William J. Gibbons retired from the partnership in December 2006. A partner with the Chicago office since its opening in 1982, Mr. Gibbons was managing partner of the Chicago office from 1995 to 2000.
Mr. Gibbons had over 25 years' experience as a trial lawyer. His broad litigation practice has featured class actions, securities fraud matters, antitrust and franchise cases, consumer credit matters and civil rights litigation, as well as a panoply of business torts, such as fiduciary duty claims. His experience included all aspects of federal civil procedure and he won numerous jury trials, including those involving alleged race discrimination in a public accommodations setting and a multi-million dollar breach of contract action involving the alleged appointment of an automobile dealer as a representative of a luxury line, as well as many bench trials. He successfully overturned an ex parte TRO which had been preventing the closing of a US$30 million sale of an on-going business, and resisted the motion for a preliminary and permanent injunction in that regard. He was also involved in several consumer class action matters, truth in lending act matters and various significant breach of contract actions.
Mr. Gibbons was a member of the Litigation Section of the American Bar Association, the Chicago Council of Lawyers, a past Director of the Chicago Chapter of the Federal Bar Association and a past Chairman of the Class Litigation Committee of the Chicago Bar Association.