Representative

Litigation

Experience

For nearly two decades we have represented clients in state and federal courts throughout the country, as well as in arbitral forums, obtaining decisive victories at every stage of litigation—including the pleading stage, summary judgment, at trial, and on appeal.  We have also secured numerous walk-aways and have collected millions of dollars on behalf of our clients in settlements and judgments. A representative sample of our litigation experience is provided below.  Some of the matters below may have been handled at a previous firm.

Discrimination / Retaliation

  • Served as lead counsel to major financial services company in the United States Supreme Court and Seventh Circuit Court of Appeals in an age and race discrimination action, ultimately resulting in the Seventh Circuit affirming summary judgment in the client’s favor on all counts

  • As lead trial counsel, obtained complete victory at trial on behalf of client defending against claims of breach of contract by former independent contractor

  • Represented billionaire hedge fund manager against claims in arbitration of fraud and breach of contract, ultimately resulting in the claimant abandoning all claims

  • Obtained complete dismissal at pleading stage on behalf of international consulting firm in federal court action alleging race and sex discrimination under Title VII

  • Obtained complete dismissal at pleading stage on behalf of international consulting firm in federal court action asserting claims under the ADEA, Title VII, the ADA and FMLA

  • Obtained summary judgment for spirits manufacturer in federal court action brought by former senior executive alleging Title VII retaliation

  • Obtained summary judgment for hospital system against claims of race and age discrimination brought by former director

Competition / Trade Secrets

  • Obtained denial of TRO and Preliminary Injunction on behalf of two sales executives who had joined competing company allegedly in violation of their post-employment restrictive covenants

  • Obtained significant monetary relief on behalf of global professional services firm in actions against former executives and their new employer relating to lift-out of client’s foreign office and related misappropriation of trade secrets

  • Obtained TRO and preliminary injunction on behalf of one of the world's largest hedge funds against a former employee based on misappropriation of trade secrets

  • Successfully represented an individual defending against claims of breach of non-competition agreement, defeating motion for TRO and resulting in an abandonment of claims by the former employer

  • Obtained TRO on behalf of an international consulting firm enjoining customer and employee solicitation and trade secret misappropriation by former employees who had joined competitive start-up

  • Obtained significant monetary relief on behalf of a professional services firm in actions against former employees and their new employer for breach of restrictive covenants and related claims

  • Obtained full remediation and substantial monetary relief on behalf of a medical device manufacturer in action for misappropriation of trade secrets against its former sales employee

  • Obtained significant monetary relief on behalf of a professional services firm in forfeiture-for-competition action in international arbitration against former senior executive

Wage & Hour

  • Represented manufacturer in putative statewide class/collective action alleging minimum wage and overtime violations under the FLSA and Illinois state law; after limiting conditional class certification to a single facility, obtained complete dismissal as a sanction for the named plaintiffs’ perjury

  • Following trial court loss by previous counsel, obtained reversal of trial court judgment and complete victory for multinational retailer in California Court of Appeals in class action alleging retailer maintained an unlawful bonus program

  • Represented international consulting firm in FLSA collective action alleging misclassification of employees as exempt for overtime purposes; obtained denial of conditional certification of putative class of employees who had been jointly reclassified from exempt to non-exempt

  • Represented major life insurance company in nationwide class action alleging unlawful commission payment practices; obtained dismissal of substantially all claims at pleading stage, leading to nuisance-value settlement with named plaintiff

ERISA / Executive Compensation

  • Obtained complete dismissal at pleading stage in action alleging fraud, breach of fiduciary duty, and related claims arising from former board member’s stock option losses

  • Obtained complete dismissal at pleading stage of action alleging professional services firm’s compensation system constituted a commission under Illinois law

  • Obtained summary judgment on behalf of the spirits manufacturer in an ERISA denial-of-benefits matter brought by a former senior executive and prevailed on ERISA counterclaim, resulting in forfeiture of substantial severance compensation that had been paid to the executive