Illinois

Firm overview

Who We Are: BFKN was founded in 1984 with a vision focused on delivering efficient team-oriented services of the highest quality. The firm has continued to focus on this vision and has grown and evolved into a sophisticated, first-class legal practice with a diverse client roster of national and international clients. We’ve accomplished this by practicing law in a different way. Our strategic vision is to continue growing organically by helping our clients succeed, by constantly evaluating and implementing ways to better serve our clients, and by recruiting the highest caliber of diverse talent. Our growth has been steady and measured and we’ve chartered our own unique path to success which is different than any other firm.

BFKN has more than 120 attorneys in ten practice groups. BFKN regularly serves a wide array of industries, but has particular experience serving: Luxury, Financial Services & Fintech, Manufacturing & Distribution, Motor Vehicle, Private Equity & Venture Capital, and Real Estate.

BFKN represents a wide array of clients, from start-ups to Fortune 50 corporations across all industries. Our clients are sophisticated and located across the globe, from the Midwest to the East and West coasts to Europe and Asia. Our firm is lucky to have nurtured several generational client relationships, where we have served as outside counsel to those clients for many decades and have grown with them through changes, challenges, and triumphs. We also have a mix of new generation clients that appreciate our creative and customized approach to representation.

Diversity, Equity & Inclusion: BFKN is committed to the establishment, maintenance, and growth of a culture where diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) are respected and intentionally valued by implementing initiatives and programs that will foster collaboration and accountability. We strive to attract the most qualified professionals from all backgrounds, perspectives, and abilities and to create a rewarding and fulfilling environment in which our people feel valued and appreciated and can grow and advance their careers. BFKN’s DEI Committee oversees equitable reviews of the firm’s policies and procedures, its accreditation into and implementation of the Midsized Mansfield Rule program, diversity, equity and inclusion training, and holistic recruiting procedures on an ongoing and forward-looking basis.

BFKN is proud to have achieved Midsize Mansfield Rule Certification Plus in 2023 and 2024. The Mansfield Rule, an initiative from Diversity Lab, measures the achievement of certain structural metrics designed to better ensure our paths to leadership – including lateral hiring, client pitch teams, promotions, and appointments – are open and transparent to all qualified attorneys. BFKN remains dedicated to broadening our networks for recruiting highly-qualified candidates from groups that have been historically underrepresented in the legal profession.

Litigation: Our firm has assembled a group of highly skilled trial lawyers – seasoned partners and well-trained associates – who represent clients both forcefully and efficiently. Unlike some litigators, who spend years engaging in expensive discovery only to recommend settlement on the eve of trial, we are always ready to try cases when necessary, but strive to achieve business resolutions early and economically when appropriate.

BFKN is a mid-sized firm that handles many of our clients’ most significant matters. We take pride in our efficient approach to dispute resolution. Even for the biggest matters, our litigation teams are lean, typically comprised of experienced partners and small numbers of associates and paralegals who can manage large amounts of data by leveraging our in-house discovery technology. A litigation team is assembled for each assignment based on the skill and experience required for that engagement.

We represent a diverse group of businesses in resolving these disputes, ranging from the world’s largest luxury goods company to large financial institutions, major telecommunications service providers, REITs, motor vehicle manufacturers, hedge funds, law firms, and consumer goods companies.

Our litigators have extensive experience in state and federal courts throughout the United States, at both the trial and appellate levels. We understand that we are asked to help resolve business problems, and we recognize that a trial is only one potential solution.

Because our clients’ success often rests on our ability to design thoughtful, cost-effective solutions to complex scenarios, a significant part of our time is focused on strategic counseling and alternative dispute resolution.

Alternative Dispute Resolution: Members of our group are experienced in a broad range of alternative dispute resolution techniques, including mediations, binding and non-binding arbitrations, mini-trials, and settlement trials with floors and caps.

Counseling: The Litigation Group also has extensive experience in strategic counseling designed to minimize the likelihood of litigation or reduce the exposure to litigation when potential problems arise. For engagements requiring a certain legal or industry focus, we assemble strong interdisciplinary teams designed to leverage the talents of attorneys in other practice areas. BFKN’s Litigation Group is often involved in complex corporate and real estate disputes that benefit from the comprehensive experience of our corporate, real estate, and bankruptcy attorneys. Such a cross-functional approach has proved successful in resolving controversies ranging from dissenting shareholders’ rights disputes to take-over litigation.

