Michael Dockterman

Michael Dockterman is a partner and member of the executive committee at Wildman, Harrold, Allen & Dixon LLP, a full service law firm with one of the nation’s premier litigation practices. Named by The National Law Journal as one of the Top 10 Winning Litigators in the United States, and described by Chambers & Partners as a lawyer who “can see through the garbage and cut to the chase,” Mr. Dockterman specializes in complex civil and criminal business litigation, securities and derivative litigation, and in advising clients on matters of corporate governance and compliance.

Mr. Dockterman’s extensive litigation and trial experience ranges from private commercial matters through disputes with the federal government. He has appeared as principal trial counsel in state and federal courts in over half of the United States, and has tried securities, antitrust, intellectual property, environmental, contract, fraud and product liability cases, as well as a variety of amateur sports disputes, and both federal and state white collar criminal cases. Mr. Dockterman also has represented both corporate and individual interests in grand jury and other government investigations across the country involving government contracting, securities, corporate fraud, antitrust, environmental, and other regulatory matters.

In addition, drawing in part from his experience defending board actions in securities and derivative litigation, Mr. Dockterman has counseled corporations and boards of directors on matters of corporate governance and compliance, including advising board committees on fulfilling their obligations under corporate and securities laws. Working with audit committees, corporate governance committees, and special committees of independent directors in such high-profile matters as Archer Daniels Midland Company and Exide Corporation, Mr. Dockterman has hands-on experience in CEO evaluation, board self-assessment, committee function and structure, and facilitating strategic planning within the roles appropriate to management and board members. He has dealt with institutional investors in both cooperative and adversarial contexts, and has litigated issues of corporate governance in derivative litigation. Mr. Dockterman has represented management, special litigation committees, board members, outside auditors, and others in a broad variety of related securities and governance litigation, including contests for corporate control, the defense of alleged director wrongdoing, alleged misrepresentations in public offerings, alleged accounting malpractice, and other securities claims. He is currently representing boards and executives in matters arising from the new securities requirements concerning executive compensation.

Mr. Dockterman also has extensive experience handling investigations by federal, state, and local authorities. He has led corporate responses to investigations by the Department of Justice (Main Justice), the Antitrust Division, the SEC, the Department of Defense, the Department of Commerce, the Postal Service, several U.S. Attorneys offices, the Attorneys General of various states, and numerous municipal authorities. He also has conducted internal investigations for corporate clients involving subjects as diverse as defense contracting, antitrust, accounting, health care, executive misconduct, corporate theft and environmental, and other regulatory matters, and has acted as special counsel to the Bankruptcy Court investigating and then pursuing assets wasted by those responsible for their administration. Much of Mr. Dockterman’s grand jury and internal investigative work remains confidential, but some matters have become public. He also has represented lawyers before the Attorney Registration and Disciplinary Commission and other professionals before the Department of Professional Regulation.

Mr. Dockterman was the lead trial lawyer for Toys “R” Us in its successful litigation with Amazon.com over the Toysrus.com website, Toysrus.com, et al. v. Amazon.com et al., filed in 2004. He repeated that success when the appellate court affirmed the trial court’s decision to return the website to Toys “R” Us in 2006 and remanded for a further finding of damages to be awarded for the breach, which Amazon then settled by paying Toys “R” Us $51 million in 2009.

This is only one of several “once in a lifetime” cases Mr. Dockterman has tried to verdict. On four days notice, Mr. Dockterman defended the City of Chicago in an eight week trial in state court challenging the largest public works project in the country, construction of the People-Mover for O’Hare International Airport. The trial vindicated the city’s procurement process and disposed of all challenges to the City’s award of the contract.

Mr. Dockterman was engaged by directors of Archer-Daniels-Midland Corporation following a raid by the FBI on the company’s headquarters. Mr. Dockterman became counsel to the company’s newly formed governance committee, defended directors in federal and state court derivative and shareholder actions in Illinois and Delaware. The litigation was resolved by a groundbreaking settlement that ensured governance reforms in the company, affirmed by the United States Supreme Court, and ultimately led Mr. Dockterman to conduct a two-year worldwide audit of the company’s legal compliance with the agreement of plaintiffs’ counsel, the board, and the courts which approved the settlement of the shareholder claims.

Mr. Dockterman also tried the landmark “Clickety-Clack Track” trade secrets case to a successful jury verdict. At issue was whether two inventors who modified a piece of wooden toy train track under an oral non-disclosure agreement could claim ownership of the trade secret in the face of a patent obtained by the people for whom they had cut the sample so it made noise when a toy train ran over it. The jury sided with the inventors, awarding them a lifetime royalty in the track and all products developed to run on the track. The trial court entered judgment notwithstanding the verdict, but the court of appeals reversed, entered judgment for the inventors and remanded for a finding of further damages and attorney’s fees. The court of appeals opinion sets the standard by which trade secrets may be proven under the Uniform Trade Secrets Act.

Currently, Mr. Dockterman is representing a leading firearms manufacturer against consolidated securities class actions lawsuit filed in the United States District Court for the District of Connecticut on behalf of the company’s shareholders against allegations that certain officers and directors of the company violated Federal Securities Laws by issuing statements about inventory practices that were allegedly materially misleading or failed to disclose specific adverse facts.

