Tom Quinn is a litigator who focuses primarily in the area of complex, high-value civil litigation. Tom has extensive experience handling a broad range of matters, with particular emphasis on defending corporations and financial institutions in securities, commodities, antitrust, and commercial litigation, often in the class action context. He also represents clients before the Commodity Futures Trading Commission, the Securities and Exchange Commission, the Department of Justice, and other federal and state regulatory authorities.

Tom litigates in federal and state courts across the country and his work spans a number of industries, including commodities, futures and options, telecommunications, financial services, pharmaceuticals, consumer goods, and transportation services. He is experienced in all phases of litigation, from pre-litigation counseling and regulatory defense to post-trial judgment enforcement. Tom also understands that every dispute does not require the time, expense, and disruption of preparing a case for trial. Drawing on his experience with high stakes commercial mediations, he helps clients resolve disputes before the cost of litigation overwhelms its risks or rewards.

Tom’s current and recent representations include:

• A major grain trading company in a commodities manipulation and price fixing class action involving wheat futures and options.
• A major food company in a commodities manipulation action brought by the CFTC, and the parallel class action case alleging market manipulation and monopolization.
• A Fortune 500 client in antitrust litigation filed by a competitor alleging illegal refusals to deal and tying.
• A Fortune 500 client in a criminal investigation by the Department of Justice.
• Advertising and private equity clients in an arbitration arising out of a post-closing dispute.
• A US financial institution in state litigation alleging breach of fiduciary duty relating to fund management.
• An international financial institution in its rate-rigging litigation and regulatory matters.
• A US financial institution in its subprime and credit crisis-related litigations and regulatory matters.

Tom maintains an active pro bono practice with a focus on criminal defense work in the Circuit Court of Cook County. He has also litigated federal civil rights cases for pro bono plaintiffs and represented pro bono clients on appeal before the United States Supreme Court. Most recently, representing a group of non-profit organizations dedicated to historic preservation, Tom persuaded the Illinois Appellate Court to recognize that such groups have standing to enforce state preservation laws and to enjoin the demolition of the building at issue in the litigation.

Tom was appointed by the Illinois Supreme Court to serve on the Committee on Character & Fitness. He has also been recognized as an “Emerging Lawyer” by the Leading Lawyers Network.

Earlier in his career, Tom served as a law clerk to the Honorable James F. Holderman of the US District Court for the Northern District of Illinois. Tom also worked as an economist in the antitrust practice of NERA Economic Consulting in New York.