Illinois

Firm overview

The Only Truly Global Law Firm: Truly a “one-firm” firm – Latham has no headquartered office, as firm and practice management is spread throughout the world, allowing Latham to quickly mobilize the best-suited teams regardless of location. With more than 2,700 lawyers qualified to practice law in 31 countries, and at least 60 different languages spoken across the firm, Latham provides clients with an unmatched global platform.

Litigation & Trial Practice: Latham’s more than 800 litigators are located in key business centers around the world, allowing the firm to bring together diverse teams and talent to develop and implement aggressive and creative litigation strategies. Our extensive experience enables us to dispose of most matters well short of trial, and when settlement is not an option, clients can count on our ability to seamlessly handle the full life cycle of a litigation. 

Antitrust & Competition: Latham’s integrated Global Antitrust & Competition Practice is built around highly qualified lawyers who are accustomed to working across borders and are fully aware of both the local and international dimensions of antitrust and competition issues – no matter what the business model or industry. Latham’s antitrust lawyers provide forward-looking, business-centric advice and counsel on the full scope of antitrust and competition law issues, including merger clearance, cartel investigation and litigation, competition-related litigation, intellectual property antitrust, and compliance counseling and training programs.

Complex Commercial Litigation: The lawyers in Latham’s Complex Commercial Litigation Practice combine trial-ready capabilities, business fluency, and pragmatism to deliver a winning edge, no matter how complex a client’s challenge. Latham regularly represents public and private companies, leading financial institutions, private equity firms and portfolio companies, states and other municipal and governmental entities, and high net worth individuals in complex commercial disputes. With insight and experience in more than a dozen industries, Latham lawyers keenly understand clients’ business objectives and the necessity of nuanced litigation strategies that support these broader goals. We evaluate early exit options to minimize costs, including dispositive motions, alternative dispute resolution, and settlement, as well as third-party indemnification and insurance coverage. In the most aggressive of matters, Latham thrives on its extensive trial experience and shrewd negotiation skills to achieve the best possible resolution for clients. The team has tried or arbitrated several hundred cases to verdict over the past decade with an extraordinary success rate. The firm’s victories span every stage of litigation in US federal and state courts. The Latham arsenal includes more than 300 former federal law clerks from each of the US circuit courts, as well as 41 different districts courts. In addition, more than 30 former federal prosecutors from districts across the United States contribute invaluable institutional knowledge and a wealth of courtroom experience.

Intellectual Property Litigation: Latham’s award-winning Intellectual Property Practice consists of more than 100 IP litigators with unparalleled experience in the full range of IP disputes, including patent, trademark, copyright, and trade secrets. We practice regularly in all forums, including multijurisdictional litigation around the world, across more than 45 district courts around the US, and before the Federal Circuit, International Trade Commission, and Patent Trial and Appeal Board. Our team also includes 75 technically trained lawyers, seven technical analysts, and 18 dedicated IP paralegals. Latham’s highly trained technical teams have litigated cases across a wide range of areas, including semiconductors, software, biotechnology, pharmaceuticals, image processing, audio processing, therapeutics, medical devices, electric motors, engines, cloud computing and networking, packaging, building products and materials, and banking technologies, among others.

Securities Litigation & Professional Liability: Latham boasts one of the most experienced and successful securities and derivative litigation groups in the United States. Our securities litigators are recognized as among the best lawyers in the field, and include former federal prosecutors, senior staff of the SEC Division of Enforcement, and former clerks at the US Supreme Court, federal appellate and district courts, and state courts. We are a “go-to” law firm for Fortune 500 companies, major financial institutions, their officers and directors, and the Big Four accounting firms. Our approach is simple: identify the most expedient, cost-effective means of ending litigation with the least disruption to the client and its business. This may not be unique to Latham, but what does set the firm apart is our execution. We have obtained dismissals and favorable settlements in multi-billion dollar securities class actions. In the rare instances where trial is unavoidable, Latham is best positioned to represent our clients in achieving optimal results, as our securities litigators are also seasoned trial lawyers. For example, Latham tried one of the only private federal securities class action to go to trial in nearly 10 years. Over the past year, our lawyers have represented clients as defendants in more federal securities class actions than any other law firm, across 22 US district courts.

Supreme Court & Appellate: Led by a former US Solicitor General, Latham’s appellate team has represented clients in numerous groundbreaking cases, with an outstanding record before the US Supreme Court and other appellate courts. Latham appellate practitioners have appeared before the Supreme Court more than 30 times since 2007 alone, representing Fortune 100 corporations, State governments, leading educational institutions, and individuals. The appellate team regularly prepares petitions for certiorari, as well as merits and amicus briefs. The practice has secured certiorari in nearly a dozen cases on behalf of firm clients in the past few years alone. Latham’s appellate lawyers have served at all levels in the US Office of the Solicitor General and clerked for Supreme Court Justices and judges serving on every US federal courts of appeals, providing them with crucial insights into the US appellate court system. The firm has argued and briefed hundreds of cases before the Supreme Court and federal and state courts of appeals.

