Daniel R. Thies

Mr. Thies is a shareholder at the law firm of Webber & Thies, PC, in Champaign-Urbana, Illinois. Prior to joining Webber & Thies, Mr. Thies was an associate at Sidley Austin LLP (2013-2018) and clerked for Chief Judge James F. Holderman of the United States District Court for the Northern District of Illinois (2011-2013) and for Judge Jerry Smith of the United States Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit (2010-2011).

Mr. Thies is a member of the Executive Committee of the Council of the American Bar Association Section of Legal Education & Admissions to the Bar, the nationally recognized accrediting body for American law schools. He also currently serves as a member of the finance and governance committees of the Council, as Chair of the Standards Committee, and as Chair of the Strategic Review Committee.

Mr. Thies is a member of the ISBA’s Federal Civil Practice Section Council (Chair, 2021-22) and the ISBA Standing Committee on Legal Education, Admission, & Competence (Chair, 2016-17). He has also served as Co-Chair (2020-21) and Chair (2021-22) of the ISBA Standing Committee on the Rural Practice Initiative, which created a program to support the placement of lawyers in rural communities in Illinois.

Mr. Thies served as the Reporter for the 2009-2010 ABA Presidential Commission on the Impact of the Economic Crisis on the Profession and Legal Needs, and as the Reporter for the 2012-2013 ISBA Special Committee on the Impact of Law School Debt on the Delivery of Legal Service. He has also represented Illinois as a delegate in the ABA Young Lawyers Division Assembly.

Mr. Thies has served as an adjunct professor at the UIC John Marshall Law School, teaching intellectual property trial advocacy.