A. PATRICK ANDES

Legal Writing and Research

Appellate Advocacy*

Commercial Arbitration and Litigation

Contracts and Contract Litigation

Corporate, Employment, Franchise, and Partnership Law

Divorce and Family Law

Eminent Domain and the URA

Fiduciary Breach, Fraud, Civil RICO, and Tort Law

Intellectual Property (Non-Patent)

Internet Jurisdiction and Law

Patent License Agreements

Second Request/Antitrust Discovery (FTC, DOJ, SEC)

Securities/Minority Shareholder Suits

Suretyship Law

Tenant-Landlord and Commercial Leases

Workers’ Compensation/Personal Injury

As both a litigation associate and a contract attorney, I have researched and authored documents across the entire spectrum of motions, responses, pleadings, discovery, trial briefs, appeals and more in the litigation setting. These documents have prevailed in multiple states in civil and commercial litigation, arbitration, and appeals, as well as in supreme, federal, and circuit courts in various jurisdictions and the Illinois Workers’ Compensation Commission. I have also authored a broad range of complex transactional documents from corporate bylaws and partnership agreements to commercial leases and service contracts. As such, I have over twelve years of experience in the commercial law firm and solo practitioner setting, and I love to write.

Let me say that again. I love to write.

I earned CALI Awards for highest grade in Legal Writing and Advanced Evidence at Chicago-Kent College of Law, one of the country’s top legal writing programs.

Oral argument, even in appellate advocacy, is an all-but-dead art. Today, the majority of appellate courts deny oral argument except in a handful of cases. Moreover, in circuit and federal district courts, judges so firmly arrive at their ruling after reading the briefs that counsel are given the bum’s rush, even in nuanced disputes.

The fate of a matter worth hundreds of thousands or millions of dollars will be decided, not by months and years of discovery and depositions, but by the thick packet of paper you filed with the court. My entire mission—and greatest talent—lies in making every paragraph of that filing as forceful and persuasive as it can possibly be.

Finally, in addition to a more compelling work product, by using a contract attorney for such projects, you free up more time for the dep prep you’re in the midst of right now, or the big arbitration or trial you and the associate you’re doing it with are preparing for. And, when you use a contract attorney for legal services, under ABA Formal Opinion 00-420, you can add a surcharge when you bill your client for those services. (See FAQ.)

My motto is: a good lawyer just needs the facts on his side; a great lawyer only needs a side to argue the facts.