David J. Chizewer

David Chizewer is a Principal of the firm and Chair of the Litigation Group. He is a nationally recognized trial lawyer and has been featured in the National Law Journal’s list of 10 of the nation’s top litigators. He has been named Trial Lawyer of the Year by the Public Justice Foundation and was separately a runner-up for that same award. He has also been named Lawyer of the Year by the Taxpayers Against Fraud Education Fund, and has received the Award for Excellence in Pro Bono Service by the Federal Court in Chicago on two separate occasions.

Mr. Chizewer served as co-lead trial counsel in two widely acclaimed cases. He was co-lead trial counsel for Plaintiffs, and obtained the largest verdict and judgment in the history of the federal False Claims Act ($334 million), in the case captioned United States of America ex rel. Cleveland A. Tyson, et al. v. Amerigroup Corporation, et al. Mr. Chizewer was also co-lead trial counsel for a class of 600,000 children on Medicaid against the State of Illinois in the federal case captioned Memisovski, et al. v. Patla, obtaining some of the most sweeping reforms ever to a state Medicaid program. Mr. Chizewer's False Claims Act cases have returned more than a half-billion dollars to government treasuries.

On the defense side, Mr. Chizewer has been entrusted to try and defend bet-the-company cases, including trying a case in a rural, plaintiff friendly district where he obtained a remarkable result in the face of extreme jury bias. He served as lead counsel to one of the principal defendants in the multi-district class action litigation captioned In Re Ocwen Federal Bank Mortgage Servicing Litigation, pending in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Illinois, and was elected to represent more than 200 third-party defendants in the multi-district litigation captioned In Re Ameriquest.

Mr. Chizewer has served as an expert witness on issues of federal civil procedure and is a frequent author and speaker, including at the National Advocacy Center, the Federal Judicial Center, and the law schools of Cornell and Berkeley.

He has been individually ranked in Chambers USA for his work in Litigation and is recognized as a "Best Lawyer" in the area of Commercial Litigation in Best Lawyers in America (2024 Edition). Mr. Chizewer has been repeatedly named an Illinois Super Lawyer (2005, 2006, 2010-2023) in Business Litigation. In 2018, The National Law Journal recognized him as an Energy & Environmental Trailblazer, which honors legal professionals who make a difference in the areas of energy and environmental law. Since 2019, Mr. Chizewer has been recognized annually as a Leading Lawyer in the areas of Class Action/Mass Tort Litigation and Commercial Litigation by Illinois Leading Lawyers.

In a civic capacity, Mr. Chizewer is at the forefront of the legal issues affecting the education reform movement. He is one of the founders and past Board President of the Chicago International Charter School, one of the nation's largest charter schools, and also founded the Illinois Network of Charter Schools. He was a member of the Education Policy Group for the Barack Obama U.S. Senate and Presidential Campaigns. In May 2005, he argued a seminal charter school case before the Illinois Supreme Court.

As a result of Mr. Chizewer's civic leadership, he was selected a Leadership Fellow for the 2003-2004 Leadership Greater Chicago Program. Past fellows include Michelle Obama, John W. Rogers, Jr. and Valerie Jarrett.

Mr. Chizewer received his law degree from the University of Chicago Law School in 1991, and his B.A. in Economics, magna cum laude, from Pomona College in 1988, where he was elected a member of Phi Beta Kappa.