Monte L. Mann has been a business trial lawyer in Chicago for 30 years. He represents clients in high-stakes business disputes concerning contracts, corporate governance, fraud and other business torts, with a particular emphasis on the financial services, commercial real estate, insurance and manufacturing industries. He also defends some of the world’s most prominent law firms in legal malpractice lawsuits.

Monte is experienced in all phases of business litigation, including investigations, commencing suit, discovery, depositions, motion practice, trials, judgment enforcement and asset recovery.

Monte has earned numerous honors and distinctions throughout his career. He has been recognized for excelling as a commercial litigator by both Chambers USA and Benchmark Litigation, which are widely regarded as the definitive guides to the best litigators and trial lawyers in the United States. He also was inducted into the Midwest News Commercial Real Estate Hall of Fame based on his accomplishments as a trial lawyer for his commercial real estate clients.

Monte has cross-examined some of Wall Street’s most powerful players, including JPMorgan Chase Chief Executive Officer Jamie Dimon and New York Private Bank & Trust and Emigrant Savings Bank Chief Executive Howard Milstein.

In what the Chicago Tribune called an “extraordinary ruling,” the Circuit Court of Cook County, Illinois, appointed Monte as its independent counsel to investigate the role of an indicted law firm in finding plaintiffs to bring a shareholders’ derivative action against Boeing. This prestigious court appointment, and other cases Monte has handled, have been covered by national and local media, including the Wall Street Journal, the Los Angeles Times and Crain’s Chicago Business. Another of his cases was the subject of a true crime series on Ponzi schemes that streamed on Amazon Prime Video. 

In addition to working on his own cases for his clients, Monte is a thought leader who appears as a legal analyst on business litigation in the national and international press including the Associated Press, Fox News, the BBC, and the Guardian. In addition to these major news outlets, he is often asked for comment by some of the nation’s most influential voices on business litigation including Bloomberg Law, The American Lawyer, The National Law Journal, Corporate Counsel, Law.com, and The New York Law Journal.

Clients have described Monte as follows:

• "… Monte Mann is dynamite in a courtroom and takes the time to make sure you as a client are fully briefed." - Anonymous
• "He is one of the hardest working and brightest people that I know, and he is incredibly committed to his clients and his legal practice.... Monte shows amazing poise, judgment and advocacy skills." - Marc Lisker, President, Dell Family Office
• "I am never concerned about whether a litigation matter is being handled properly when Monte is the lead attorney. He is pragmatic and is the epitome of a 'business persons' lawyer." - Alvin K. Marr, former General Counsel, Midas Int’l
• "His scholarship is first rate [and] he is brutally efficient. There are no wasted motions, no wasted words, no blind alleys and none of the nonsense oft times associated with litigation." - Jack Ambrister, Chief Operating Officer and General Counsel, Beitler Real Estate Services

Clients evaluating his performance for Chambers USA described his strengths as follows:

• “He is an exceptional lawyer with solid business judgement. He is my go-to for litigation advice and dispute resolution because he is responsive, understanding and creative.”
• “He knows how to litigate cases effectively and is not afraid of the courtroom. His advice is top-notch and he is able to anticipate both what the client needs and what the other side is thinking.”

Monte is also active in firm leadership and serves as a member of Armstrong Teasdale’s Executive Committee, having previously served on the Compensation Committee.