Chris Griesmeyer is a partner and Vice Chair of the Litigation Practice Group, and handles the firm’s most complex and trial-ready litigation matters. He is a member of the Employment Service Group and the Securities & Commodities Litigation Service Group, and concentrates his practice on commercial disputes with an emphasis on business torts, executive employment matters, securities and intellectual property claims.
Chris has served as chief trial counsel in a number of successful jury trials to verdict, and is a member of the Northern District of Illinois Trial Bar. Chris has also successfully represented several Fortune 500 companies, including registered broker-dealers, in high-value arbitration proceedings before the AAA, the NYSE, and the NASD, as well as in private mediations. He frequently counsels and represents employers and C-level executives in the enforcement and defense of non-competition, non-solicitation, and non-disclosure agreements, as well as in litigating the related business torts that frequently accompany such actions, such as fraud, conversion, and theft of trade secrets. He also represents national and international institutional clients in trials and arbitration proceedings involving claims of employment discrimination and harassment, trademark infringement, and securities-related offenses.
Chris has litigated and arbitrated commercial disputes in states across the country. Some of his more recent accomplishments include:
Obtaining an emergency temporary restraining order in an international patent and trademark infringement lawsuit
Successfully defending against a “bet-the-company” trade secret lawsuit by a Fortune 100 chemical company
Obtaining on behalf of a national broker-dealer several multi-million dollar awards in NYSE arbitration proceedings
Obtaining judgments totaling almost $6 million in federal court lawsuits since 2005
Prosecuting and obtaining injunctive relief for hedge funds and brokerage firms in non-competition lawsuits
Obtaining summary judgment in high-profile religious discrimination lawsuit
Serving as lead defense counsel in the notable Billy Goat Tavern v. Cheeburger-Cheeburger trademark litigation
Successfully defending against a multi-billion dollar policyholder derivative lawsuit – the largest such action in Illinois history
Prior to joining Levenfeld Pearlstein, Chris was associated with Wildman, Harrold, Allen & Dixon, LLP, and Altheimer & Gray, where he served as regional trial counsel for a number of international product manufacturers. Chris also previously served as the Articles Review Editor for the Virginia Tax Review , and currently manages the firm’s trial advocacy training program.