experienced economic hardships such as a job loss."

Meeting clients where they're at and giving them peace of mind as well as legal expertise is Gillingham's focus.

"I feel the best way of serving the God I worship is to serve those who He created in his image. I believe God works through people to help other people. I don't 'preach' to my clients, but I do minister to them if they're questioning their situation and searching for a meaning and a sense of peace in it. If you walk the walk, your Christian faith complements your profession, no matter what it is. Honesty and integrity are not percentages. They're absolutes."

In addition to owning and operating his practice, Gillingham is a member of Boyd Hospital Foundation in Carrollton.

The attorney was recently appointed by the Illinois Supreme Court to a committee overseeing the Lawyer's Assistance Program; LAP helps attorneys statewide who struggle with addictions to drugs, alcohol and gambling. "By helping them, we're helping the profession, too," he said.

Gillingham's wife, Becky, is also a Carrollton native. The couple has three children; Kara, Mark and Luke.

He is a member of First Baptist Church in Carrollton.