Firm Overview
Areas of Practice
Attorneys
Representative Clients
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Thomas D. Brooks, Partner
Mr. Brooks is an experienced advocate with a background in civil litigation, arbitration,
government investigations, and contested regulatory proceedings. He has expertise in
complex matters involving issues of contract, fiduciary duty, securities, insurance,
patent infringement, consumer and other law, and in the context of various industries. Mr. Brooks has practiced at both the trial and appellate level in federal and state fora nationwide, and in both domestic and international arbitrations. In addition to his litigation and arbitration work for both plaintiffs and defendants, Mr. Brooks has counseled clients regarding corporate restructuring, intellectual property, regulatory, white collar, and other issues; and written on issues of First Amendment and defamation law. Prior to joining Sperling & Slater in 2000, Mr. Brooks was with the Chicago office of Jones, Day, Reavis & Pogue.
Education
J.D., cum laude, Northwestern University School of Law, 1995 (Articles editor, Journal of Criminal Law and Criminology)
B.A. in Philosophy, Yale University, 1988
Representative Matters
Directors and Officers
Mr. Brooks has represented corporate directors and officers faced with claims brought by creditors and shareholders alleging violations of state fiduciary duty laws and breaches of federal securities laws. He has also represented such individuals in the context of Securities and Exchange Commission investigations of potential insider trading and fraud. Such representation also often entails addressing issues of insurance coverage and indemnification for the individual director/officer. While such issues often do not require formal litigation, Mr. Brooks and the firm are prepared to litigate them to the extent necessary, as reflected by the case Robertson-Ceco Corp. v. National Union Fire Ins. Co., 292 F.Supp. 2d 1082 (N.D.Ill. 2003), in which our client obtained a multimillion dollar award finding that a major D&O insurer had breached its obligations by failing to provide coverage for the settlement of a shareholder action.
Bankruptcy and Insolvency Litigation
A substantial portion of Mr. Brooks’ work involves representing parties in the context of corporate bankruptcies. He is currently representing the former directors and officers of certain now-bankrupt public companies in, among other matters, cases brought against them by the company’s creditors in bankruptcy court, and by their shareholders in federal district court and state court. He has also represented creditors advancing or defending claims in the context of corporate bankruptcies.
Commercial Litigation
Mr. Brooks has served as counsel in a variety of business disputes, often of a complex nature and often arising in the context of corporate mergers and acquisitions. For example, he has handled claims for both plaintiffs and defendants arising out of failed stock transactions; defended corporate sellers against plaintiffs claiming they are entitled to brokerage commissions for M&A and other transactions; and defended a seller against a buyer seeking indemnification for a substantial post-sale patent infringement judgment. While at Jones Day, Mr. Brooks was also part of a team that won multi-jurisdictional regulatory approval for the merger and restructuring of two public utilities. Outside the merger and acquisition arena, Mr. Brooks was counsel to Bering Truck Distribution, LLC, which prevailed in an international arbitration on claims that its exclusive agreement to distribute Hyundai commercial vehicles in the U.S. was terminated in bad faith by Hyundai; and served as counsel in a variety of other contractual and business disputes, including Archer-Daniels-Midland Co. v. Illinois Commerce Commission, 704 N.E.2d 387 (Ill. 1998), in which his client, in a contested hearing, won regulatory approval to modify a multimillion dollar coal supply contract, and successfully appealed a subsequent reversal of that decision to the Illinois Supreme Court. In the area of consumer law, Mr. Brooks has defended claims brought against a major credit reporting agency, and involving the timeshare industry.
Intellectual Property Related Litigation
In addition to his work with respect to claims for indemnification for patent infringement (which pertained to the medical device industry), Mr. Brooks has coordinated discovery and other pretrial matters in patent infringement cases pertaining to the pharmaceutical industry, see Abbott Laboratories v. Torpharm, Inc., 156 F.Supp. 2d 738 (N.D.Ill. 2001), and participated in the firm’s representation of the Lemelson Medical, Education and Research Foundation, in connection with the foundation’s interests in the portfolio of patents of inventor Jerome Lemelson.
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Thomas D. Brooks
312-641-3200
tdbrooks@sperling-law.com
Sperling & Slater
55 West Monroe Street
Suite 3200
Chicago, Illinois 60603
312-641-3200
fax: 312-641-6492
info@sperling-law.com
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