Firm overview

Benchmark Litigation Profile

UB Greensfelder LLP is a full-service super-regional law firm focused on exceeding client expectations and delivering superior, customized legal solutions. The firm’s 275 attorneys advise regional, national, and global businesses on a wide range of legal matters across more than 25 specialized practice and industry groups. Created in 2024 through the merger of Ulmer & Berne LLP and Greensfelder, Hemker & Gale, P.C., UB Greensfelder has nine primary office locations.

Our clients’ businesses depend upon our ability to provide timely, practical, and effective legal counsel tailored to their unique challenges, and we work tirelessly to meet their needs and exceed expectations. We are dedicated to providing top-notch client service, quick response times, and innovative legal solutions, while never losing sight of our clients’ goals.

Litigation Overview: UB Greensfelder’s Litigation Department has a strong tradition of solving problems and delivering excellent results for a diverse group of clients. Our litigators have extensive experience handling matters in trial and appellate courts and before alternative dispute resolution forums nationwide. With trial experience and industry knowledge, we reduce or eliminate the learning curve, enabling us to zealously defend our clients with cost-effective results.

Business Litigation: Our business litigators are problem solvers and accomplished trial lawyers adept at handling complex commercial cases and litigation arising out of business disputes of all kinds, including M&A, shareholder, and investor issues; contracts; business torts; business ownership; accountant and attorney malpractice; property disagreements; and restrictive covenants.

Construction Litigation: Our construction litigation team understands our clients’ visions for success and then draws on its significant experience within the industry to turn those visions into reality. We partner with owners, architects, engineers, contractors, and developers to create intelligent solutions to complex problems. We assist clients with various claims, such as construction defect, delay, and lien claims, and defend against construction site accidents and workers’ compensation claims.

Employment and Labor Litigation: Our employment litigators assist our clients with the array of challenges facing their organizations, ranging from strategic counseling to defending complex litigation matters, including claims involving employee discipline and termination, unlawful discrimination, unfair labor practices, wage and hour issues, employment contracts, collective bargaining, and more.

Energy Litigation: UB Greensfelder has a long history of working with large clients in the energy industry to resolve their disputes and litigation with the most favorable outcome possible. Our team has extensive first-chair experience in the courtroom, trying cases for energy clients nationwide, and we excel in collaboration, offering deep industry knowledge and experience. We often lead energy litigation in partnership with local or national counsel, and we guide clients through disputes if a relationship breaks down.

Financial Services and Securities Litigation: We have the deep knowledge required to guide clients safely through an evolving regulatory and economic landscape. We represent financial institutions of all sizes in complex court and arbitration actions and in investigations and enforcement proceedings brought by regulatory agencies, including FINRA and the SEC. We routinely litigate claims involving breach of fiduciary duty, fraud, consumer violations, lending violations, churning, and other securities claims.

Franchise Litigation: Our practical experience derived from daily involvement with franchisors and distributors informs our aggressive representation of clients’ interests during litigation. In addition to negotiating state franchise, relationship, or sales representative disputes and dealing with federal and state administrative agencies, we litigate industry-specific matters such as those involving state franchise relationship and disclosure laws, state motor vehicle franchise practices statutes, the Petroleum Marketing Practices Act and state motor fuel marketing laws, and state consumer protection statutes. In addition to statutory claims, we are also experienced in handling claims that arise frequently in franchise/distribution litigation.

Immigration Litigation: We are dedicated to the zealous representation of immigrants facing deportation and have represented countless individuals charged with serious immigration violations before the Executive Office for Immigration Review and federal district and appellate courts. We are experienced in all phases of immigration litigation, including trials, administrative appeals, and federal court litigation.

Intellectual Property Litigation: We know industry disputes involving business-critical technology can threaten the viability of businesses. Our attorneys have technically diverse backgrounds and provide counsel in cases concerning a wide variety of technologies and scientific processes. We provide core IP litigation services involving patent infringement, ownership, and validity; copyright, trademark, and trade dress infringement; unfair competition and false advertising; trade secrets; and software and licensing.

Product Liability Defense: We are an authority in defending class action, multidistrict, and mass tort litigation involving drugs, medical devices, dietary supplements, manufactured products, consumer goods, and other technologies. We also represent clients in matters involving toxic tort and exposure claims. We have served as lead national defense counsel in high-impact litigation involving everything from antidepressants, contraceptives, and pain medications to cardiovascular and diabetes management devices and biologic products. Our practice is strengthened by its many attorneys with degrees in various scientific disciplines.

