Advocate. Counselor. Neutral.
A solo law and ADR practice based in Chicago and built on three decades of experience litigating high-stakes commercial cases
Phone: 312-371-0533; Email: paul@paulveithlaw.com
Paul Veith Law In A Nutshell
Experience
Experience
Experience
Paul was born and raised in Chicago, Illinois. For more than 34 years, he handled a wide range of cases in the Chicago office of Sidley Austin LLP. He tried cases to judges, juries, and arbitrators. He found ways to creatively settle complex, multi-party cases. And he helped clients find business solutions to resolve disputes before they matured into litigation.
Philosophy
Experience
Experience
Business disputes can be distracting and expensive. Parties should try first to resolve disputes on their own, with or without counsel. Even when a case is filed, there are many ways to focus and streamline proceedings. Parties, lawyers, and the neutrals that are selected to handle their cases should never abandon the goal of efficiently, economically, and expeditiously driving disputes to an end.
Success
Experience
Success
Paul has delivered successful results for clients in many forms and forums. He has achieved outright wins in litigation or arbitration as a first-chair trial lawyer. He has negotiatied complex settlements. He has served as a neutral and delivered on the promise to be unbiased, open-minded, decisive, and prompt. As a solo practitioner, Paul will deliver those results at an exceptional value.
BIOGRAPHY
Education
Paul earned a B.S. in News-Editorial Journalism from the the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign in 1987, earning Bronze Tablet Honors and serving as the Sports Editor of The Daily Illini, an award-winning student newspaper. He earned his J.D. (cum laude) from Harvard Law School in 1990, where he served as President of the Board of Student Advisers.
Law Firm Experience
Paul joined the Chicago office of Sidley Austin LLP in 1990, and became a Partner in 1998. He retired from Sidley on June 30, 2024, and immediately started his solo pracice. Paul practiced in the General Litigation and Intellectual Property Litigation groups, and led the Firm's Software and Trade Secrets Practice. Additionally, Paul led the Firm's Summer Associate Program in Chicago or firmwide for more than a decade.
ADR Experience
Paul joined the American Arbitration Association's National Panel of Commercial Arbitrators and began accepting appointment to cases in 2023. As an advocate, Paul had extensive experience arbitrating and mediating cases, and developed a deep respect for the potential of ADR to facilitate resolution of cases efficiently and economically. Paul recognizes that ADR is first and foremost party-driven, but also believes neutrals can play a critical role in helping parties achieve their objectives. Parties in arbitration can be sure Paul will manage cases with attention to detail, will be ultra-responsive to requests for his input, and will render decisions thoughfully after impartially considering the facts and the law.
Practice Areas / Industries
Paul's experience at Sidley covered a wide range of subject areas, including breach of contract and related business torts, fraud, trade secrets, false advertising, unfair competition, trademarks and copyrights, patents, and many others. Paul has substantial experience representing customers, developers, consulting firms, and implementers in disputes arising out of troubled or failed software implementation projects.
Paul has represented clients in dozens of industries, including wireless telecommunications, cable and internet services, banking, investment data, insurance, financial services, consumer electronics, quick service restaurants, building products manufacturing, sports marketing and television production, software development, gaming, and many others.
On request, Paul can provide a list of specific representative engagements.
SERVICES
Arbitration and Mediation
In 2023, Paul began accepting appointment as an arbitrator, and his desire to expand his work as a neutral was a major factor in his transition from a large, international law firm to a solo law practice. His three decades of experience included representation of plaintiffs and defendants in litigation as well as claimants and respondents in arbitration. Paul is determined to become a nationally sought-after neutral. Having mediated dozens of cases over the years, he is available to accept mediation assignments as another means of leveraging his experience to help parties solve problems.
Business and Personal Litigation Counseling and Representation
Businesses and individuals occasionally face unwelcome, distracting, and potentially expensive disputes. Paul will leverage his experience as a litigator, negotiator, and (most recently) as a neutral to assist clients in forming and executing a strategy to resolve disputes or to win where those disputes cannot be resolved. As appropriate, Paul will represent parties in court or arbitration proceedings himself, or will access his extensive network of litigators to assist them in finding cost-effective counsel well-suited for their cases. Paul can serve the role of in-house chief litigation counsel on a case-by-case basis to allow business owners and managers to continue to focus attention on their business's core goals.
Party and Non-Party "Conflicts" Representation and Witness Preparation
Employees, board members, and executives often find themselves involuntarily swept up in litigation involving their current or former companies. In many cases, these individuals need or want separate counsel to exclusively represent and protect their interests. Paul can expertly serve in that role, having represented hundreds of individuals over the course of his career who were parties or witnesses in corporate-focused litigation. Among other things, Paul has prepared hundreds of witnesses before they sat for deposition and trial testimomy during his career, and developed a highly-effective process for doing so.
Due Diligence, Investigation, "Second Look," And "Mock" Services
Parties considering acquiring or investing in businesses often engage experienced litigation counsel to perform due diligence on pending or potential litigation. Paul can perform and candidly provide litigation analysis efficiently and economically, and lead investigation into facts and circumstances that pose legal risk and warrant independent review.
Parties finding themselves engaged in high-stakes litigation can often benefit from a neutral and sober analysis of their cases performed by a non-involved lawyer. Paul has worked on several matters where he was asked to objectively evaluate and offer insights on a claim, defense, or litigation strategy in cases being handled by other firms.
Where stakes are high, parties often seek to present their cases to moot courts, mock juries, or mock arbitrators in order to gather feedback that can be employed to adjust trial/hearing strategy, evaluate settlement positions, or for myriad other reasons. Paul can take on many roles in such proceedings -- whether as a senior, first-chair presenter for the "other" side's case, as a mock arbitrator, or as a lawyer available to work with lawyers and their vendors to brainstorm and design formats and exercises that generate valuable feedback.