Adam J. Levitt is a partner in the Firm's Chicago office. Mr. Levitt graduated from Columbia College, Columbia University in 1990 (A.B. magna cum laude) and the Northwestern University School of Law in 1993. Mr. Levitt was admitted to the Illinois Bar in 1993 and is also admitted to practice before the United States District Courts for the Northern, Central, and Southern Districts of Illinois; the United States District Courts for the Northern and Eastern Districts of Texas; the United States District Court for the District of Nebraska; the United States District Court for the Northern District of Indiana; the United States District Court for the District of Colorado; the United States Courts of Appeal for the First, Seventh, Eighth, and Ninth Circuits; and the Supreme Court of the United States. He is rated "AV" by Martindale-Hubbell, is an Illinois "Super Lawyer," and is included in the 2011 Lawdragon 500 Leading Lawyers in America. Substantially all of Mr. Levitt’s practice is focused on complex commercial litigation and class action practice on both the trial and appellate court levels, in federal and state courts nationwide, in the areas of consumer protection, antitrust, securities, technology, and agricultural law. Since 1993, Mr. Levitt has served as lead counsel, co-lead counsel, or in other leadership positions in numerous class and other complex litigations throughout the United States. He presently serves as Co-Lead Counsel in In re Genetically Modified Rice Litigation, MDL No. 1811 (E.D. Mo.), in which he represents the interests of United States long-grain rice producers seeking to recover damages they sustained resulting from the contamination of the U.S. rice supply with unapproved, genetically-modified rice seed traits. That case settled on July 1, 2011 for $750,000,000. He also presently serves as Interim Co-Lead Counsel in In re Imprelis Herbicide, Sales Practice and Products Liability Litigation, MDL No. 2284 (E.D. Pa.), a multidistrict class action lawsuit brought by landowners and landscapers against E.I. DuPont de Nemours and Company seeking to recover damages for tree and other foliage death and other harm caused by DuPont’s Imprelis herbicide. In addition to those cases, Mr. Levitt served as Co-Lead Counsel in In re StarLink Corn Products Liability Litigation, MDL No. 1403 (N.D. Ill.), where he recovered $110,000,000 on behalf of U.S. corn farmers who sustained market losses resulting from the contamination of the U.S. corn supply with genetically-modified StarLink corn..

Mr. Levitt also presently serves as Co-Lead Counsel in several other national class action cases, including In re Porsche Cars North America, Inc., Plastic Coolant Tubes Products Liability Litigation, MDL No. 2233 (S.D. Ohio), a consumer class action concerning defective parts in certain models of the Porsche Cayenne; In re ConAgra Foods, Inc., MDL No. 2291 (C.D. Cal.), a consumer class action against ConAgra pertaining to its marketing of its Wesson Oil products as being “100% Natural,” when they are actually made from genetically-modified plants or genetically-modified organisms; and In re Sony Gaming Networks and Customer Data Security Breach Litigation, MDL No. 2258, a data breach class action arising out of the Sony defendants’ alleged negligence leading to a system shutdown and theft of class members’ personal and financial information.

Other cases in which Mr. Levitt has held leadership positions include In re Vytorin/Zetia Marketing, Sales Practices and Products Liability Litigation, Civil Action No. 08-285 (D.N.J.) (obtained $41.5 million recovery on behalf of consumers who overpaid for Vytorin and Zetia, which defendants deceptively marketed as being more effective than other anti-cholesterol drugs); In re Northstar Education Finance, Inc. Contract Litigation, Case No. 01990-MD-08 (D. Minn.) (action brought on behalf of student loan borrowers who were improperly denied prompt payment bonus rebates on their loan balances); Schoenbaum v. E.I. DuPont de Nemours and Company, et al., Case No. 4:05-cv-01108 ERW (E.D. Mo.) (consolidated antitrust action concerning genetically modified corn and soybean seeds); Court Reporting Services, et al. v. Compaq Computer Corporation, C.A. No. 02 CV 044 (E.D. Texas) (obtained full recovery, valued at not less than $35 million, on behalf of Compaq Presario purchasers with improperly partitioned hard disk drives); and various Internet privacy cases, including Supnick v. Amazon.com, Inc. (W.D. Wash.) and In re DoubleClick, Inc. Privacy Litigation (S.D.N.Y.). Mr. Levitt also provides legal services to various private companies involving complex litigation and general corporate matters.

