Illinois

Firm overview

Founded in 1920, Akerman is recognized as one of the country’s premier law firms, with more than 700 lawyers in 25 offices throughout the United States..

Commercial Litigation: Akerman offers a leading trial team that includes litigators across the United States. We represent a diverse range of clients across numerous sectors, with particular strength in the financial services, private equity, insurance, real estate, construction, health and life sciences, and energy sectors. Akerman lawyers regularly appear before judges and arbitrators in class actions, securities, white-collar, fraud and recovery, product liability, intellectual property, employment, bankruptcy, and general business matters.

Appellate: With a bench that includes many former appellate and trial court judges, Akerman’s appellate practice is a national powerhouse with demonstrated success in handling appeals related to complex commercial litigation. Akerman's appellate team frequently assist trial lawyers during all phases of litigation, preserving errors for appeal, drafting motions and responses, and providing strategic advice on the best approach for seeking relief on appeal. They handle numerous matters before appellate courts nationwide in various commercial cases and class actions. We also have experience in administrative appeals involving high profile issues before state agencies. Additionally, Akerman's appellate lawyers represent industry associations as amicus curiae in appellate proceedings when our clients are not a party to an appeal but have a substantial interest in the outcome.

International Litigation & Arbitration: Akerman has a long record of accomplishment in resolving complex multijurisdictional disputes. Our team represents multinational, foreign, and domestic corporations and individuals before U.S. federal and state courts, as well as in arbitration proceedings before a wide range of international arbitral bodies in multiple jurisdictions. Akerman litigators help clients successfully address conflicts in a broad range of sectors, including general commercial disputes, power and energy, construction and engineering, and banking and finance, among many others. Our highly responsive, multilingual team works in tandem with experienced local counsel to provide seamless resolution to disputes throughout Latin America, as well as in Europe, Asia Pacific, Africa, and the Middle East.

Employment Litigation: Akerman’s national, multidisciplinary team helps clients navigate claims brought before state and federal agencies and boards as well as trial and appellate courts throughout the United States. Our lawyers regularly defend employers in all types of employment litigation, including complex class-action discrimination cases and collective action wage and hour matters. We also represent employers in connection with administrative charges and audits, and have successfully negotiated and supervised numerous settlements with the U.S. Department of Labor.

Updated Sep 2024

Firm overview

In today’s legal and regulatory environment, litigation can threaten a company’s very existence. Skadden’s lawyers have extensive experience with such complex, “bet-the-company” litigation matters, and we are widely recognized for our ability to handle our clients’ most critical litigation issues. The firm can rapidly assemble a focused, integrated and efficient team to address all important aspects of a client’s problem and to handle numerous cases in multiple jurisdictions and forums. We have handled some of the largest and most high-profile cases in recent years, earning a reputation as a go-to firm for litigation, and we are responsible for numerous decisions, from the trial courts to the U.S. Supreme Court, that have shaped various areas of law.

Our Litigation Group comprises approximately 600 attorneys throughout the firm’s offices worldwide, and Skadden attorneys are admitted to practice throughout the United States as well as in more than 30 other countries and territories. In particular, our New York- based attorneys have extensively litigated in New York state and federal courts. Moreover, Skadden was the first national law firm to establish a presence in Delaware more than 40 years ago, and our Delaware litigation attorneys have a wealth of experience in the renowned Court of Chancery. Our California-based offices, in Los Angeles and Palo Alto, as well as our Washington D.C., Chicago, Boston and Houston offices, round out our national presence, allowing us to effectively handle complex disputes that may arise in any U.S. jurisdiction, or several jurisdictions at once. Our international experience, through offices in Asia Pacific, Europe and Latin America, and our numerous multilingual attorneys, further enable us to seamlessly represent clients globally and to successfully handle disputes of an international nature.

We represent clients in all stages of litigation, from applying cutting edge e-discovery capabilities to trials. Indeed, Skadden is recognized as having a leading national trial practice, and our attorneys score groundbreaking precedent-setting trial wins that are highly favorable to our clients’ bottom line. Our trial lawyers often inherit cases from other firms when trial is imminent, and we offer the capabilities to quickly pull together crisis teams to confront challenges wherever our clients face them. Moreover, our attorneys are no strangers to appellate state and federal courts throughout the country. We also frequently appear in arbitral forums, including the American Arbitration Association, JAMS, FINRA, the International Centre for Dispute Resolution and other domestic and international dispute resolution tribunals.

Our team represents clients in proceedings involving numerous government agencies, such as the Securities and Exchange Commission, the U.S. Attorney General’s Office, the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority, the New York Stock Exchange, the U.S. Department of Justice, the Federal Trade Commission, the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office, the U.S. Department of Labor and the Internal Revenue Service. We also serve in an advisory capacity, striving to achieve results that best align with our clients’ business goals.