Firm overview

What a Law Firm Should Be: Unique in its culture and business model, Polsinelli is a large, national, first-generation law firm with the entrepreneurial DNA of its earliest days. Built 50 years ago on a strong foundation, we now are an Am Law 100 firm with 1,000+ attorneys in over 20 offices. Like-minded legal talent from across the country who hold in high regard the same principles of superior client service, diversity of thought and collaboration has made us who we are today. Our litigation practice encompasses business disputes, white collar investigations and enforcement, health care, intellectual property, bankruptcy, data privacy, real estate, financial services, products liability and toxic tort and labor and employment matters. We have litigators located from coast to coast in major financial centers. Our reputation for dedicated client service and innovative business solutions is a benchmark for excellence in the legal profession.

Commercial Litigation: Polsinelli’s nationally recognized Litigation practice is composed of attorneys committed to providing practical, industry-specific business litigation strategies informed by substantive and procedural knowledge, real courtroom experience, and a keen awareness of how legal outcomes impact our clients’ bottom lines. Our attorneys advise clients on business litigation matters, including contracts, mergers and acquisitions, and class actions and we represent public and private entities of all sizes. Our vast experience spans numerous industries, including real estate, telecommunications, technology, financial institutions, food and beverage, retail and hospitality, manufacturing, energy, aviation and transportation. We also have significant experience identifying and advising on evolving areas of law, including those based on consumer protection statutes such as privacy statutes, Computer Fraud and Abuse Act (CFAA), the Telephone Consumer Protection Act (TCPA), and the Fair Credit and Reporting Act (FCPA).

Government Investigations: Polsinelli’s Government Investigations team is highly qualified to quickly and effectively help companies and individuals respond to and defend against civil, criminal and regulatory government actions. Many of our attorneys are former federal prosecutors with specific experience.

Our team takes the guesswork out of navigating investigations involving the government. Clients seek out our team’s counsel at all stages of their interactions with government agencies, whether a client needs help responding to a subpoena or civil investigative demand, a comprehensive internal investigation, preemptive counsel on a compliance program, or a trial lawyer to defend against allegations of white-collar crimes. Our team has experience with governmental entities, including the Department of Justice, SEC, Health and Human Services, Office of Inspector General, EPA and States’ Attorney General Offices.

Health Care Litigation: Polsinelli Health Care Litigation attorneys combine their in-depth knowledge of the evolving health care industry with clients’ business needs to devise practical litigation strategies. We advise clients in managing risk and resolving complex disputes. When litigation is necessary, we collaborate with clients to effectively and efficiently protect their interests. Our attorneys are experienced in litigating government investigations and health care disputes in different forums, including lawsuits, arbitrations, administrative hearings, audits and investigations.

Our team is well known and respected by judges, regulators, arbitrators, health care industry leaders and the legal community. Members include former Department of Justice attorneys, including Assistant United States Attorneys, former experienced state Medicaid fraud unit attorneys, a former realtor attorney and former in-house counsel to private and publicly traded health care companies.

Intellectual Property Litigation: Polsinelli’s Intellectual Property Litigation practice takes creative and strategic approaches to resolving intellectual property disputes for local, regional, national and global companies and individuals. With more than 1,300 intellectual property litigation filings over the past six years, we frequently try high-technology intellectual property cases tied to diverse subject matter including patent litigation, trademark, copyright & branding, anti-counterfeiting and grey markets, restrictive covenants and trade secrets litigation, ITC Section 337, IP litigation funding and design patent litigation.

Labor & Employment Litigation: Our attorneys defend clients before administrative agencies and in trials, mediations, arbitrations, and appeals of lawsuits arising over virtually every conceivable employment-related action including age, religion, gender, pregnancy, race, national origin, disability, harassment, wrongful termination, discrimination, retaliation, FMLA and OSHA violations.

Our Employment Litigation practice group has substantial experience representing management in the administrative charge and litigation phase of cases involving issues such as but not limited to The Age Discrimination in Employment Act (ADEA), The Equal Pay Act (EPA), Whistleblower claims, work-related torts and wrongful termination.

Products Liability and Toxic and Mass Tort: Polsinelli’s litigators have deep experience defending and protecting our clients against defective design, defective manufacturing, premises liability, catastrophic injury, and toxic exposure claims that oftentimes go to the heart of our clients’ businesses.

Our experienced Products Liability and Toxic Tort team assesses cases early, identifying potential risks and working with our client’s legal, business, technical and regulatory teams to craft effective litigation strategies. Our electronic discovery (e-discovery) lawyers and other professionals are adept at coordinating and managing the often- burdensome discovery process that comes with defending these high-stakes cases. Our trial lawyers have the skills and experience to take cases to trial in any courtroom in the country.

