Edelson

Offices

Chicago: The firm formed as KamberEdelson in 2007 and was housed in Chicago’s historic Monadnock Building before moving to its main office location at 350 North LaSalle Street in the River North neighborhood of Chicago, Illinois. Designed to resemble a technology start-up, Edelson PC’s Chicago office has garnered national attention for its unique aesthetic, including being recognized as one of the best law office spaces in America in a 2012 national Above The Law survey.

Denver: Edelson PC's Denver office is managed by Partner Steven L. Woodrow, whose practice focuses on consumer class actions.

Firm Culture

Edelson PC has an informal corporate culture that borrows from the office environments of technology start-ups. Dustin J. Siebert, writing for Chicago Lawyer Magazine, toured Edelson's offices and noted the resemblance to tech company offices and an emphasis on work/play balance.

Siebert noted that “[Edelson] associates had to once consider walking the hallways with protective glasses because of an ongoing battle waged with modified Nerf guns,” and the office has been described as “a high-energy place with a lot of noise.” Above The Law reports that the firm provides free lunches to its associates, who eat together in the firm’s main conference room. Founder and Managing Partner Jay Edelson views his emphasis on a relaxed office culture as a “better way to run a law firm—less hardcore, less rigid . . . You can actually enjoy being a lawyer and practicing law.”

Pranks: Edelson attorneys have gained a reputation for the pranks they play on their summer associates and others. In 2013, Above the Law reported on one of the firm’s elaborate pranks, which featured an actor who the firm hired to pose as an outrageous, narcissistic summer associate. The firm hired two other actors, one to pose as the summer associate’s girlfriend and another to play an out-of-work attorney who was “paid” to do the summer associate’s work at the firm. The actor “worked” at the firm for a week before the truth was revealed to summer associates, through a video displayed at a firm-wide event.

Associate Training

Named by the American Bar Association as “one of the most creative minds in the legal profession” for his views on associate training and firm management, Founder and Managing Partner Jay Edelson has been recognized for his unique approach to associate training and his firm’s deviation from the stratified ordering of other law firms. Edelson PC diverges from traditional law firm hierarchy in favor of empowering the attorneys most responsible for managing its cases, even if they are young associates.

The firm adopts an unconventional training system that Jay Edelson has termed “guided independence.” As Edelson describes it, all Edelson PC associates, regardless of their level of experience, are expected to take responsibility for their caseload. Knowing that this is the expectation, Edelson PC trains its associates to use their knowledge of their cases and their personal skill sets to make their own decisions, take on greater responsibility, and contribute to case management and strategy in a more meaningful way.

Edelson PC has also been recognized for its unique summer associate program. In a 2013 article published by Bloomberg Law, Jay Edelson called for an “end to the summer associate sideshow” and urged law firms to begin treating their summer associates like the “almost-lawyers that they are.” Though Edelson PC conducts formal seminars and mentoring programs, Edelson stresses the importance of exposing summer associates to meaningful, substantive work—drafting dispositive motions, writing sections of appellate briefs, taking the lead on discovery issues, and weighing in on litigation strategy—to assess the capabilities of each summer associate. As a way of recognizing the value that each respective summer associate brings to the firm, Edelson PC offers signing bonuses to the summer associates who accept offers of full-time employment.

Key personnel

The owner of the firm is Jay Edelson.

Edelson has been appointed lead counsel in dozens of class actions, resulting in hundreds of millions of dollars for his clients. He also represents unions, Hollywood financiers and advises politicians. He is a graduate of Brandeis University and the University of Michigan Law School.

Significant cases

Privacy Cases

Edelson attorneys have been appointed lead counsel in a wide variety of privacy-related class actions, and have litigated some of the largest class actions in the area of privacy law. One federal judge noted that Edelson PC has “significant and particularly specialized expertise in electronic privacy litigation and class actions.”

Banking Cases

Edelson attorneys have represented millions of American homeowners in several class action lawsuits against large financial institutions. The firm has secured court orders requiring banks to provide loan modifications to those who qualify under the federal Home Affordable Modification Program, and has litigated several class actions alleging unfair reduction of borrowers’ home equity lines of credit. Edelson PC’s settlements have restored billions of dollars in home credit lines to people throughout the country.

Rod Blagojevich

In 2009, Edelson PC, then known as Edelson McGuire, was chosen to head former Illinois Governor Rod Blagojevich's defense of civil lawsuits brought against him. The firm has also represented the former Governor’s wife, Patti Blagojevich.

Awards and recognition

In 2009, Jay Edelson was named one of "40 Illinois Attorneys Under 40 To Watch" by the Chicago Daily Law Bulletin, where he was heralded for his “reputation for integrity in the rough and tumble class action arena.” He was dubbed one of the "most creative" legal minds for his views of associate development, and also named a "Legal Rebel" by the American Bar Association Journal.

Several Edelson PC attorneys have been named “Super Lawyers,” including Jay Edelson, Rafey S. Balabanian, Ryan D. Andrews, Ari J. Scharg, and Roger J. Perlstadt.