Lisa D. Johnson

Lisa Johnson is an attorney in the Labor and Employment Practice Group in the firm’s Chicago office.

Areas of Practice

Lisa is a business litigation attorney. Her complex commercial litigation practice includes labor and employment, shareholder/partnership disputes, consumer protection and class action, manufacturing, financial services, insurance, trade secret misappropriation, copyright infringement and other intellectual property cases. She also has an educational background and expertise in organizational structure and psychology, making her a particularly valuable asset to the firm’s investigation and corporate due diligence teams. Lisa is experienced with document review platforms used for electronic discovery (eDiscovery) and enables the firm to expertly manage large document review projects for litigation, administrative and regulatory proceedings in the most cost effective manner.

Lisa has appeared before trial and appellate courts across the country, having served as lead and local counsel for clients across many industries.

Experience

Lisa’s notable experience and past successes include:

• served as co-counsel in a successful action against the Village of Elwood resulting in a $1.2 million settlement for client;
• served as co-chair in a trial against a guarantor of debt to Australian client resulting in a judgment of more than $1 million;
• served as both lead and co-counsel in trade secret, restrictive covenant and unfair competition cases;
• obtained dismissal of action against the guarantor of $250,000 debt incurred by judgment debtor under a factoring and security agreement;
• obtained dismissal of personal injury action against client sued for damages in excess of insurance policy, despite insurance company’s decision to pay rather than fight claim;
• obtained dismissal of personal injury action against client involved in a five-car pile-up;
• assisted in the successful defense of claims brought by a software vendor resulting in a directed verdict for client after a seven-day trial;
• assisted in the successful defense of a dissenters rights’ appraisal action saving the client more than a million after court adopted our expert’s share valuation;
• successfully defended, prosecuted and settled complex bankruptcy matters as well as routine matters such as objections to proof of claims, defense of preference actions, motions to lift stay, and other core bankruptcy proceedings;
• successfully defended, prosecuted and settled a range of actions seeking injunctive relief from the court to enforce restrictive covenants, protect trade secrets and prevent unfair competition, including numerous actions for and/or against insurance brokers;
• successfully managed client’s acquisition of a competitor’s insurance brokerage team and multi-state risks associated with employee non-competes and restrictive covenants; and
• drafted numerous opinion letters and recommendations on the enforceability of restrictive covenants governed by Illinois and other state laws.

Lisa also gained valuable and transferrable experience working in-house for a large mortgage servicing company.  Among other valuable services, Lisa provided the following assistance and support to C-level executives as in-house counsel prior to joining the firm:

• developed and directed outside counsel with respect to litigation and settlement strategies in a wide range of matters, including contested foreclosures, class action lawsuits, consumer protection claims, title disputes, bankruptcy, and personal injury suits;
• actively managed attorney fees and other litigation costs, working closely with business units to develop cost effective resolution alternatives for actual and/or threatened litigation;
• provided information and analysis for management reports tracking law department performance and root causes for litigation;
• developed performance metrics and reporting requirements for outside counsel;
• advised business units daily with respect to day-to-day operations and the status of specific litigated matters;
• trained and managed loan analysts serving as corporate representatives for purposes of verifying pleadings, affidavits, and other legal documents, appearing for trials, depositions, and mediations, and responding to high-level discovery and litigated subpoenas;
• supervised and directed litigation analysts with respect to research and analysis required to develop effective litigation and settlement strategies and timely respond to governmental inquiries and investigations;
• developed a 3-day training program and other training materials for analyzing common legal issues, establishing a proper foundation for business records, and preparing for appearances; and
• implemented various process improvements to increase department’s institutional knowledge and informational resources.