About Craig
Craig W. Runyon joined Samuels Miller upon his graduation from law school and became a partner in 2014. Craig graduated from the Southern Illinois University School of Law (cum laude) in 2008. He earned his Bachelor’s Degree in Finance (with honors) from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign in 2005. During law school, Craig was a Taylor Mattis Fellow, a member of the Southern Illinois University Law Journal, and had his case note selected for publication in the Journal.
Craig prepares wills, trusts, and powers of attorney and assists executors, administrators, and trustees with the administration of probate estates and trusts. He also counsels clients in connection with the purchase and sale of residential, commercial, and agricultural real estate, as well as other real estate matters, such as partitions, real estate tax exemptions, and leases. Craig has been a speaker at the Illinois State Bar Association’s annual Agricultural Law Conference (February 2018, Topic: Involuntary Partition: Drawing a Line in the Dirt) and authored a chapter on farm leases in the 2022 edition of IICLE Handbook titled Farming Law: Property Issues.
Craig represents financial institutions in state court and federal bankruptcy court and also provides counsel to these clients in areas including regulatory compliance, contract negotiation, consumer lending, commercial lending, and trusts and estates law. Craig assists financial institutions, as well as other creditors, with routine and complex collection matters and has experience with foreclosures, mechanics’ liens, bankruptcy proceedings, and all manner of post-judgment collection methods.
Craig assists business clients with organizing and maintaining corporations and limited liability companies, including not-for-profit corporations. He has successfully obtained 501(c)(3) exempt status for both private foundations and public charities. Craig also routinely advises business clients on all manner of employment-related issues, assisting them with employment agreements, employee handbooks and policies, non-compete agreements, and severance agreements, among other items.
Craig has been named as an “Emerging Lawyer” by Leading Lawyers each year since 2015. The Emerging Lawyer designation is reserved for the top two percent of Illinois attorneys who are 40 years old or younger or who have been practicing law for 10 years or less. Emerging Lawyers are selected based on a survey of their peers and review by the Leading Lawyers Advisory Board. Craig has been recognized in the areas of Trust, Will, & Estate Planning Law, Banking, and Creditors’ Rights.
Craig’s significant decisions include: State Bank of Arthur v. Miller (In re: Miller), 2012 WL 3589426, 2012 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 116275 (C.D. Ill. 2012); Huggins v. Harrison, 2013 IL App (4th) 120956-U and 2017 IL App (4th) 1700026-U; and Alward v. Jacob Holding of Ontario, L.L.C., 2019 IL App (5th) 180332.
Craig is the former Chairperson of the board of directors of Heritage Behavioral Health Center, Inc., a Past President of the Central Illinois Estate Planning Council, and a former member of the board of directors of the Decatur Bar Association. Craig lives in Decatur with his wife, Kelli (Smith) Runyon, and their two sons.