Our attorneys have significant experience litigating all types of complex commercial claims, including contract disputes; fraud, breach of fiduciary duty and tortious interference claims; non-compete litigation; merger-related litigation and control disputes; joint venture and partnership disputes; bankruptcy and restructuring-related issues; and statutory claims. Our renowned securities litigation practice frequently handles some of the most challenging, high-stakes securities litigation matters, and we have served as lead counsel in several of the largest securities class actions in U.S. history. Our experience in these and other complex litigation claims spans numerous industries, including banking, energy, financial services, insurance, health care, manufacturing, mortgage, pharmaceutical, real estate, retail, technology and telecommunications.

In addition to handling some of the largest, most complex litigations, Skadden attorneys represent clients in a wide variety of pro bono matters, from trials to the U.S. Supreme Court.

Updated Sep 2024

Firm overview

MoloLamken is a law firm focused exclusively on representing clients in complex disputes. It handles civil, criminal, and regulatory matters, as well as appeals, across the United States. The firm’s clients span the globe. MoloLamken is involved in some of the most significant disputes of the day. 

The firm’s founding partners, Steven Molo and Jeffrey Lamken, developed national reputations based on their courtroom successes while partners at large full-service firms where they held leadership positions. With an abiding belief that complex disputes are most effectively handled by smaller teams comprised of smart, highly experienced lawyers focused on results rather than process, they formed the firm. 

MoloLamken provides experienced advocacy – for claimants as well as defendants – before judges, juries, arbitral forums, and courts of appeals, including the Supreme Court of the United States. The firm also represents clients in regulatory and criminal investigations and conducts internal investigations.

Main Areas of Practice: 

• Appeals
• Arbitration
• Bankruptcy, Insolvency and Restructuring Litigation
• Complex Business Litigation
• Intellectual Property and Technology
• Internal Investigations
• Regulatory
• Securities Litigation
• Supreme Court
• White Collar Defense and Investigations

Firm overview

Saul Ewing’s Litigation Department features approximately 200 attorneys across 18 offices, including our newest locations in Los Angeles and Irvine, California. We handle a wide range of matters including complex business and commercial disputes, bet-the-company legal proceedings, and high-profile cases in state and federal courts and Alternative Dispute Resolution (ADR) forums across the nation. We represent local, regional, national and international organizations as well as individuals across a diverse array of industries, including but not limited to energy and environmental, financial services, construction, insurance, health care, food/beverage/agribusiness, life sciences, cannabis, higher education, sports/entertainment and real estate.

Our deep bench of litigators work to protect the interests of our clients and mitigate the impact of litigation on business operations in all phases of litigation, including investigation, pleadings, motions, fact and expert discovery and depositions, hearings, trials, appeals, settlement negotiations, and enforcement of judgments. Among our ranks are seasoned trial lawyers and former government officials and prosecutors, whose insight and strategic judgment are a valuable resource to our entire team.

Our core areas of focus include:

Appellate

Class Actions

Consumer Financial Services Litigation

Cybersecurity and Privacy

Employee Benefits & ERISA Litigation

Labor & Employment

Environmental Civil Litigation

Insurance Litigation & Arbitration

Intellectual Property Litigation

Title Claims & Coverage Litigation

White Collar & Government Enforcement

Within these core areas of focus, we have extensive experience representing clients in pursuing and defending claims of breach of contract, tortious interference with contracts and business relationships, fraud and misrepresentation, lender liability, property liability, negligence, unfair competition, unfair trade practices, antitrust violations, conspiracy, RICO violations, breach of fiduciary duty, defamation, trade disparagement, false advertising, malicious prosecution, theft of trade secrets, intellectual property infringement, trespass, conversion, trust and estate controversies, partnership and corporate dissolutions and claims arising in shareholder and partner derivative actions, among others.

Our Approach: We start by tailoring a strategy to meet our clients’ objectives and risk management priorities, whether those focus on litigation avoidance, early settlement, resolution through dispositive motions, or pursuing a case through adjudication at trial. Using early case assessment tools, we develop a detailed roadmap for each case. We recognize that litigation can be expensive, distracting and time-consuming, and that our clients need cost predictability. Depending on client needs, we are able to create customized litigation plans and budgets at the matter, phase and/or task levels. Our project management team carefully monitors work volume and billing metrics to help ensure that our services align with project scope and needs, and to maximize proactive communication with clients about changes in cost, scope and/or strategy.

eDiscovery: For cases requiring electronic discovery, we rely on our in-house Litigation Support Services (LSS) team, which is driven by members with sophisticated technical knowledge and credentialing by the Association of Certified E-Discovery Specialists. With extensive experience managing complex eDiscovery collection, processing, review and production, our LSS team leverages advanced analytics and technology-assisted review to quickly identify and locate relevant information, process and analyze data efficiently, and help reduce overall litigation costs.  

Updated Sep 2024