William J. Dennison, 1999

Will Dennison is the founder and managing partner of The Law Office of Hiera & Dennison, LLC, in McHenry, Illinois, which represents clients in matters of domestic relations, criminal defense, and personal injury. The firm was founded in 2019.

Will was previously head of his own law firm and before that worked for six years in the McHenry and Cook County state’s attorney’s offices. In the McHenry office he supervised the narcotics unit and was responsible for every felony narcotics prosecution in the county.

He received his law degree from Northwestern University in 2002. That year, Will was named best overall advocate in the National Trial Competition and his four-person team won the national championship. More than three hundred teams from more than two hundred law schools competed.

Will holds a master’s degree, magna cum laude, in theological studies from Ave Maria University, Ave Maria, Florida. For sixteen years, he taught religious education classes in various Illinois cities.

Will grew up in Wheaton, Illinois. At Cornell, he majored in philosophy and communications studies, graduating cum laude. He was a member of the speech team and was rated among the top sixteen impromptu speakers in a national competition. He was general manager and program director of KRNL for two years and was a member of the Phi Kappa Nu service and social group.

During his student years he mentored and tutored homeless single-parent children in Cedar Rapids, providing a male role model for kids who otherwise had none. As a result, he received the Cornell’s first-ever Distinguished Service Award for volunteerism throughout a college career.

“I genuinely believe that Cornell is one of the best colleges in the country,” Will said. “It forms brilliant minds who are willing to change the world for the better. The block plan, by its very nature, fosters intensive discussions with professors whose goals are to interact with and teach students, rather than to research and publish. My wife and I both chose Cornell, and our oldest child, Willow, is there now.”

Will and his wife, the former Mary Jo Hommer ’02, have five children.  They live in Wonder Lake, Illinois.

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