The Loop Elite: The Go-To Firms Of Chicago

Lake Whillans, a leader in the field of litigation finance, supports innovative entrepreneurs and businesses across the country. Over the past year, Lake Whillans has brought us a series of handy primers on some of the most dynamic and innovative legal markets in the country, including Silicon Valley, Boston, and the “Wild West.” Today, we turn to Chicago, the cultural and economic capital of the Midwest.

Chicago boasts an incredibly diversified economy. The Second City serves as headquarters for a multitude of Fortune 1000 companies, particularly in agribusiness, manufacturing, insurance, logistics, healthcare, and pharmaceuticals. Of course, Chicago is also a vital center for financial markets, with the Chicago Mercantile Exchange being the largest futures exchange in the world. Meanwhile, the city has also quietly become a hub for fast-growing private companies in the tech sector. All this economic vibrancy drives the nation’s third-largest legal market, a multi-layered ecosystem with the home and satellite offices of the best Biglaw firms, regional powerhouses, specialist boutiques, and smaller firms with deep local roots and thriving practices.

The Go-To Law Firms of Chicago can not only handle every transactional need, they do anything from construction litigation to patent prosecution. Engaging these firms can help companies of all sizes — from tech startups to multi-nationals — avoid or contain problems. However, in the event of litigation, Lake Whillans can step in as a source of capital to fund legal expenses as well as for corporate purposes.

1. Best Firm for Helping You Build Your Real Estate Empire: Thompson Coburn LLP

Few Chicago firms can rival the real estate law experience of Thompson Coburn LLP. Boasting a deep knowledge of commercial lending markets, the firm’s lawyers are adept at advising clients in all phases of the real estate transaction lifecycle. The firm’s real estate practice handles matters for clients of all sizes, from small landlords and tenants, to regional retailers, to Fortune 500 companies, in nearly all jurisdictions across the country. No matter what your real estate law question is, the team at Thompson Coburn has the answer.

2. Best Firm For Transportation and Logistics: Hinshaw & Culbertson LLP

Chicago is the key transportation hub in the country. Hinshaw & Culbertson’s transportation law practice represents businesses in the trucking, shipping, cargo, aviation and railroad industries, as well as every category of client in the complex world of logistics. The firm’s attorneys have hundreds of jury trials under their belts in the transportation field. Whether it’s an insurance coverage dispute, worker’s comp claim or regulatory hurdle, Hinshaw & Culbertson keeps on trucking.

3. Best Firm for Handling Commodity Pools: Sidley Austin

A city with its own mercantile exchange, Chicago has long been synonymous with commodities. With Chicago roots dating all the way back to 1866, Sidley Austin offers one of the most comprehensive commodity pool services in the city, if not the world. The firm helped its clients develop some of the first-ever public commodity pools in the 1970s, and has gone on to represent hundreds of publicly offered and privately placed commodity pools since then. With key players in the Chicago office, Sidley’s global commodity pools practice group has the skills to tackle any issue their commodity pool clients face, from legal structuring and formation, to regulatory matters, to exchange listings.

4. Best Firm to Salvage Your Reputation in a Crisis: Riley Safer Holmes and Cancila

The Windy City has seen its fair share of scandals over the years, but your company shouldn’t be one of them. When your reputation is on the line, Riley Safer is the firm you want in your corner. With a dedicated Risk, Reputation, and Crisis Management practice group, these lawyers have seen it all. Aimed at avoiding costly lawsuits before they start, the team routinely helps companies develop enterprise risk management policies that effectively mitigate risk. If things still go wrong, Riley Safer specializes in a broad range of crisis control and reputation management services that will help keep your company afloat and minimize any fallout.

5. Best Firm for Clients in the Food and Agribusiness Sector: McDermott Will & Emery

Established in 1934 as the firm’s first office, the Chicago outpost of McDermott Will & Emery remains the flagship for many of the firm’s key practice areas, and it offers one of the most highly renowned food, beverage and agribusiness practices in the world. Representing more than 500 clients across all aspects of the production chain — including growers, manufacturers, and restaurateurs — no firm offers deeper knowledge of the industry. Whether you’re a local producer or a global conglomerate, the firm’s attorneys are unrivaled in all areas of agribusiness law, including domestic and international regulations, cross-border transactions and farm subsidies.

