We represent major corporations, partnerships, and individuals from a variety of industries in appeals in state and federal court on important issues involving class action claims and shareholder derivative claims, breach of contract claims, legal malpractice defense, whistleblower actions, public contract bids, products liability claims and personal injury claims (appeals only). We have been lead counsel or co-counsel on some of the most important appeals in Illinois, including then-candidate Rahm Emanuel’s appeal to the Supreme Court of Illinois in the case challenging his qualifications to run for Mayor of Chicago. We served as appellate co-counsel for Philip Morris in its successful appeal to the Supreme Court of Illinois of a record $10 billion judgment rendered in a Consumer Fraud and Deceptive Business Practice Act case. We successfully obtained discretionary review in the Illinois Supreme Court on behalf of Enterprise Rent-a-Car and National Car and, ultimately, prevailed on a constitutional challenge to the City of Chicago’s extraterritorial application of its rental car tax. The powerhouse team of Kevin M. Forde and Joanne R. Driscoll co-chair our appellate practice. Kevin is an elected Fellow in the American Academy of Appellate Lawyers, has been selected, by peer vote, to the Best Lawyers in America for appeals since 1993, and is the former President of the Chicago Bar Association. He has argued a number of significant appeals before the Supreme Court of the United States and the Supreme Court of Illinois. Joanne is an elected Fellow in the American Academy of Appellate Lawyers and has been selected, by peer vote, as a Leading Lawyer for civil appellate law since 2010 and as an Illinois Super Lawyer, Appellate, since 2016. In 2015, she was named as one of the top five women appellate lawyers in Illinois, and she served as President of the Illinois Appellate Lawyers Association from 2016-17.
