Taft Stettinius & Hollister was honored with the “Lifting Up the Austin Community Award” from The Catalyst Schools during a reception and children’s concert on Feb. 22. Attorneys Pablo Petrozzi, John Riccione and Bill Serritella accepted the award on behalf of Taft for the firm’s work to help the school in a complicated transaction to acquire property for expansion.

Petrozzi, Riccione and Serritella, with assistance from colleagues Edward Kus, Michael Montgomery, Kimberly Reed and Sherry Hojnacki, developed a strategy allowing Catalyst Circle Rock Charter School to purchase several adjacent parcels of property to expand the school’s footprint and avoid litigation. One of the parcels includes a 1,000-seat theater that will be rehabbed into a premier performing arts center for the community at large. The school is located in Chicago’s Austin neighborhood, one of the city’s most economically challenged communities.

“The Catalyst School is truly a bright shining star in the Austin Community and deserves our time, talents and treasures to help it flourish,” said Riccione on receipt of the award.

About Catalyst
Catalyst Schools are a two-campus Chicago charter network providing college-preparatory and values-based K-12 education to children from urban communities that allows them to thrive in their academic and social-emotional growth. Since its establishment in 2007, the goal of Catalyst Schools has been to ensure that every graduate is prepared to enter, succeed in and graduate from a high school that will prepare them for college and a career. Click here for more information on The Catalyst Schools.