6. Best Firm for White-Collar Defense: Jones Day

The Windy City has a long tradition of freewheeling and bruising political and business cultures, with no shortage of demand for top-flight white collar criminal defense work. Jones Day’s Investigations and White Collar Defense practice boasts deep experience in defending both companies and individual clients in the full range of white collar criminal matters, from fraud and insider trading allegations to alleged breaches of the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act and the Anti-Kickback Statute. Many of the Jones Day white collar practitioners gained invaluable insight and experience through service in senior positions in the DOJ and US Attorney’s offices, including the practice group leader Ted Chung, who runs the department out of the Chicago office.

7. Best Firm For Construction Litigation: Shipley Law Group Ltd.

“Chicago reinvents and rebuilds itself every day,” proclaims the site for Shipley Law Group and the firm embodies that slogan by helping clients maneuver through the complex world of Illinois construction law. Founder Robert Shipley draws on a nearly four-decade track record of successful representations of construction industry clients, including architects, suppliers, engineers, and developers involved building Chicago’s hotels, convention centers, hospitals, and major developments.

8. Best Firm to Handle Shareholder Disputes: Novack and Macey, LLP

With a depth of experience that belies its small size, this versatile boutique shop is no stranger to major shareholder litigation. Whether you’re in the minority or the majority, the firm’s lawyers will fight relentlessly to do defend your rights as shareholder. No issue is too complex for this team of trial experts, who have handled everything from shareholder oppression issues, to claims of self-dealing, to corporate voting battles. It’s no surprise that Chicago companies consider Novack and Macey the go-to firm for avoiding a crippling shareholder dispute.

9. Best Firm for Sports Law: Katten Muchin Rosenman LLP

Chicago has long been synonymous with sports, and Katten’s sports and sports facilities group is the go-to team for some of sports’ heaviest hitters across the globe, from leagues and franchise owners, to broadcasters and advertisers, to promoters and corporate sponsors. For example, Katten has served as outside general counsel for both the Chicago White Sox and Chicago Bulls since its acquisition by Jerry Reinsdorf in the 1980s, and it also serves as outside general counsel for an impressive lineup of NBA, MLB and MLS franchises. Whether you’re dealing with financing, facing complex regulatory issues or building a stadium, Katten is the firm you want in your corner.

10. Best Firm for When You Actually Find Yourself in a Courtroom: Bartlit Beck Herman Palenchar & Scott LLP

When it comes to jury trials, no one does it better than Bartlit Beck. Founded in Chicago in 1993 by a group of preeminent Biglaw trial attorneys, this firm is not afraid to see the inside of a courtroom. In fact, the firm’s lawyers average a remarkable 10 trial days per year, thus justifying Bartlit Beck’s self- description as “a firm of trial lawyers, not litigators.” Such is the firm’s courtroom prowess that it is often brought in to join a case on the eve of trial, when clients are most urgently in need of deeply experienced trial counsel. Bartlit Beck maintains its pool of talent by hiring only a select few elite candidates each year, more than 60% of whom are former Federal judicial clerks.

11. Best Firm for Educational Institutions : Schiff Hardin

Chicago is obviously one of America’s great university towns and Schiff Hardin’s Educational Institutions practice offers schools full-spectrum guidance through the myriad legal challenges they face. Schiff Hardin offers educational institution clients — including University of Chicago and Northwestern — the effective guidance they need to navigate the complex web of federal and state laws concerning everything from labor and employment matters to real estate transactions to financing.

12. Best Firm to Defend You in a Pharma Claim: Goldman Ismail Tomaselli Brennan & Baum LLP

Pharmaceuticals are undeniably a huge part of the Chicago legal landscape, and when it comes to defending pharmaceutical and medical device companies against product liability claims, no one does it better than Goldman Ismail. The firm has represented industry giants like Merck and Bayer in some of the country’s most complex multi-district litigations, and it is adept at handling every aspect of a mass tort or stand-alone pharma case. Regardless of your product or device, the lawyers at Goldman Ismail will develop the scientific theory necessary to persuasively present your case.

13. Best Firm for Planning (or Avoiding) a Reorganization: Jenner & Block

Founded by three lawyers in 1914, Jenner & Block has grown to be one of Chicago’s largest law firms. Jenner’s bankruptcy acumen is undeniable, as exemplified by the appointment of Anton Valukas, the firm’s then-chairman, as examiner in the Lehman Brothers Holdings bankruptcy, the largest such case in U.S. history. Lawyers at the firm routinely represent all parties in Chapter 7 and Chapter 11 cases, including distressed companies, lenders, creditors and trustees. And when things go to court, the firm’s attorneys have the dispute resolution chops necessary to handle even the most complex of bankruptcy litigations.