Representative Experience:

Currently representing clients in connection with an international cartel investigation.
Representing a business and tax consulting company against multibillion dollar claims brought by the bankruptcy trustee for certain bankrupt hedge funds alleging failure to detect a ponzi scheme.
Currently defending antitrust, copyright and RICO claims against a standard-setting body and its related entities for alleged exclusionary and predatory conduct.
Arbitrated a number of complex commercial matters, including the dispute between Toys “R” Us and Chase over their co-branded credit card program.
Advised several boards on reorganizing nonprofit organizations to bring them to an equal position with the standards required of public corporations under Sarbanes-Oxley and the listing standards of the principal self-regulatory organizations.
Served as Illinois counsel to Kmart Holding, Inc., and its principal shareholder in its successful defense of litigation challenging the merger of Kmart and Sears.
Served as counsel to Blackstone in its successful defense of a number of matters in Illinois arising from its acquisition of Equity Office Properties. EOP Operating Limited Partnership and Blackhawk Parent, LLC v. Warren E. Speiker, Jr., et al., 07 CH 19272 (Cook County Circuit Court), EOP Operating Limited Partnership and Blackhawk Parent, LLC v. Tooley Trust, UA 12/16/99, et al. 07 CH 21541 (Cook County Circuit Court), Philip Beck v. Equity Office Properties Trust, et al., 06-C-6411 (Northern District of Illinois).
Appeared in a number of securities or derivative litigation, either for the company, for the board of directors, for committees of the board, or for the company’s auditors. These engagements include, In re AMF Bowling Securities Litigation (company), Felzen v. Andreas (board), United States v. Exide Corporation (board), In the Matter of Mercury Finance Company of Illinois (outside auditors), In re Nanophase Technologies Corporation Securities (company), In re Safety-Kleen Corp. (outside auditors), and In re Int’l Jensen Incorporated Shareholders Litigation (management).
Recent civil antitrust litigation includes Toys “R” Us, Inc. v. MasterCard and Visa (Section 1 and Section 2), In re Polypropylene Carpet Antitrust Litigation (Section 1), and In re Nylon Carpet Antitrust Litigation (Section 1).
Some recent intellectual property trials include ONDEO Nalco Company v. Eka Chemicals, Inc. and Learning Curve, Inc. v. PlayWood, Inc, noted above. He was lead trial lawyer for Northrop Grumman in Technology Solutions v. Northrop Grumman Corp., a case involving the B-2 bomber, and for Motorola in Motorola v. DBTel (preliminary injunction over use of mobile phone technology) and in ViaStar v. Motorola (technology for remote monitoring of utilities).

Pro Bono Activity:

Over the years, as part of his pro bono commitment, Mr. Dockterman has represented a number of amateur athletes in their disputes with various national and international governing bodies and Olympic committees, including a trial before the International Olympic Committee itself to clear an American weightlifter of charges he used performance enhancing drugs. Another one of his clients won an Olympic gold medal after Mr. Dockterman successfully defended challenges in arbitration and in federal court to her eligibility to compete. Mr. Dockterman also was the first to recover damages from a national governing body for breach of fiduciary duty by wrongly excluding an athlete from an Olympic Team.

Publications And Presentations:

Co-Editor of IICLE's 2010 Supplement to Class Actions, published by IICLE Press in April 2010.
Chaired programs on such topics as The Convergence of Compliance and Corporate Governance: The Blue Ribbon Committee’s Report on Improving the Effectiveness of Corporate Audit Committees and What General Counsel Need to Know About Institutional Investors’ Positions on Corporate Governance
Appeared on numerous panels in the U.S. and Europe addressing compliance, including Compliance Programs: Best Practices; Designing and Implementing Effective Compliance Programs; Compliance Programs After Caremark; and How to Design a Compliance Program to Meet Your Company’s Needs Without Creating a Costly Bureaucracy
Regularly lectures at director’s institutes at the Kellogg School of Management on Corporate Governance Issues and the Sarbanes-Oxley Act
Contributed to several journals and continuing legal education handbooks on antitrust, class action, and criminal issues
Authored chapters for books on White Collar Law Client Strategies and the Attorney-Client Privilege in Internal Investigations, and for a leading treatise on Illinois class action practice
Frequent contributor to American Bar Association publications on governance and antitrust
Served as an instructor at regional programs of the National Institute for Trial Advocacy
Served as a guest instructor at the Duke University School of Law Trial Practice Program

Professional Associations:

Chair, Board of Visitors of Duke University School of Law, 2007-2009
Former president, Duke University School of Law’s Alumni Association
Member, President’s Circle of the Chicago Council on Global Affairs
Leading Litigators in the United States, Lawdragon
Leading Lawyers in America, Lawdragon
Leader in the field of Commercial Litigation, Chambers & Partners
Best Lawyers in America
Top 100 Super Lawyers in Illinois
Who’s Who in the World
Who’s Who in America
Who’s Who in the Midwest
Who’s Who in American Law
Who’s Who in Practicing Attorneys
Who’s Who in Business and Finance, and Leading Illinois Attorneys

Bar Admissions:

U.S. Supreme Court

Supreme Court of Illinois

U.S. Courts of Appeal for the Second, Fourth, Sixth, Seventh, Ninth, and Federal Circuits

U.S. District Courts in Illinois and Michigan

U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Missouri

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