White Collar Defense & Investigations: Latham’s formidable White Collar Defense & Investigations Practice comprises some of the world’s top white collar lawyers, who are uniquely situated to handle the highest-stakes cases. Our roster includes former regulatory practitioners, career defense advocates, and former government lawyers from Republican and Democratic administrations, including former top-ranking DOJ, SEC, CFTC, and SFO officials, along with Obama White House Counsel’s Office attorneys, among others. Our team knows the inner workings of the government and regularly delivers results that dramatically reduce our clients’ financial exposure, prevent or navigate through potentially debilitating investigations, and manage potentially brand-destroying public discourse. Notably, Latham is a top global firm in securing FCPA declinations, a market leader in healthcare regulation, the world’s leading CFIUS regulatory group, a destination firm for CTFC enforcement litigation, and a leader in highest profile investigations. 

Last updated Oct 2020

Firm overview

Wexler Wallace LLP is nationally recognized as a leading law firm in complex class action and multidistrict litigation, from investigation to trial and appeals. The firm is frequently retained by clients to pursue significant high-stakes litigation—often against some of the largest corporations represented by the largest law firms in the country. Through this work, we have helped shape the law and continue to pave the way for future successes for those aggrieved by fraud, antitrust violations, unfair competition and other types of unlawful conduct. We frequently serve as Co-Lead Counsel and other leadership roles in some of the most complex, high-stakes litigation in the country.

Our attorneys and the firm have been recognized by our peers as well as legal organizations for our outstanding level of service and commitment. Partners Kenneth A. Wexler and Edward A. Wallace have an AV Preeminent rating from Martindale-Hubbell—the highest awarded by their peers—and have been selected 15 times as Illinois Super Lawyers and Rising Stars. Wexler Wallace was also named a highly recommended Illinois litigation firm in the 2012 inaugural edition of Benchmark Plaintiff, with Kenneth A. Wexler and Edward A. Wallace having been named local litigation stars. The firm and both partners have received these same honors every year since.

Last updated Sep 2020

Firm overview

DiCello Levitt Gutzler was founded in 2017 as a new kind of law firm—one that starts with a basic philosophy: that everyone at the firm is a vital team member, with a voice and talents that add value in any situation. The firm was founded to lead a movement to advance the law at regulatory, legislative, and policy levels, and to serve as a first of its kind law firm providing tireless advocacy with a steadfast commitment to justice for victims of injustice, ranging from institutional investors to individuals, businesses, and public clients in the nation’s largest and most consequential matters. The firm pursues complex litigation and arbitration matters with a vigor and dedication that is unparalleled in the legal industry. 

DiCello Levitt combines excellence in commercial litigation, class action litigation, mass tort litigation, catastrophic injury litigation, medical malpractice litigation, and civil rights litigation. Representing institutional investors, individuals, businesses, and public clients, the firm’s attorneys have successfully prosecuted and settled numerous complex cases and class actions, resulting in billions of dollars in recoveries for their clients and other class members. 

Partners Mark DiCello, Adam Levitt, and Greg Gutzler lead a top-notch team of recognized leaders who share a collective depth of experience and steadfast commitment to justice. Their tireless advocacy on behalf of their clients is well-known, led Mike Bowers, Georgia’s former Attorney General, to characterize a settlement obtained by partners Adam Levitt and Amy Keller on behalf of small business owners against a major credit card processor as a “work of art,” and “one of the best pieces of legal work I have ever observed.” Champs Sports Bar & Grill v. Mercury Payment Systems, LLC, No. 16-cv-00012 (N.D. Ga.).

Today’s Environment – The Global Pandemic and Beyond: The firm has been in the headlines recently as it remains at the forefront of unearthing “what’s next” in the marketplace and tirelessly pursuing meaningful and lasting change. Many of our cases have involved aggressive corporate governance reforms that have changed the way companies—and even industries—operate.

Venture Partners With Clients: DiCello Levitt Gutzler resolved more than $1B worth of cases in 2019 alone. The firm delivers results in an innovative way by venturing cases with our clients as venture partners. It aligns our collective interests and enhances our clients’ management of litigation risk.

Based on our successful track record, we have forged a reputation for success in complex litigation and arbitration. Because we joint venture cases with our clients, our clients can be confident that our interests are aligned and that we will assess their mission-critical needs as we would for our own business. In our case analysis and preparation, we focus on the end result—a successful settlement or trial verdict. Our singular focus delivers cohesive and compelling thematic and evidentiary foundations. We don’t use a set playbook; rather, we adapt our broad toolkit to each client’s unique goals and needs. Correspondingly, our flexible billing arrangements demonstrate our commitment to every client’s particular circumstances and allow us to align incentives in joint venture relationships.

