Justin is a business litigator with experience in lawsuits involving class actions, appeals, data privacy, technology, intellectual property, financial services, breach of contract, misrepresentation, negligence, insurance coverage and other complex issues. The cases Justin works on usually seek millions or billions of dollars.
Justin achieves positive results for his clients in their challenging commercial disputes. He has first- and second-chaired trials and mediations. Clients often compliment Justin’s innovative problem- solving strategies, legal and factual research, brief writing, depositions, courtroom appearances, settlement negotiations, management of complex discovery, dedication and responsiveness to their needs. With a deep background in information technology, Justin also helps his clients navigate electronic discovery and technology-related issues.
Before law school, Justin spent seven years as a manager and consultant to large international organizations. He later clerked for The Hon. William J. Bauer and served as a research assistant to The Hon. Richard A. Posner, both of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit. He uses these experiences to understand his clients’ business objectives and to tailor their legal strategies.
Representative Matters
Commercial Litigation. Justin represented an investment fund in its dispute against broker-dealer and related parties stemming from default and partial invalidation of a $50 million bond transaction. He deposed corporate representative and other witnesses, argued partial summary judgment motions, directed expert trial testimony and authored winning appellate briefs. After winning the first phase of trial and defeating two separate appeals, all of which established a key issue of liability, the case settled on terms favorable to the client. In another case, Justin represented a financial company in its case for breach of contract against an armored car company. After years of litigation in which Justin analyzed thousands of documents, took and defended depositions and crafted a powerful defense, the armored car company abandoned its prior position weeks before trial and the case settled successfully. Justin is also currently representing shareholders in claims alleging fraud, breach of contract, and breach of fiduciary duties.
Intellectual Property Litigation. Justin has represented an internet technology company in its patent infringement lawsuit and a large cellular-device manufacturer in connection with providing legal advice about IP/antitrust litigation strategy. He also secured injunctive relief for a large manufacturing company against a departing employee and competing manufacturer on claims involving misappropriation of trade secrets. In addition, Justin helped achieve the successful settlements of a case in which he defended an automated warehousing company against claims of infringement and unfair competition and a case under 28 U.S.C. § 1782 applying for discovery of evidence for use in litigation abroad. Justin is currently representing a software company in its patent litigation suit and defending another software company against claims alleging misappropriation of trade secrets.
Privacy and Cybersecurity Litigation. Justin represents a wide range of companies in defense of claims alleging data privacy violations and cybersecurity incidents. Justin drafted a motion to dismiss that persuaded the plaintiff to voluntarily dismiss his case instead of filing a response brief. He drafted winning arguments for an appellant on appeal before the Illinois Appellate Court, which the court decided in his client’s favor without the need for oral argument. Justin has also successfully litigated privacy and cybersecurity issues under the Illinois Biometric Information Privacy Act (BIPA), California Consumer Privacy Act (CCPA), the EU’s General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR), Illinois’ Personal Information Protection Act (PIPA), the Electronic Communications Privacy Act (ECPA), various states’ wiretapping statutes, and other information privacy and protection laws.
Class Actions. Justin has defended a variety of clients against class actions alleging not only breach of data privacy and protection laws, but also alleging federal securities fraud, consumer fraud and other claims. Justin achieved rapid dismissal in a number of these cases, including an alleged class action asserting misrepresentation claims against a pet-food manufacturer, an alleged class action asserting product liability claims against an automobile manufacturer and an alleged class action asserting improper overcharging against an internet company.
Insurance Coverage. Justin has written numerous successful summary judgment and other dispositive motions and appellate briefs for his insurance-company clients, developing unique research and arguments that saved his clients millions of dollars. Justin also second-chaired a jury trial while representing an insured. In addition to insurance coverage litigation, Justin counsels insurers on a variety of issues. Justin has handled multimillion-dollar insurance coverage issues involving commercial insurance; primary, umbrella and excess lines; professional liability; long-tail claims; bad faith; reinsurance; sexual abuse; and construction defects.
Design and Construction. Justin has handled a variety of design and construction litigation issues involving industrial and commercial facilities, engineering standard of care, change order claims, construction defect and delay claims, process engineering, structural engineering, wastewater treatment and high-rise window wall systems. In one case, Justin defended a large engineering and construction firm in private arbitration against over $100 million in claims relating to the design of a polysilicon plant. He obtained and filtered millions of documents, defended witnesses’ depositions, assisted the creation of expert reports and crafted dispositive motions, after which, the case settled favorably.
Electronic Discovery. Justin has led eDiscovery efforts and the resolution of discovery disputes across the entire Electronic Discovery Reference Model (EDRM) spectrum in cases involving multiple millions of documents, thousands of potential custodians and data sources, foreign languages, forensic data recovery, case-customized metadata, proprietary document formats, predictive coding, IP-sensitive documents, foreign privacy laws, privilege issues, document spoliation, arbitral subpoenas and proportionality and other standards governing the scope of discovery.
Pro Bono Litigation. On a pro bono basis, Justin represented a prisoner seeking relief from cruel and unusual punishment, immigrants seeking asylum, and amici curiae seeking to maintain Illinois’ standard for habeas petitioners to prove their innocence with newly discovered evidence. Justin has also assisted the Northern District of Illinois in presentation of pro se testimony as a member of the Northern District of Illinois Trial Bar.
Publications And Presentations
Diversity, Equity and Inclusion: Avoiding Litigation Risk and Complying with Ethical Obligations, Association of Corporate Counsel CLE, August 9, 2023 (with John Lewis, Jr., and Yara Rashad).
Diversity, Equity and Inclusion: Avoiding Litigation Risk and Complying with Ethical Obligations, Chicago Ethics CLE Conference, May 18, 2023 (with John Lewis, Jr., and Yara Rashad).
Privacy Litigation in the Age of Coronavirus, May 11, 2020 (with Paul Karlsgodt).
COVID-19 and U.S. Statutes of Limitation, March 25, 2020 (with Gil Keteltas).
Arbitral Document Discovery Protocols, Subpoenas, and Dispositive Motions Under the AAA Construction Rules, June 25, 2019.
Recent Developments Affecting Additional-Insured Coverage Portfolios, ABA Insurance Coverage Litigation Committee CLE Seminar, 2016 (with David Schoenfeld).
Key Considerations in Collecting Documents, Chicago, October 29, 2014 (with Amy Cho and Theresa Peverly).
Current Issues in Class Action Litigation, Chicago, September 4, 2013 (with Todd Jacobs, Lynn Murray and Matt Killen).
Understanding Corporate IT Systems: A Prerequisite to Successful Electronic Discovery, Chicago, July 27, 2011.
Achieving Supreme Court Consensus: An Evolved Approach to State Sovereign Immunity, Nebraska Law Review, v. 88, 2010.
Insufficient Hedge-Fund Fraud Complaints and Misguided Motions to Dismiss, The Tennessee Journal of Business Law , v. 11, 2009.
Minimalist Interpretation of the Jurisdictional Immunities Convention, Chicago Journal of International Law, v. 9, no. 2, 2009.