Siegel, Stephen J.

Current Employment Position(s)

Partner

Lawyer Overview

Stephen J. Siegel is a partner of Novack and Macey LLP.  Steve represents businesses and individuals in seeking cost-effective solutions to their commercial disputes. He represents both plaintiffs and defendants, at trial and in arbitration and mediation proceedings. Steve has a particular depth of experience in several areas, including: investment disputes involving claims of securities fraud and/or breach of fiduciary and contractual duties; energy disputes; non-compete, trade secrets and employment termination disputes; and real estate litigation. He has been selected for inclusion among Illinois “Leading Lawyers,” which recognizes the top five percent of attorneys in the State as selected by peers and an independent panel.

In recent years Steve has taken a leading role in obtaining:

• An $18 million settlement, reached during arbitration, of a liquidated damages claim in favor of a coal purchaser against a large coal producer for the producer’s failure to deliver low-priced coal as market prices rose;
• A $20 million arbitration award in favor of investors for mismanagement and securities fraud in two closely-held investment vehicles;
• An arbitration award and federal district court judgment in favor of a publicly-held energy company, restraining frivolous multi-million dollar litigation in Guatemala and directing payment of all of our client’s attorney’s fees incurred in the arbitration, a ruling which freed our client to sell its Guatemala assets;
• Settlements for five former clients of broker Frank Gruttadauria, who misappropriated over $100 million from several dozen of his clients, while misrepresenting to them that their accounts had grown to approximately $275 million in value. Steve obtained settlements (confidential in amount) from Lehman Brothers, SG Cowen and others;
• An arbitration award in favor of a retail power seller denying a commercial customer’s claim for purported overcharges and awarding our client all of its arbitration expenses;
• A mandatory injunction for a client charged with fraud by the public company to whom she had sold her consulting business, which permitted her to sell millions of dollars of restricted stock she received in the disputed merger transaction, a victory that was followed by a seven-figure settlement payment reported in the company’s next SEC filing; and
• A seven-figure judgment after trial, affirmed on appeal, on a building owner’s claims against both a contractor and its principals.

Steve is a member of the Leadership of the Section of Litigation of the American Bar Association (ABA).  He is also a member of the committee that oversees all Section of Litigation newsletters, annual reviews and webpages, a co-chair of the 2010 CLE meeting of the ABA’s Committee on Corporate Counsel and the former co-editor of that Committee’s award-winning In-House Litigator journal.  Steve is also a member of the Board of Governors of the Chicago Council of Lawyers, a preeminent legal reform organization.  In addition, Steve is a member of the Energy Bar Association and serves on the Advisory Board of The Institute for Energy Law. He also is a member of the Advisory Board of the Jewish Council on Urban Affairs, and has been active in a wide range of other legal and civic organizations.

Before joining Novack and Macey in 1993, Steve served as law clerk to United States District Judge Morey L. Sear (E.D. La.) and practiced at Latham & Watkins LLP.  He also previously served as a legislative assistant to then-U.S. Rep. Harry M. Reid (D.-Nev.) (now U.S. Senate Majority Leader).

Areas of Practice

• Arbitration
• Business Torts
• Complex Commercial Litigation
• Energy
• Partnership Law
• Real Estate Litigation

West Practice Categories

Arbitration, Business & Commercial Law, Complex Litigation, Energy Law, Partnerships, Real Estate Law

Bar Admissions

• Illinois, 1992
• U.S. Bankruptcy Court Central District of Illinois
• U.S. Bankruptcy Court Northern District of Illinois
• U.S. Bankruptcy Court Southern District of Illinois
• U.S. Court of Appeals District of Columbia Circuit
• U.S. District Court Central District of Illinois
• U.S. District Court Northern District of Illinois
• U.S. District Court Southern District of Illinois
• U.S. District Court Northern District of Illinois Trial Bar

Professional Associations and Memberships

• American Bar Association (Member)
• Chicago Council of Lawyers (Member)

Past Employment Positions

• United States District Court, Eastern District of Louisiana, Hon. Morey Sear, Clerk
• Latham & Watkins, Associate
• U.S. Rep. Harry M. Reid (D.-Nev.) (now U.S. Senate Majority Leader), Legislative Assistant

Education

• The University of Michigan Law School, Ann Arbor, Michigan, 1990
  J.D.
  Honors: cum laude
• Middlebury College, Middlebury, Vermont, 1984
  B.A.
  Honors: cum laude

Address

100 North Riverside Plaza
Chicago, IL 60606-1501

Phones

(312) 419-6900

Faxes

(312) 419-6928

Emails

Contact Us

Websites

http://www.novackandmacey.com