These trial teams work hand in hand with our certified appellate specialists, who identify appellate issues and represent clients at the appellate level in state and federal courts throughout the United States.

Updated Aug 2024

Firm overview

History: Pomerantz is the oldest law firm in the world dedicated to championing investor rights. Founded in 1936 by Abraham Pomerantz, the Firm’s work during the Great Depression to hold corporations accountable helped secure the rights of investors to bring class actions and derivative suits. Today the Firm’s global clients include more than 100 of the most influential public pension funds, asset managers, and private institutions. Honoring its founder’s legacy, the Firm continues to fight for defrauded shareholders while expanding the rights of global investors and championing transparent markets and good corporate governance.

Securities Litigation: Over the past eight decades the Firm has recovered billions of dollars for defrauded investors, with many settlements achieving new records. Notable matters include:

• A $3 billion settlement in litigation against Brazil’s state-run oil company Petrobras, involving an alleged decades-long corruption scheme that ensnared multiple former Brazilian presidents, among many others. The recovery stands as the fifth-largest securities class action settlement ever achieved in the United States (In re Petrobras Securities Litigation).
• A $225 million recovery for the Class in a suit against Comverse Technology, Inc., the second-largest recovery involving the backdating of stock options (In re Comverse Technology, Inc. Securities Litigation).
• A $110 million settlement with Fiat Chrysler Automobiles N.V. that opened new avenues for discovery in securities litigation (Pirnik v. Fiat Chrysler Automobiles N.V., et al.).
• A $74 million settlement for investors in Arconic, whose insulation panels were implicated in the June 2017 fire at Grenfell Tower in London (Howard v. Arconic et al.).

A Tradition of Innovation: Pomerantz is a recognized leader in developing novel legal theories to address the evolving juridical, social, and corporate landscape. For example, the U.S. Supreme Court’s ruling in Morrison v. National Australia Bank, Ltd (2010) barred investors in foreign securities from using U.S. courts to seek recovery. In the years since, Pomerantz has worked to win back these rights on behalf of investors. In a series of individual cases arising out of the 2010 BP Gulf of Mexico oil spill, Pomerantz convinced the court to allow, for the very first time post-Morrison, both U.S. and foreign investors seeking recovery for losses in a foreign company’s foreign-traded securities to do so in a U.S. court. In a securities class action against the global pharmaceutical company Perrigo Co., the Firm’s ground-breaking legal arguments led the U.S. court, for the first time since the Morrison decision, to certify a foreign purchaser class. Both decisions have significant precedential value, expanding the options available for domestic and foreign investors seeking recovery in cases of securities fraud.

Portfolio Monitoring: PomTrack®, the Firm’s proprietary portfolio monitoring system, tracks and evaluates suspicious market activity, as well as securities and antitrust class actions and settlements, covering both domestic and international events. This system empowers investment plan fiduciaries to fulfill their duty to preserve investments by quickly identifying fund losses that may have been caused by financial misconduct. Comprising attorneys, forensic economists, damages analysts, paralegals, and support staff, the PomTrack® team monitors assets valued at over $9 trillion, making it one of the largest systems of its kind in the U.S. 

ESG: Pomerantz partners are pioneering securities litigation as a means to address 21st century ESG concerns. The Firm achieved a settlement with Deutsche Bank AG that recoups nearly 50% of estimated damages for investors in a case alleging that the bank failed to adhere to its own due diligence policies for certain high-worth clients, including convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein. Pomerantz also recently won class certification in its case against Wynn Resorts Ltd., which alleges that former CEO Steve Wynn engaged in egregious sexual misconduct against the company’s female employees, while the company and its directors simultaneously covered up his behavior, assuring investors of the company’s commitment to high ethical standards. 

Corporate Governance: In addition to addressing corporate governance via securities litigation, the Firm’s Corporate Governance Practice Group has achieved significant corporate governance reform at numerous major corporations through shareholder derivative lawsuits. Areas of interest include workers’ health and safety, environmental compliance, pay and gender equity, excess executive compensation, and addressing corporate transactions that result in an unfair price for shareholders. 

Education: Pomerantz partners frequently speak on corporate governance at conferences around the world, and the Firm regularly hosts Corporate Governance Roundtables for institutional investors. The Firm also publishes The Pomerantz Monitor, a bi-monthly journal of attorney-authored articles on securities litigation, corporate governance, and related regulatory and government policies. 

Updated Sep 2023