The firm’s attorneys have successfully led—and are presently leading—many large class and multidistrict actions, including against industry titans such as Boeing, Zurich, Coca-Cola, ADM, Apple, Intel, Abbott Labs, Ford Motor Company, General Motors, and Equifax, and representing businesses and investors in arbitrations and litigation in multiple courts.

DiCello Levitt is a new firm, powered by experience, values, and commitment to client service. Our firm is built on the experience of some of the nation’s most prominent and successful plaintiffs’ attorneys, and unified in our collective devotion to justice through winning massive recoveries on behalf of individuals and companies in the United States and internationally.

Trial-First Focus: DiCello Levitt Gutzler’s proven ability to try cases further distinguishes the firm from competitors. Through our trial-first approach—including more than 100 focus groups and four major trials in 2019 alone—the firm crafts practical and effective legal and business solutions for our clients. Our thematic approach drives all strategic decisions to deliver optimal results. The firm’s in-house focus group and mock-jury practice—a unique and primary differentiator from other plaintiffs’ law firms—allows its attorneys to streamline cases by identifying case themes early on, ensuring that discovery is geared toward those themes and the individual elements that the firm will have to prove in any case. This distinctive focus group practice also assists the attorneys in preparing for trial, allowing the firm to capture the jury’s attention on issues that matter as they continuously hone oral and closing arguments, and simulate trials and oral arguments in a courtroom setting. The firm’s in-house operations allow for dramatic cost and resource savings in the cases that the firm’s attorneys handle and ensures that each case the firm takes on is “trial-ready.” These dramatic cost and resource savings will benefits the firm’s clients (and, in class cases, the other class members), leaving additional funds to be distributed to them from any recoveries. 

If an action advances to trial, Robert F. DiCello, one of the leading trial lawyers in the United States, joins the trial team. Mr. DiCello is an invaluable addition with his unparalleled trial experience and savviness in working with focus groups to prepare for trial. A powerful storyteller and trial lawyer, Mr. DiCello has secured multiple multi-million-dollar recoveries for victims, across a variety of fields. Other members of the firm’s trial team are consistent thought leaders on applying cognitive neuroscience techniques to trial advocacy, both as trial lawyers and as frequent instructors to other trial lawyers across the country.

Areas of Practice:

• Agriculture and Biotechnology
• Antitrust Litigation
• Class Action Litigation
• Civil and Human Rights Litigation
• Commercial Litigation
• Environmental Litigation
• Insurance Litigation
• Labor and Employment Litigation
• Personal Injury
• Product Liability
• Public Client
• Securities and Financial Services
• Technology, Privacy, and Cybersecurity
• Whistleblower, Qui Tam, and False Claims Act

Last updated Oct 2020

Firm overview

Bartlit Beck has achieved an unparalleled record of success in complex litigation. The firm is renowned for delivering extraordinary results to clients in difficult situations. Our successes include trial wins, victories on motions and appeals, and creative settlements across the gamut of commercial litigation, including intellectual property, breach of contract, product liability, antitrust, and shareholder disputes. 

As a result of the firm’s success at trial, Bartlit Beck was named 2020 Trial Firm of the Year by Benchmark and was identified as one of the top nine firms in the United States for “striking the utmost fear into the hearts of seasoned General Counsel and legal decision makers” in a survey conducted by consulting firm BTI of 350 in-house leaders.

The average Bartlit Beck lawyer has more than 17 years of experience and has participated in multiple high-stakes trials. This is a product of our unique structure in which more than three-quarters of our lawyers are experienced partners and fewer than a quarter are associates. Thus, each case team is comprised mainly of experienced partners.

Our trial experience informs our overall approach: we focus on the key facts and issues that will drive the outcome, we make complex things simple, we win by showing the evidence rather than telling why we should win, we use demonstratives to boil down the key concepts to a few memorable images, and we establish ourselves as the reliable source of information. 

Our lawyers intensely focus on a small number of cases at a time, allowing each team member to have command of the entire case. We believe our approach ensures better quality and results for our clients because each team member has a thorough understanding of the client’s goals and the path to success.    

Our success is also due to the way we align our clients’ interests with our own. Our fixed and success-based fee structure is designed to eliminate the usual and often conflicting incentives present in the traditional hourly billing model.   

We have extensive experience partnering with other law firms and service providers as part of a “virtual law firm.” Our highly collaborative approach means that we view in-house counsel and co-counsel as invaluable members of the team.  

The information contained herein is for informational purposes only and is not legal advice or a substitute for legal counsel. Please contact any of our lawyers using the contact information found at https://www.bartlitbeck.com

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