Charles G. Wentworth - The Entrepreneur's Legal Resource

Charles Wentworth - Small Business Lawyer

Charles G. Wentworth, Esq.

Charles attended law school at the University of Utah where he was a legal-writing teaching assistant and participated in moot court and law review. He then clerked for Chief Justice John Broderick of the New Hampshire Supreme Court before becoming a commercial litigation associate at Kirkland & Ellis LLP in Chicago. Charles then joined The Law Office of Lofgren & Wentworth, P.C. as a shareholder after running a successful solo practice.

Charles focuses his practice on business advice, property and appellate litigation, estate planning, and probate. His clients include large and small companies, individuals, private equity groups, commercial and residential landlords and tenants, condominium associations, and contractors. He is also very active in the Illinois State and DuPage County Bar Associations (DCBA), where he often lectures and writes about the law. He served as President of the DCBA from 2025 to 2026, was its Associate Counsel and then General Counsel from 2017 to 2019 for which he received a second Directors Award and then was the DCBA’s Lawyer of the Year, and has served as a member and in the leadership of the following sections: Business Law & Practice; Law Practice Management & Technology; Professional Responsibility; Appellate Law & Practice; Alternative Dispute Resolution; and Civil Law & Practice. And he has served as an officer and director of multiple closely-held companies and not-for-profit organizations, including one engaged in the purchase and leasing of various commercial properties. In 2021 he was awarded the Silver Beaver Award from the Three Fires Council of Scouting America for his work as its attorney helping with real estate, employment, and bankruptcy matters. All of these business and professional activities give him practical, everyday, business and real estate experience that he shares with his clients.

Charles handles a wide variety of matters:

Briefed and argued the winning position voiding illegal releases and waivers in an employment contract that violated the Illinois Wage Payment and Collection Act, resulting in an award in the client’s favor of over $7,000,000 in unpaid wages, penalties, and attorneys’ fees.
Successfully vacated $472,000 federal-court judgment against his client.
Won trial against client’s former commercial tenant for unpaid rent, and handling multiple other commercial landlord-tenant disputes and evictions.
Advised multiple small-business clients on estate and succession planning for themselves and their businesses.
Represented condominium association on various matters, including contract disputes and enforcement of condo declaration and bylaws.
Prosecuted two multi-million dollar commercial mortgage foreclosures, including having a receiver appointed and defending against various mechanics liens.
Defended nation-wide publishing company against $2.7 million breach of contract and fraudulent transfer claims.
Advised clients on voting procedures in condominium board election, resulting in them being elected to all open seats on the condo board of directors.
Pursued multiple mechanics liens by contractors and their assignees in Cook, Kane, Kankakee, and Will Counties, both at trial and on appeal.
Successfully defended client in litigation related to breach of non-compete agreement brought by client’s former employer.
Negotiated settlement of dispute related to sale of client’s company.
Brought replevin, detinue, and breach of equipment lease claims against company for failing to return $20,000 machine when lease ended.
Briefed motion to reconsider regarding condominium assessments entered against his clients.
Filed multiple appellate and amicus briefs in the Illinois Courts of Appeals, Illinois Supreme Court, various federal appellate courts around the country, and the United States Supreme Court.

Published Appellate Opinions, Orders, and Amicus Briefs:

Sinkus v. BTE Consulting, 2017 IL App (1st) 152135. In a case of first impression, successfully argued for reversal of trial court order requiring our client to make additional capital contributions to an insolvent corporation in which he was a shareholder. The trial court had ordered the payments to be used to pay compensation to a provisional director appointed under the Illinois Business Corporation Act to manage the corporation during shareholder dissolution action.
Yako v. Fejes Freight Express, Inc., 2019 IL App (1st) 182562-U. Successfully argued for affirmance of the trial court’s grant of summary judgment in our client’s favor. The trial court had where the plaintiff failed to present sufficient evidence demonstrating a causal link between his discharge and his exercise of rights under the Illinois Workers’ Compensation Act.
Lonberg v. City of Riverside, Case No. 09-1259 (U.S. Sup. Ct.). Wrote an amicus brief before the United States Supreme Court in support of writ of certiorari. Client was a business owner and man with paraplegia who supported the position that the Court should adopt a rule allowing a private right of action to force municipalities to preemptively create and adopt plans addressing ADA problems globally rather than on an after-the-injury, curb-by-curb basis.
M.U. v. Team Illinois Hockey Club, Inc., Case No. 128935 (Ill. Sup. Ct.). Co-authored an amicus brief before the Illinois Supreme Court in support of reversal of trial court’s denial of motion to dismiss. Client was local council of the Scouting America who supported dismissal of the complaint on the grounds that a private organization as matter of law does not become an accommodation merely by leasing space from a business that is a public accommodation.