Professional Achievement Award

Recognizes an individual who has made an outstanding contribution to:

• The practice of law
• The judiciary
• Public service/government
• Business/Commerce
• The media

Peter M. King ’82

Focusing his practice on complex civil litigation, Peter M. King is the managing partner at King & Jones. From the firm’s offices in Chicago, he represents companies and individuals throughout the country. As an undergraduate, King attended the University of Illinois Chicago, where he majored in accounting and received a bachelor’s degree in 1978. Thereafter, he enrolled at Chicago-Kent College of Law and was a member of the school’s Trial Advocacy Team before obtaining his Juris Doctor cum laude in 1982.

King has represented both defendants and plaintiffs at the trial and appellate levels and has also participated in numerous arbitration proceedings. His vast experience encompasses a variety of matters, including civil rights cases, disputes between business partners, allegations of breaches of fiduciary duties, mismanagement of trust assets, contract breaches, insurance coverage, and professional malpractice cases. King’s diverse clients have included wrongfully convicted death row inmates, Big Four accounting firms, corporate executives, entrepreneurs, trust beneficiaries, members of boards of directors, and trust and estate representatives. He has tried cases before state and federal judges and juries in Illinois, Wisconsin, Florida, California, Missouri, and North Dakota among other states.

King has been a certified public accountant in Illinois since 1979 and has been admitted to practice before all Illinois state courts since 1982. Additionally, he is also admitted to practice before the United States District Court for the Northern District of Illinois as well as the Supreme Court of the United States.

Jessica Muench ’04

Jessica Muench is the chief diversity equity and inclusion officer at United Airlines,  where she is leading transformational change through a holistic strategy to embed DEI throughout the business and enhance relationships with employees, customers, communities, and commercial partners.

Before joining United, Muench served a gubernatorial appointment as a board member on the Illinois Labor Relations Board, adjudicating public sector labor matters. Prior to that role, she managed labor, employment, and procurement legal matters throughout state government agencies as associate general counsel to former Illinois Governor Pat Quinn.

Muench was recently named one of Savoy magazine’s 2023 “Most Influential Executives in Diversity and Inclusion”. She has also been honored as a Crain’s Chicago Business 2021 “Notable Executive in Diversity, Equity and Inclusion”, a 2021 “Pioneering Woman” by her alma mater, Purdue University, and a Chicago Defender 2017 “Woman of Excellence” for distinction in her career and for civic engagement rooted in her passion for creating a pipeline of diverse lawyers and leaders. Muench also served as a board member of Legal Prep Charter Academy and Just the Beginning - A Pipeline Organization (JTB-ATO), where she was honored as one of Just the Beginning’s “20 Under 40” for her service on the organization’s Associate Board and for her volunteerism.

Muench was the 2021 Commencement Speaker for Chicago-Kent and has been a valued and engaged alumna participating in multiple volunteer programs, such as the Pre-Law Undergraduate program, Women In Law, and the Martin H. Malin Institute for Law and the Workplace. She has served on the Chicago-Kent Alumni Board of Directors and as a mentor to the next generation of labor and employment lawyers. Muench’s work with Chicago-Kent is truly invaluable.