14. Best Firm to Represent Your Luxury Goods Company: Barack Ferrazzano Kirschbaum & Nagelberg LLP

Today’s digital marketplace has introduced new challenges to the luxury retail industry, and no firm knows how to handle them better than Barack Ferrazzano. With a unique practice group dedicated to serving the luxury industry, the firm has partnered with some of the world’s most iconic luxury brands over the last three decades. Whether you deal in fashion, jewelry or spirits, the team at Barack Ferrazzano has the know-how to guide you through the often-complicated domestic and international waters of the luxury goods sector.

15. Best Firm for Patenting Your Next Great Product or Device: K&L Gates

With a Chicago office dating back to 1888, K&L Gates has a long history of helping Midwestern businesses protect their innovations and ideas across the globe. The firm has more than 225 lawyers — approximately 100 of whom are registered patent lawyers and hold advanced technical degrees — dedicated to establishing and enforcing their clients’ intellectual property rights. Whether you need to secure your first patent or prosecute infringers, this firm has the skill to handle even the most complex of patent matters.

16. Best Firm to Independently Advise the Board of Directors: Winston & Strawn LLP

It’s hard to find deeper Chicago roots than those at Winston & Strawn LLP, which was founded in the Windy City in 1853. Among the firm’s many specialties is advising boards of directors, particularly in the areas of executive compensation and corporate governance. Well-versed in all aspects of securities law, Winston’s lawyers also offer executive and director training in a range of compliance issues. For boards looking to retain independent counsel, this is the firm to call.

17. Best Firm For Startups: goodcounsel

goodcounsel is a small law firm of “innovators for innovators,” openly bucking the conventions of a tradition-bound profession. Founded by erstwhile entrepreneur Ken Obel, goodcounsel offers efficient, inventive and tech-savvy legal counsel to entrepreneurial clients. goodcounsel prefers to operate on a fixed-fee basis, charging for value rather than time. The firm offers a wide range of services on a project basis for growing companies, including contract drafting and negotiation, investment rounds and entity formation documentation.

18. Best Firm to Help You Conquer the Healthcare Industry: Latham & Watkins LLP

One of the nation’s premiere law firms, Latham & Watkins brought its nationally renowned healthcare law expertise to Chicago in 1982. Unrivaled in its expertise when it comes to legal issues affecting the healthcare industry, the firm has handled some of the largest global transactions in the field. Regardless of your role in the healthcare sector, this is the firm to call for everything from complex contracts to large-scale litigations to regulatory investigations.

19. Best Firm to Handle Your Infrastructure Transactions: Mayer Brown

Founded in Chicago in 1881, Mayer Brown boasts one of the world’s most renowned domestic and cross-border infrastructure practice groups, with several of the team’s key players resident in the Windy City. The firm handles all aspects of infrastructure transactions, including public-private design and construction projects, infrastructure financing, and infrastructure investment fund formation. Their infrastructure clients span all sectors of industry, from mass transit and airports, to bridges and parking, to energy and water. When you need knowledgeable counsel for your next infrastructure deal, this is the firm to call.

20. Best Firm for Lobbying Congress in Your Favor: Locke Lord

This venerable national law firm has long been lauded as one of the country’s political lobbying powerhouses. Windy City corporations can enjoy the firm’s deep public policy expertise thanks to the experienced lawyers in its Chicago office who are part of Locke Lord’s dedicated public law and policy practice group. With a proven record of guiding clients through the complex legislative and regulatory waters, the firm represents companies across all industries. When you need your voice heard on Capitol Hill, Locke Lord delivers.

21. Best Firm to Defend Your Product Liability Lawsuit: Swanson, Martin, & Bell, LLP

The Circuit Court of Cook County is a notoriously inhospitable forum for defendants in product liability lawsuits. Fortunately for manufacturers of firearms, medical devices, automobiles, power tools, or any other product at the center of recurrent litigation, the product liability team at Swanson, Martin & Bell can draw on a wealth of experience to craft cost-effective strategies to secure a favorable business resolution. Not only are the SMB attorneys courtroom veterans, they also have a strong track record advising the legal and financial departments of Fortune 500 companies on cutting edge budgetary strategies involved in product liability defense.