Ethical Issues When an Attorney Leaves the Firm

William (Bill) P. Schuman focuses his practice on securities and complex commercial litigation, class actions, Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) defense litigation, internal investigations and dealer/distributor litigation. Bill also has broad experience representing nonprofits, officers and directors, and attorneys and other professionals in fiduciary duty litigation.

Bill has extensive experience in the field of legal ethics and professional responsibility. He has chaired the Firm’s Professional Responsibility Committee since 1994 and is an adjunct professor in Legal Ethics at Northwestern University Law School.

Bill also has extensive experience in constitutional law. In 1985, he won an Illinois Supreme Court decision in Sanelli v. Glenview State Bank, regarded as seminal in the area of separation of powers doctrine. In 1993, he won an important decision in the Illinois Appellate Court, on due process grounds, in ChemRex, Inc. v. Illinois Pollution Control Board.

Bill has represented clients in admiralty litigation as well. He was one of the lead counsel representing the ship owner in Grubart v. Great Lakes Dredge & Dock, where admiralty jurisdiction was upheld in the US Supreme Court in 1995.

Bill has handled litigation in the federal and state courts in California, Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, District of Columbia, Florida, Hawaii, Illinois, Indiana, Michigan, Minnesota, Mississippi, Missouri, Montana, New Jersey, New York, North Carolina, Ohio, Oregon, Pennsylvania, South Dakota, Texas, Washington, DC and Wisconsin.