Kathleen Currie Chavez is a founding partner of Foote, Mielke, Chavez & O’Neil, LLC. Ms. Chavez is nationally regarded as a brilliant, energetic, enthusiastic, creative and highly skilled trial attorney who is experienced in handling a wide range of matters from individual cases to complex multi-party and multi-district litigation. She has spent her career advocating for justice for individuals, employees, employers, executives, professionals, small and mid-size companies, corporations, organizations and governmental entities, who have been injured or suffered loss due to fraud, deception, unfair competition, discrimination, harassment, illegal pay practices, environmental contamination, breach of contract, defective products, automobile accidents and a host of other injustices. Ms. Chavez also handles general commercial and transactional matters for companies, as well as International law. In every case, and with every client, Ms. Chavez tenaciously pursues excellence, outstanding results and justice.
Ms. Chavez has helped clients with transactions and to obtain judgments, verdicts, settlements and recoveries worth over $15 billion dollars. While obtaining unprecedented results through contested-proceedings and litigation, Ms. Chavez frequently uses alternative dispute resolution with equal success and greater efficiency. She believes that sometimes the best results can be achieved by utilizing a much less costly and time-consuming process. Ms. Chavez successfully uses a “solutions-based” strategy and frequently engages with her clients in active “problem-solving” and other resolution- focused techniques. She has extensive training and experience in mediation, arbitration, settlement negotiations and transactional work requiring creativity, innovative solutions and tough compromises. Her exceptional professional achievements and well-earned national reputation is reflected in her selections and recognition by numerous prestigious peer-reviewed ratings, such as Super Lawyers, The National Trial Lawyers Top 25 Women, Leading Lawyers, The National Trial Lawyers Top 100, Lawyers of Distinction, Esteemed Lawyers of America and Top Verdict Award. Ms. Chavez earned her Juris Doctor degree in 1998 from Northwestern University School of Law and a Bachelor of Science degree in Finance from Northern Illinois University in 1995. She was admitted to the Illinois bar in 1998, District of Columbia in 2018 and is admitted in the United States District Court for the Northern District of Illinois, United States District Court for the Southern District of Illinois, United States District Court for the Southern District of Illinois, the Federal Trial Bar and the Federal Court of Claims. Ms. Chavez has also been admitted pro hac vice in numerous cases nationwide. She has extensive litigation experience in multi-district litigation (“MDL”), federal and state civil litigation, class action litigation, arbitrations (including class and multi-plaintiff) and litigation before administrative tribunals, such as the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission. Ms. Chavez is an accomplished trial attorney who has extensive experience in all aspects of complex civil litigation including such tasks as: case investigation, pleadings, discovery, e-discovery, document review, motion practice, trial (including class action), appeals and mediation/settlements. Her practice is focused on complex civil cases (including class, multi-plaintiff, mass tort and individual) involving competition, consumer fraud, unfair trade practices, environmental, technology, trademark, qui tam, civil rights, breach of contract, Racketeering Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act (“RICO”), employment, wage and hour, insurance and other state and federal statutory and common law claims. Ms. Chavez was a certified arbitrator, mediator and American Arbitration Association (“AAA”) Employment Panel Arbitrator. Ms. Chavez is involved in numerous professional organizations and is a frequent lecturer for accredited continuing legal education (CLE) programs nationwide, a speaker at conferences, seminars and symposiums.
Super Lawyers
Leading Lawyers
The National Trial Lawyers Top 100
The National Trial Lawyers Top 25 Women
Lawyers of Distinction