Jim has helped recover hundreds of millions of dollars in class and collective wage and hour litigation, biometric privacy, data privacy and cybersecurity rights, consumer fraud, catastrophic personal injury, and other complex litigation. In addition, Jim has helped secure groundbreaking and precedent-setting appellate decisions in the areas of wage and hour law, consumer fraud and employee privacy.
Jim has been appointed lead or co-lead counsel in over 100 complex class actions throughout the United States. He has successfully tried over a dozen major jury trials and argued over 15 appeals as lead appellate counsel before federal and state appellate courts, including four before the Illinois Supreme Court. In addition to his admission to numerous trial and appellate courts, Jim is a member of the bar of the Supreme Court of the United States.
Jim is frequently invited as a speaker at national class action litigation and trial seminars, have testified before legislative bodies, and worked on legislation designed to protect worker rights.
Jim has received multiple awards and accolades throughout his career. In 2000, the Chicago Law Bulletin named Jim one of the “Top 40 Lawyers Under Age 40,” one of the youngest lawyers ever bestowed this honor. In addition, for each consecutive year since 2009, Chicago Magazine has recognized Jim as an Illinois Super Lawyer, a distinction given to no more than 5% of the lawyers in the state. Jim’s peers also think highly of his legal knowledge and capabilities. They have rated him the highest level of professional excellence, 5.0 stars on Martindale-Hubbell, the gold standard in attorney ratings. Jim also has a 10/10 Superb rating from AVVO – an online legal services marketplace.
Listen to Jim explain the Biometric Information Privacy Act on the ‘Employee to Lawyer’ podcast here.
Awards
Jim and his cases have been profiled by numerous media outlets including the Chicago Tribune, the Chicago Sun-Times, Billboard Magazine and TMZ. Jim was also interviewed by CBS Consumer Watch. Jim is frequently invited as a speaker at national class action litigation seminars.
Professional and Community Activities
- Co-chair of the Consumer Privacy Committee of the Illinois Trial Lawyers Association: 2023-2024
- Established endowed scholarship fund at University of Illinois at Chicago: 2021
- Invited speaker at National Employment Lawyers Association (IL): 2021
- Rehabilitation Institute of Chicago Volunteer: 2008-Present
- Illinois Trial Lawyers Association: 1997-Present
- Illinois State Bar Association: 1997-Present
- National Employment Lawyers Association: 2007- Present
- Invited speaker at Illinois Institute for Continuing Legal Education: 2018-2022
- Invited speaker at Illinois State Bar Association: 2018-2019
- Invited speaker at the Illinois Trial Lawyers Association: 2016
- Contributing Author, American Bar Association Federal Labor Standards Legislation Subcommittee, Midwinter Report: 2016
- Invited speaker at the Chicago Bar Association: 2008 and 2016
- Invited speaker at the Practicing Law Institute: 2012 and 2015
- Invited speaker at the Bridgeport Continuing Education Wage & Hour Seminar: 2012 and 2014
- Chicago Food Pantry Volunteer: 2012
Education
DePaul University College of Law, J.D., with honor, Order of the Coif, 1995
University of Illinois Chicago, Political Science, with distinction, 1992
Admitted to Practice:
Illinois, 1995
United States Supreme Court, 2017
United States District Court for the Northern District of Illinois, 1996 (admitted to Trial Bar)
Admitted pro hac vice in the Central District of Illinois, the District of New Jersey, the Southern and Eastern Districts of New York, the District of Maryland, the Southern District of Ohio, the Northern, Middle and Southern Districts of Florida, the District of Massachusetts, the Western District of Washington, the District of Minnesota, the Southern and Northern Districts of Iowa, the Eastern and Middle Districts of Pennsylvania, the Western District of North Carolina, the Superior Court for the State of California, the Northern District of Texas, the Eastern District of Missouri and the Eastern District of Michigan.