Benesch is pleased to announce that Charles B. Leuin, who focuses his practice on complex employment and commercial litigation, has joined the firm’s Chicago office as a partner. Before joining Benesch, Charles had been a shareholder at Greenberg Traurig since 2005.
With Charles’ arrival, Benesch Chicago adds litigation depth to its full-service Labor & Employment Practice Group, which handles a full range of employment law matters.
“Charles is an outstanding litigator and a seasoned trial lawyer,” said Margo Wolf O’Donnell, the Chicago partner who serves as Vice Chair of the firm’s national Labor & Employment Practice Group. “We are thrilled to have him joining us in Chicago and in the Labor and Employment group, where he’ll be both a tremendous resource to our clients and a valued colleague. With Charles added to our team, we now have one of the strongest and most experienced restrictive covenant and trade secrets groups in the nation. He’s an example of the high caliber of legal talent we’re recruiting as we continue to grow.”
The Chicago group is supported by 20 top employment attorneys in other Benesch offices nationwide, making it one of the most well-regarded labor practices in the country. U.S. News & World Report gave Benesch’s labor group first-tier rankings in four metropolitan categories and the group was recognized in Best Law Firm/Best Lawyers and Chambers & Partners.
Charles focuses his practice on a range of complex employment and commercial litigation including restrictive covenant, trade secret and other intellectual property litigation, employment and whistleblower litigation, contract litigation and business disputes, fiduciary litigation, and class action defense. His clients, which include Fortune 500, mid-sized and growth-stage companies, also rely on him for strategic counseling on dispute avoidance and resolution, employment law issues including hiring, training, workplace management and severance, as well as protection of intellectual property. On May 1, 2018, Charles received the “Excellence in Pro Bono Service” award from the United States District Court for the Northern District of Illinois, in conjunction with the Chicago Chapter of the Federal Bar Association, for his work on a case in which he led a team that obtained a $1.75 million wrongful termination jury verdict in a single plaintiff race-based retaliation and discrimination lawsuit. Charles received his A.B. from Duke University and his J.D., magna cum laude, from the University of Illinois College of Law
The Benesch Chicago office has grown from just two attorneys in 2016 to 40 attorneys, with plans to double in size by 2019.