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 in 2006 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, 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.

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. Some recent matters in which Mr. Dockterman has appeared in securities or derivative litigation, either for the company, for the board of directors, for committees of the board, or for the company’s auditors, include In re AMF Bowling Securities Litigation, Felzen v. Andreas, United States v. Exide Corporation, In the Matter of Mercury Finance Company of Illinois, In re Nanophase Technologies Corporation Securities, In re Safety-Kleen Corp., and In re Int’l Jensen Incorporated Shareholders Litigation. Mr. Dockterman was Illinois counsel to Kmart Holding, Inc., and its principal shareholder defending litigation challenging the merger of Kmart and Sears, and he represents Blackstone in a number of matters in Illinois arising from its acquisition of Equity Office Properties. Some recent civil antitrust litigation includes Toys “R” Us, Inc. v. MasterCard and Visa, In re Polypropylene Carpet Antitrust Litigation, and In re Nylon Carpet Antitrust Litigation. Some recent intellectual property trials include ONDEO Nalco Company v. Eka Chemicals, Inc. and Learning Curve, Inc. v. PlayWood, Inc. He was lead trial lawyer in for Northrop Grumman in Technology Solutions v. Northrop Grumman Corp., and for Motorola in Motorola v. DBTel (preliminary injunction) and in ViaStar v. Motorola.

Mr. Dockterman’s criminal experience lies mainly in 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. Much of Mr. Dockterman’s grand jury and internal investigative work remains confidential, but some matters have become public. During the 1990’s Mr. Dockterman represented Arthur Andersen in responding to a number of SEC subpoenae. In 1997, Mr. Dockterman directed a worldwide compliance audit of Archer Daniels Midland Company as a condition of a derivative settlement in Delaware. In 1999, Mr. Dockterman conducted the internal investigation of Exide Corporation which led to the ultimate dismissal and conviction of its former CEO and CFO. More recently, Mr. Dockterman has conducted several internal investigations for government contractors in Iraq. He also has represented lawyers before the Attorney Registration and Disciplinary Commission and other professionals before the Department of Professional Regulation.

A recognized authority on governance and compliance matters, Mr. Dockterman has 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. Mr. Dockterman also has appeared on numerous panels 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, and lectures at director’s institutes at the Kellogg School of Management on Corporate Governance Issues and the Sarbanes-Oxley Act. Mr. Dockterman also has 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.

Mr. Dockterman has made contributions to several journals and continuing legal education handbooks on antitrust, class action, and criminal issues. He recently authored chapters for books on White Collar Law Client Strategies and the Attorney-Client Privilege in Internal Investigations, for a leading treatise on Illinois class action practice, and has taught master classes on eDiscovery issues. He has been a frequent contributor to American Bar Association publications on governance and antitrust. He also has been an instructor at regional programs of the National Institute for Trial Advocacy and has served as a guest instructor at the Duke University School of Law Trial Practice Program.

Mr. Dockterman received his law degree from Duke University and his undergraduate degree from Yale University. He is the Chair of the Board of Visitors of Duke University School of Law and former president of its alumni association, a member of the President’s Circle of the Chicago Council on Global Affairs, and is active in several charitable organizations. Mr. Dockterman has been recognized by Lawdragon both as one of the Leading Litigators in the United States and as one of the Leading Lawyers in America, by Chambers as a Leader in the field of Commercial Litigation, and by Law & Politics as one of the Top 100 “Super Lawyers” in Illinois. He is profiled in 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. He is admitted to practice before the U.S. Supreme Court, Supreme Court of Illinois, U.S. Courts of Appeal for the Second, Fourth, Sixth, Seventh, Ninth, and Federal Circuits, all U.S. District Courts in Illinois and Michigan, and in the Eastern District of Missouri.

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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