ABC 7 retains legal counsel

Gil Soffer

Gil Soffer

Alert the media: Chicago's top television news outfit has lawyered up.

Former federal prosecutor Gil Soffer was hired Wednesday as legal analyst for ABC-owned WLS-Channel 7, where he’ll contribute to newscasts “whenever important legal stories develop.”

Soffer is the managing partner of Katten, Muchin and Rosenman’s Chicago office and national co-head of its white collar defense practice. Before joining the firm in 2000, he was an assistant U.S. Attorney in Chicago for six years. He stepped away from the firm for one year in 2008 to serve as associate deputy attorney general for the U.S. Department of Justice.

“Gil offers tremendous input and clarity on criminal law cases with his years of experience as both a defense attorney and federal prosecutor,” Jennifer Graves, vice president and news director at ABC 7, said in a statement. “He is smart, articulate, quick-witted and does an impressive job simplifying complex cases for our viewers. We’re thrilled to have him as part of our team.”

Fox-owned WFLD-Channel 32 has the only full-time legal analyst on staff in Larry Yellen, a lawyer who’s also an investigative reporter and weekend news anchor. On a free-lance basis, CBS-owned WBBM-Channel 2 uses criminal lawyer Irv Miller, and Tribune Broadcasting WGN-Channel 9 uses former assistant state’s attorney Terry Sullivan.

NBC-owned WMAQ-Channel 5 does not have a paid legal analyst, according to station manager and vice president of news Frank Whittaker, “though we have several excellent lawyers who we use for analysis when appropriate.”