Chicago has long been recognized for its economic vibrance and strategic importance in the global marketplace. As home to numerous international corporate headquarters and US-based operations, the city is an important business center. Established in 1888, our Chicago office of more than 200 lawyers counts many of the region’s Fortune 500 and mid-sized companies among its longstanding clients.The office practiced as Bell, Boyd & Lloyd until it combined with K&L Gates on March 1, 2009.

K&L Gates’ Chicago office offers corporate, intellectual property, litigation and regulatory services to a wide array of businesses in the financial services, manufacturing, life sciences, pharmaceutical, office products, food and entertainment industries. Its nationally-prominent investment management group counsels more than 700 open-end and closed-end mutual funds or their boards. A highly-ranked IP litigation, patent and trademark team combines extensive legal experience with advanced expertise in multiple technical and scientific disciplines. The corporate practice has earned a national reputation for its practice in capital markets, M&A and corporate governance. Commercial litigation, real estate, bankruptcy, antitrust, labor and employment, tax, public finance, healthcare and energy lawyers advise public and private companies, entrepreneurs, government agencies and tax exempt organizations.

Our IP practice in Chicago has 60 lawyers, including more than 30 USPTO-registered professionals, who dedicate their practice to patent, trademark, copyright, licensing, counseling and litigation. Recognized by IP Law & Business as “cutting edge,” our patent group includes many professionals with Ph.D.s or other advanced degrees in electrical, mechanical and chemical engineering, organic chemistry, microbiology and molecular biology. The IP litigation group includes a number of first chair litigators with substantial jury experience. For more than 50 years, our trademarks practice has protected the global brands of some of the nation’s most prominent businesses, and Trademark Insider named the group the #1 trademark practice in Chicago. Fortune 500 corporations regularly engage our intellectual property litigation team to enforce their IP rights.

For more than 40 years, the Chicago office has represented mutual funds and other investment companies or their boards and investment advisers in the design, organization, distribution and marketing of numerous types of investment products and portfolios. Lawyers have organized many of the mutual funds that they represent and have been selected as successor counsel to many funds or their non-interested board members. The group supports independent directors in their exercise of fund governance responsibilities and the increasing challenges they face in that highly-regulated industry. When necessary, we can deploy industry-savvy lawyers, including those who have worked in regulatory agencies, to respond to a governmental or self-regulatory investigation, inquiry or enforcement proceeding.

With 50 corporate and securities lawyers, the Chicago office has a decades-old national practice advising public and private companies of all sizes in capital markets, M&A and corporate governance. Securities experience includes public offerings and private placements of debt and equity, IPOs, shelf offerings, closed-end fund offerings and public stock-for-stock mergers. Transactional experience extends to cross-border transactions, management buyouts, restructurings and private equity and venture capital investments. Corporate attorneys assist in proxy fights and other hostile matters and often function as principal outside counsel to assist clients with business development, joint ventures, technology transfers and commercial endeavors. The office represents commercial and investment banks, finance companies, private equity and venture capital funds, corporate borrowers and high net worth individuals in domestic and international commercial lending transactions. An established public finance team serves as counsel to underwriters, issuers and bondholders.

A 41-attorney commercial litigation practice has represented domestic and international companies in the financial services, pharmaceutical, manufacturing, distribution, construction, scientific testing, mining, food and entertainment industries.  With extensive experience in managing all aspects of complex, multi-district litigation, they have prevailed in the defense of numerous securities class actions and disputes involving professional liability, construction defects, employment discrimination, unfair competition and deceptive trade practice allegations in state trial and appellate courts, in federal circuit and district courts throughout the country and before the US Supreme Court.  Litigators have extensive experience in actions and disputes in product liability defense actions on a nationwide basis and in M&A, corporate takeover and proxy litigation.  These are noted for their experience in defending clients undergoing investigation by the SEC.

Our bankruptcy group in Chicago has represented indenture trustees, bondholder committees and individual holders of debt instruments in dozens of default and bankruptcy situations involving billions of dollars of publicly-issued and privately-placed securities. As counsel to secured lenders in workout and bankruptcy situations, our attorneys negotiate non-bankruptcy workouts which protect the interests of our client, while offering the borrower every chance to turn its financial corner.

Chambers USA rated our 20-lawyer real estate practice one of the top in Chicago. The group represents owners, developers, investors, lenders, borrowers and businesses in commercial, residential and industrial real estate projects. Attorneys are highly regarded for their work in acquisitions and sales, land use and zoning, development, design and construction, public-private partnerships, tax increment financings, leasing and sale-leaseback transactions, litigation and arbitrated dispute resolution. Our lawyers co-wrote the Illinois tax increment financing (TIF) statute and serve as redevelopment, TIF and bond counsel in public-private partnerships to communities throughout Illinois and in twelve other states.

Labor and employment lawyers counsel private companies, public agencies and municipalities in both unionized and non-unionized settings. They are noted for their defense of employment based claims and unfair labor practices and for their experience in handling collective bargaining negotiations, litigation and discrimination charges before the EEOC, the NLRB and municipal, state and federal agencies.

The regulatory practice in the Chicago office includes an experienced antitrust practice that encompasses both traditional antitrust and broader trade regulation involving M&A and joint ventures, distributor, dealer and franchise matters, as well as criminal investigations and prosecutions. Our healthcare practice advises institutional providers, medical groups, health care associations, integrated delivery networks and industry suppliers. Environmental and energy lawyers counsel on regulatory compliance, permitting and litigation and have a growing alternative energy practice performing permit reviews for wind farm construction projects.