Donald B. Hilliker is of counsel in the law firm of McDermott Will & Emery LLP and is based in the Firm’s Chicago office. From 2000 through 2007, Don chaired the Firm's Pro Bono & Community Service Committee. As a member of the Trial Department, Donald has represented clients in complex commercial litigation and in the defense of legal malpractice claims. He has represented law firms throughout the Midwest in the defense of malpractice claims and in partnership disputes and consults on legal ethics and professional responsibility issues. He has also handled numerous complex cases during his career, including work in insurance coverage, environmental, employment, real estate, banking, construction and contract disputes. He has obtained judgments for his clients in a number of cases where tens of millions of dollars have been at stake, including a $130 million damage claim arising from the failure of a major hydroelectric project, and settlements totaling more than $9 million in the cleanup of a Superfund site.
From 1997 to August 2003, Don was a member of the American Bar Association (ABA) Standing Committee on Ethics and Professional Responsibility which issues opinions for the guidance of lawyers on professional conduct issues. He served as chair of the Standing Committee for two years. From 1978 to 1995, Don served on the Illinois Supreme Court’s Committee on Professional Responsibility. That committee drafted the Illinois Rules of Professional Conduct, which govern the professional responsibilities of Illinois lawyers. From 2004 to 2007 he served on the ABA Commission to Evaluate the Model Code of Judicial Conduct. Based on the recommendations of the Commission, the ABA adopted its new Model Rules of Judicial Conduct in 2007. Don chaired the Coordinating Council of the ABA's Center for Professional Responsibility from 2006 to 2010, currently chairs the Center's Strategic Development Committee, is a member of Policy Implementation Committee and serves as Liaison from the Center to the ABA's Ethics 20/20 Commission, which is studying the impact of technology and globalization on lawyer ethics and regulation. He is an adjunct professor at Northwestern University School of Law in its trial advocacy and ethics programs, serves on the Character and Fitness Committee of the Illinois Board of Bar Examiners and is a Hearing Panel member for the Illinois Attorney Regulation and Disciplinary Commission. He is also past president (and current board member) of the Legal Assistance Foundation of Metropolitan Chicago, the largest provider of legal services to the poor in metropolitan Chicago area, and was co-chair of the Pro Bono & Public Interest Committee of the Section of Litigation of the American Bar Association from 2003 to 2006. He also serves on the board of The Public Interest Law Initiative and of the Alphawood Foundation.
Don is a member of the American Law Institute, a fellow of the American Bar Foundation, has been listed in The Best Lawyers in America and Who’s Who in American Law, and has been honored for his service to Northwestern University School of Law. He served on the 20-person governing council of the 65,000-member Section of Litigation of the American Bar Association from 1998 through 2001 and chaired a major Litigation Section project, “Ethics: Beyond the Rules,” which studied law firm culture and its impact on lawyer conduct. He served as chairman of the Large Law Firm Committee of the Chicago Bar Association in 1998–1999.
Don is admitted to practice before the Illinois bar, the trial bar of the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Illinois, the U.S. Courts of Appeals for the Sixth and Seventh Circuits and the Supreme Court of the United States.
Education
- Northwestern University School of Law, J.D. (cum laude), 1969
- Loyola University Chicago, B.S., 1966