Mr. Levitt is President of the Class Action Trial Lawyers division of The National Trial Lawyers; an elected member of the American Law Institute (“ALI”), participating in ALI’s Members Consultative Groups on the Principles of the Law of Aggregate Litigation, the Restatement of the Law (Third) Restitution and Unjust Enrichment, and the Restatement of the Law (Third) Torts: Liability for Economic Loss; an Advisory Board member of the Institute for Consumer Antitrust Studies; a member of the Board of Advisors of the American Constitution Society for Law and Policy (Chicago Lawyer Chapter); and a member of the American Association for Justice. Mr. Levitt is also the Seventh Circuit Contributing Editor to the American Bar Association’s Class Action & Derivative Suits newsletter; a consulting participant in the National Association of Public Pension Attorneys, Securities Litigation Damages Calculation Taskforce’s project entitled “Calculation of Securities Litigation Damages”; and regularly serves as a moot court judge in the Julius H. Miner Moot Court Competition at the Northwestern University School of Law.

Mr. Levitt’s publications include Multidistrict Litigation Practice: The Function and Shifting Focus of the JPML in Class Action and Other "Bet the Company" Litigation (book chapter, included in Straight From the Top: Case Studies in the World of Litigation, published by ExecSense, December 2012); The Role and Function of Corporate Representatives at Trial, The Trial Lawyer, Vol. II, No . IV (Fall 2012); Class Action Litigation 2012 – Where Do We Go From Here?, Global Business Magazine, December 2012; Sticky Situations in Mass Tort Settlements, TRIAL, Vol. 48, No. 11 (November 2012); CAFA and Federalized Ambiguity: The Case for Discretion in the Unpredictable Class Action, 120 YALE L.J. ONLINE 231 (2011); Taming the Metadata Beast, New York Law Journal, May 16, 2008; Foreign Investors Serving as Lead Plaintiffs in U.S.-Based Securities Cases, International Practice Section Newsletter (Association of Trial Lawyers of America, Washington, D.C.), Winter 2004 and Spring 2005.; Proposed Rule 225: A Death Warrant for Class Actions in Illinois, 93 Illinois Bar Journal 202 (2005); The Big Business Wish List: Proposed Illinois Supreme Court Rule 225 and the Demolition of Consumer Rights, The Class Act (The Newsletter of the National Association of Securities and Consumer Law Attorneys), February 25, 2005; and An Illinois Lawyer’s Guide to Service of Process in Mexico, 82 Illinois Bar Journal 434 (1994).

Mr. Levitt has testified before the Illinois Supreme Court Rules Committee on class action practice and related issues. He also speaks nationally on a wide range of topics, including: (a) “Lead Plaintiff ‘Pickoffs’, Offers of Judgment, Moving to Dismiss Class Allegations, and Other Early Attacks on the Class Process,” Law Seminars International, Litigating Class Actions Conference, (Chicago, December 6-7, 2012) (Conference Co-Chair); (b) “The Evolution of Class Action Notice,” CLE International, Class Actions – Plaintiff and Defense Perspectives (Chicago, October 4-5, 2012); (c) “Thinking About Trial From Day One,” American Association for Justice, 2012 Annual Convention (Chicago, July 31, 2012); (d) “The Basics of the MERS System,” American Association for Justice, 2012 Annual Convention (Chicago, July 31, 2012); (e) “Removal, Remand, and Claims Asserted – Strategic Considerations in MERS Litigation,” American Association for Justice, Mortgage Electronic Registration System (MERS) Teleseminar (June 2012); (f) “Class Actions in Medical Device and Pharmaceutical Litigation,” HarrisMartin TVM/Actos Litigation Conference (Miami, January 25, 2012); (g) “Trial Lawyers and Class Actions: Protecting Consumers and Elevating Your Practice,” The National Trial Lawyers Trial Lawyers Summit (Miami Beach, January 25, 2012); (h) “Current Developments in Consumer Protection Litigation,” Louisiana State Bar Association, 11th Annual Class Action/Mass Tort Symposium (New Orleans, December 9, 2011); (i) “Imprelis Herbicide Litigation Spotlight,” HB Litigation Conferences (November 2, 2011); (j) “Multi-State Litigation in the Post-CAFA World,” Law Seminars International, Litigating Class Actions Conference, (Chicago, October 24-25, 2011) (Conference Co-Chair); (k) “Ethical Implications of Class Action and Mass Tort Settlements,” American Association for Justice, 2011 Annual Convention (New York, July 12, 2011); (l) “Modifying Your Approach for Multi-State Class Actions,” Law Seminars International, Litigating Class Actions Conference (Seattle, May 20, 2011); (m) “Privacy Litigation: The Evolution in Theories and Outcomes,” International Association of Privacy Professionals “Privacy Academy” (Boston, September 2009); (n) “Securities Litigation Update,” 2008 Class Action Institute, Illinois Institute of Continuing Legal Education (Chicago, Illinois, July 2008); (o) “Legal Strategies to Fight Negative Effects of Genetic Engineering,” 2007 Public Interest Environmental Law Conference (Eugene, March 2007); and (p) “Corporate Governance Developments,” Financial Management Association 2005 Conference (Chicago, Illinois, October 2005).

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