William M. McErlean

A proven and consistently effective advocate, Bill tried more than 40 commercial litigation cases, including the first civil RICO action in the Northern District of Illinois. In his former practice, he handled a variety of complex, high-stakes commercial cases in courts and before arbitrators throughout the country, defending and prosecuting RICO, securities fraud and common law fraud claims at trial and on appeal.

Bill also tried franchise, contract, professional malpractice, UCC, ERISA, lender liability, partnership and corporate dissolution and freeze-outs, trade regulation, trade secret, and real estate broker disputes. In addition, he defended his client’s rights in business torts and construction and real estate disputes. 

Bill regularly prosecuted and defended multimillion dollar cases, including bet-the-company cases where the result determined whether or not his client stayed in business.