Akerman Continues Rapid Chicago Growth

Akerman Continues Rapid Chicago Growth

Firm Enhances National Strengths in Complex Commercial Litigation and Class Action Defense

CHICAGO — Jan. 28, 2016 — Akerman LLP, a top 100 U.S. law firm serving clients across the Americas, today announced the Chicago office has grown more than five times larger, from eight to 43 lawyers, since opening in February 2014. The office most recently welcomed litigation partners Alyx Pattison and Jason Stiehl, who jointly enhance the firm’s strengths in complex commercial litigation and class action defense. Pattison joins Akerman from the political arena, and is a former partner with Katten Muchin. Stiehl arrives to Akerman from Seyfarth Shaw, where he served as co-chair of the Commercial Class Action Defense Practice Group.

“Alyx and Jason bring valuable experience in complex commercial disputes and multi-district class action defense involving securities, consumer protection and antitrust laws,” said Lawrence Rochefort, chair of the national Litigation Practice Group. “They are accomplished lawyers whose collective experience deepens our litigation bench in Chicago and will enhance our ability to serve clients across industry sectors nationwide.”

Alyx Pattison
Pattison represents publicly traded companies and their directors and officers in securities class actions, liability actions, SEC investigations, corporate governance disputes, antitrust and other complex commercial litigation matters. She handles internal investigations for public and private companies, boards of directors, and special committees, including matters involving allegations of accounting irregularities, inadequate or misleading public disclosures and breaches of fiduciary duties. Additionally, Pattison counsels clients on best practices in technology and e-discovery. She also counsels clients on compliance issues related to the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act, the Fair Credit Reporting Act and the Telephone Consumer Protection Act.

Pattison has been involved in a variety of public service and political activities throughout her career: she served as a director of community outreach and legislative aide for Congresswoman Janice Schakowsky and was a top candidate for Chicago City Council during the 2015 election. She serves on the boards of the Illinois Women’s Institute for Leadership and the Chicago Bar Foundation and has served as a commissioner for the Cook County Commission on Women’s Issues. She also currently serves as the community representative on the local school council for a Chicago public school and has dedicated significant time to pro bono cases, with a particular focus on immigration, asylum and civil rights.

Jason Stiehl
Stiehl represents clients in complex commercial disputes involving trade secrets and restrictive covenants, unfair competition, corporate espionage, contract and intellectual property claims in both state and federal court. Stiehl also assists clients related to managing restrictive covenant obligations, and the creation of policies and procedures related to the protection of trade secrets and corporate assets. He has significant nationwide class action experience, including involvement in multi-district litigation. Stiehl has obtained and defended preliminary and permanent injunctions in several jurisdictions. His client experience includes nationwide representation in the pharmaceutical, consulting, banking, transportation, manufacturing, advertising, real estate, employment, medical equipment, computer and automotive sectors. In addition, his appellate experience includes oral arguments presented before multiple federal circuit courts, as well as the Illinois Supreme Court.

Pattison and Stiehl join Akerman during a time of sustained growth in the Chicago market. The team has welcomed a number of notable partners from various law firms in recent months, including national trial lawyer Dean Dickie; commercial litigators Jeffrey Mayer and Catherine Miller; labor and employment litigators John “Pete” Morrison and John Roache, international patent litigator John Gresens, real estate transactional lawyer Lawrence Eiben, and higher education lawyer LaKeisha Marsh.

The Litigation Practice Group also has maintained growth momentum and industry distinction. The team was recently recognized among the best in the United States by Benchmark Litigation for its multi-state litigation capabilities. In recent months, Akerman’s litigation and appellate lawyers introduced new legal products, including Akerman Bench, a mock oral argument product featuring one of the largest teams of former appellate judges assembled in-house by an Am Law 100 law firm. The firm also recently announced Akerman Data Law Center to help clients quickly and cost-effectively mitigate the inherent risks embedded in swelling corporate data, such as government enforcement actions and litigation exposure. Developed in collaboration with Thomson Reuters Legal Managed Services and Neota Logic, the technology-driven platform represents one of the market’s most comprehensive inventories of U.S. data and privacy laws and regulations.

About Akerman LLP
Akerman LLP is a leading transactions and trial law firm known for core strengths in middle market M&A, within the financial services and real estate industries, and for a diverse Latin America practice. With more than 600 lawyers and government affairs professionals and a network of 20 offices, it is ranked among the top 100 law firms in the United States by The American Lawyer (2015). Akerman also is ranked among the top 50 law firms for diversity in The American Lawyer’s Diversity Scorecard (2015).

Akerman’s Litigation Practice Group has vast experience in a wide range of civil and criminal litigation, including class action defense, securities and corporate litigation, banking, white collar crime and government investigations, insurance, and real estate. The Litigation team is recognized nationally by U.S. News – Best Lawyers in several categories including Commercial Litigation and Appellate.

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