Bales joins Proper Title as senior underwriting consultant

Palatine-based title insurance agency Proper Title LLC Has hired Richard Bales as senior underwriting consultant and counsel.

A longtime authority on title insurance, Bales will provide counsel to attorneys, examiners and closers to help ensure smooth closings as the firm rapidly expands.

Bales joins Proper Title after just three months in retirement. He had recently completed a 31-year career at Chicago Title Insurance Company where he had risen to be the firm's assistant regional counsel. In addition, he had recently been a guest lecturer throughout the state on all aspects of title insurance as a member of the education committee of the Illinois Land Title Association. He has also written numerous articles for the Chicago Bar Association, the DuPage County Bar Association and the Illinois State Bar Association.

Bales has a bachelor's degree from Illinois College in Jacksonville and a juris doctorate degree from Northern Illinois University. He has been a long-standing member of the real estate committee of the DuPage County Bar Association, the American Land Title Association and the National Society of Professional Surveyors liaison committee. He has helped draft several versions of the national ALTA/NSPS land title survey standards, including the latest 2016 version.