Jim is a trial lawyer, practicing in state and federal courts across the country. In Chambers USA, clients laud Jim as “a great litigation strategist,” who “thinks outside the box,” -- a lawyer who is “very business minded and always keeps our objectives in mind.” Jim chairs the Intellectual Property Practice and is a member of the firm’s Policy & Planning Committee.
Representative Experience
Representative clients include:
- American Express
- Blockshopper.com
- Chicago Cubs
- Chicago Tribune
- Classified Ventures
- Home Shopping Network
- Michael Jackson
- Sara Lee
- S.C. Johnson
- Sharp Electronics
Jim has tried patent, copyright and trademark cases before juries, judges and the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office. He has litigated a variety of mechanical, electrical and medical device patent disputes. His trial philosophy is to keep it simple and interesting.
For plaintiffs, Jim won the largest condemnation award in Illinois ($54.4 million for the McCormick Hotel) and the then largest trademark judgment in the U.S. ($26.6 million). For defendants, he has tried and won consumer fraud class actions on the merits and obtained defense jury verdicts in libel and IP trials.
Jim has a special competence in the First Amendment’s press, speech and religious clauses.
His most recent patent settlement was in 2008 for Fastenetix, LLC in an action against Medtronic Sofamor Danek, Inc., No. 06-2070-SRC-PS (U.S. Dist. N.J.), for which Medtronic publicly reported a $125 million settlement of claims and sale of patents.
Jim’s most recent jury win was for S.C. Johnson in Buzz Off Insect Shield, LLC and International Garment Technologies, LLC, v. S.C. Johnson & Son, Inc., No. 1:05CV00363 (M.D. N.C.). (Judgment entered March, 2009.)
Jim’s most recent patent win was for Boeing in Imagecube, LLC v. The Boeing Company, et al., Case No. 04 CV 7587 (judgment of non-infringement).