The Legal 500

Within Trade secrets, Schiff Hardin LLP is a third tier firm,

Clients seek out Linda Stevens at Schiff Hardin LLP for her 24 years of experience in trade secrets practice, arising from the inception of the Illinois trade secrets statute in 1987 and the firm’s involvement in the seminal Pepsi Co v Redmond case. These days, the trade secrets and restrictive covenant team draws on 20 partners and 20 attorneys to attend to instructions from a wide range of clients to prevent the loss of technology or consumer data-related trade secrets and enforce remedies for breach of restrictive covenants and confidentiality agreements. Among recent matters is the defense of Sonnenschein, Nath & Rosenthal LLP (now SNR Denton) against Huron Consulting’s claim for $30m damages for breach of local trade secrets legislation in relation to the departure of several consultants.

Within M&A: middle-market (sub-$500m), Schiff Hardin LLP is a third tier firm,

Schiff Hardin LLP advises US and multinational businesses in structuring, negotiating and completing domestic and international M&A, and divestitures. The transactions vary in size and scope, ranging from small private acquisitions to multibillion-dollar business combinations. Recent mandates include representing Kraft Foods in its acquisition of General Mills’ breadcrumb manufacturing facility and business located in Federalsburg, Maryland. The team also represented Iron Data, a developer and manager of proprietary data processing systems on behalf of governmental and commercial clients, in its acquisition of Versa Systems of Toronto. In Chicago, Stephen Dragich led teams representing Emaar, a Dubai-based developer and one of the world’s largest real estate companies, in closing its first US acquisition, and acting for Laidlaw, a Canadian-based transportation company in its purchases of ambulance, school bus, and passenger bus companies. Dragich also represented World’s Finest Chocolate, a Chicago-based candy company, in the purchase of a leading business in a segment of the industry. Also Chicago-based Robert Minkus advised NiSource in its acquisition of Columbia Energy Group and the subsequent dispositions of several non-core businesses.

Within Construction (including construction litigation), Schiff Hardin LLP is a second tier firm,

Kenneth Roberts and Mark Friedlander co-chair the construction group at Schiff Hardin LLP, which combines decades of legal experience from lawyers with extensive backgrounds in the industry, whether in architecture, engineering or construction. The core team is based out of the Chicago office, assisting national and international clients throughout the US. Handling both litigation and transactions, the firm also maintains a strong emphasis on providing litigation-avoidance services, regularly facilitating arbitration or mediation as an alternative. Among a wide range of clients, from contractors and special contractors to owners and developers, the firm represents the likes of The Shaw Group, Exelon Corporation and Anixter. The ‘highly qualified’ team is heavily engaged in the energy sector (renewable and non-renewable) and worked on three wind farm projects in 2010 alone. It continued to assist Kansas City Power & Light, for the sixth year running, on a $2bn energy plan intended to meet the future energy, economic, and environmental needs of the greater Kansas City area; the project involves not only developing wind power but also constructing coal plants and applying environmental upgrades. Among a host of long-term energy projects which kept the team busy in 2010, the firm also continued to act for Constellation Energy providing project controls, oversight, and procurement services on a variety of nuclear, fossil, and alternative energy projects, including delivering advice throughout the building phase of Constellation’s $900m coal-powered generating station in Maryland, where the firm helped the client comply with the state’s healthy air legislation. Clients praise the group as bringing ‘invaluable breadth and depth to construction projects’, noting its ‘unmatched capabilities in the construction project controls arena’.