Trent leads Lathrop & Gage’s Commercial Litigation practice in Chicago. Trent is a trial lawyer focusing on complex business, financial, tort and restructuring litigation, always with the understanding of how each piece of litigation affects his client’s overall business. Because of this approach, his relationships with clients last well beyond any particular case and often extend into general strategic advice and business counseling. In the course of his practice, he has tried, mediated, and arbitrated cases throughout the country involving a wide range of issues and industries, many times being brought in by clients or other firms when cases approach trial, classes or collective actions are threatened, and/or when cases reach a high level of complexity, usually with multiple expert witnesses.
Trent’s results driven case preparation reduces unnecessary motion practice and discovery, thereby adding predictability and cost savings for his clients. His experience and reputation as a trial lawyer also have the ironic consequence of pushing favorable settlements, especially when opponents understand that Trent’s litigation strategy is to leanly prepare cases to win at trial as opposed to simply litigating by a playbook and hoping to settle. Using the same no nonsense approach, Trent also devotes significant time to counseling and collaborating with clients on ways they can avoid litigation in the first place. Trent’s experience covers representing and defending clients in single party, class, derivative or collective actions involving breach of contract, statutory, trade secret, breach of fiduciary duty, product liability,qui tam and other claims. He also has assisted clients in restructuring debt, working out loans and transferring assets. Leveraging both his financial and trial experience, he has gained national recognition for his courtroom work representing retiree groups and trustees in large bankruptcy claims with hundreds of millions of dollars at issue.
Trent’s clients praise his ability to devise and execute litigation plans, to break down highly complicated issues for judges and juries, and his success with even the most recalcitrant fact and expert witnesses. While litigation can be volatile, Trent firmly believes that upfront strategizing saves needless discovery, puts his clients in the position of driving results, and keeps clients informed at all critical stages as the case moves forward in or out of court. In all instances, Trent is committed to helping his clients maximize strategic business opportunities, regardless of whether litigation is involved or not.
