Aaron H. Stanton

Partner

• Litigation

Named one of the top "40 Under 40" attorneys in Illinois (attorneys under the age of 40) by the Chicago Law Bulletin in 2009, Aaron Stanton serves the commercial litigation needs of his clients ranging from entrepreneurs and middle market companies to Fortune 500 companies. His clients include financial institutions, real estate developers, real estate brokers, health care service organizations, heavy construction equipment manufacturers, retailers, municipalities, and individuals. Mr. Stanton handles a wide range of commercial litigation matters including contract and lease disputes, land use and development controversies, Lanham Act and false advertising cases, defamation, employment matters, housing discrimination, fraudulent actions, and trade disputes in state and federal courts throughout the United States.

Mr. Stanton also serves as the outside corporate counsel, handling legal matters for several businesses, including @properties (a member of Crain's "Fast Fifty"), Zacks Investment Research, Inc., Neapolitan, and Don Mar. 

Since joining the Firm in August of 2005, Mr. Stanton has obtained numerous favorable results for his clients in a diverse array of litigation matters, including: 

•Obtaining a $1,000,000 plus verdict for Hyundai Construction Equipment U.S.A., Inc. against an importer of "gray market" Hyundai construction machines (e.g., Hyundai equipment intended for sale and use in a country other than the United States) – Hyundai Construction Equipment U.S.A., Inc. v. Chris Johnson Equipment, Inc., No. 06 C 3238, 2008 WL 4210785 (N.D. Ill. Sept. 10, 2008);
 
•Co-chairing a two-week jury trial resulting in a $500,000 verdict in favor of a Chicago-based national health insurance company in a breach of contract action;

•Securing dismissal with prejudice of a $1.5 million fraud claim against a REIT stemming from the sale of a $3.1 million industrial property;

•Successfully defending a suburban municipality in a six-day bench trial in an alleged unlawful takings case;

•Procuring dismissal of several million dollar lender liability actions against his banking clients; and

•Securing dismissal of several breach of contract/warranty and fraud actions (each seeking between $350,000 to $1,000,000) against real estate developers that Mr. Stanton represents.  

Mr. Stanton is also a leading expert in combating "gray market" products (i.e., products destined for use in another country but illegally imported into the United States without the consent or knowledge of the U.S. trademark holder/distributors).  He was a featured speaker at the Fall 2009 conference for the "Alliance for Gray Market and Counterfeit Abatement" held at Juniper Networks, Inc. in Sunnyvale, California. In addition, Mr. Stanton published an article in the November/December 2010 American Bar Association's Business Law Today titled "Combating Gray Marketing Goods Using the Lanham Act" and was a moderator and panelist in an American Bar Association's Continuing Legal Education Teleconference titled "Combating Gray Market Goods."

In addition to his litigation successes, Mr. Stanton, in conjunction with Burke, Warren's real estate and corporate attorneys, assists his clients in a variety of corporate and real estate matters, including: (1) corporate structuring and drafting private placement memoranda for several start-up companies; (2) negotiating and executing investments in real estate developments and investments in bars and restaurants; (3) assisting real estate developers in condo-conversions, town home developments, and the construction and operation of assisted living facilities; (4) corporate restructuring to meet the changing needs of his growing clients; and (5) work-outs with lenders.

Prior to joining the Firm, Mr. Stanton served as a judicial law clerk for Judge Blanche M. Manning of the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Illinois. In 2000, Judge Manning selected Mr. Stanton from among hundreds of applicants for one of two law clerk positions. After Judge Manning asked Mr. Stanton to remain beyond his initial two-year commitment, he served as the judge’s “right-hand man” into 2005. While clerking, Mr. Stanton also served as an adjunct professor at Loyola University of Chicago School of Law where he instructed first year students on the fundamentals of legal writing. 

Prior to clerking, Mr. Stanton served as a litigator at Jenner & Block LLP in Chicago, where he argued numerous motions before state and federal courts, taking depositions, and preparing complex cases for trial. He worked on a diverse range of matters in his three years at Jenner, including insurance coverage, product liability, patent law, legal malpractice, employment issues, admiralty, and breach of contract actions.

Mr. Stanton received his undergraduate degree in Economics, graduating with high honors, in 1994 from the University of Illinois and his J.D., magna cum laude, in 1997 from the University of Illinois College of Law. He is admitted to practice in Illinois and the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Illinois and is a member of The Chicago Bar Association.

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