Geoffrey A. Vance is a partner in the law firm of McDermott Will & Emery LLP. He is the partner-in-charge of the Trial Practice Group in Chicago and is a member of the Chicago Steering Committee. He founded and is co-head of the Firm’s Electronic Data Management, Privacy & Discovery group.
Named by his peers as one of the 40 Illinois Lawyers Under Forty to Watch, Geoffrey concentrates his practice in complex commercial litigation, focusing on product and professional liability litigation and insurance controversies. He has represented foreign and domestic clients in a number of state and federal courts and other dispute resolution settings. He assisted in and tried over 20 matters to conclusion.
Electronic Data Management, Privacy & Discovery Practice Group
Geoffrey founded and serves as co-head of McDermott’s Electronic Data Management, Privacy & Discovery group. He regularly assists clients in creating practical, creative and cost-effective solutions for businesses to store and manage electronically stored information, both before litigation (in the form of electronic records management counseling) and during litigation (when litigants are required to preserve, review and produce electronic data as part of the discovery process). Geoffrey is an active member of the Sedona Conference’s Working Group on Electronic Document Retention and Production and is also a working member of the Electronic Discovery Reference Model (EDRM) group charged with developing guidelines and standards for clients and providers of software and services related to electronic discovery.
Representative Client Work
Geoffrey is currently playing a leadership role in the McDonald’s French fry litigation, and represents a major international aircraft manufacturer in a number of different product liability matters. In addition, Geoffrey is presently litigating numerous insurance disputes – for multiple major insurance companies in some cases and Fortune 500 policyholders in others – in a variety of criminal and governmental investigations and related civil lawsuits. Geoffrey also has been deeply involved in McDermott’s representation of the major tobacco companies, having played an active role in a series of hotly contested arbitrations, and is currently involved in several securities matters, before the Securities and Exchange Commission and federal trial courts, on behalf of accountants and other professional services providers.
Lectures and Authorship
Geoffrey frequently speaks and writes on litigation topics, including the use of technology in the courtroom and the role that electronically stored information, such as e-mail, plays in today’s complex litigation. He has co-authored the Discovery chapter of the Federal Civil Practice handbook published by the Illinois Institute of Continuing Legal Education since 2006, and also co-authored a number of articles and books, including “Drowning in Zubulake: The Rules, Pitfalls and Benefits of Electronic Discovery,” which discusses the use and exchange of electronic information in commercial lawsuits – still a hot topic in the news and in the nation’s courtrooms.
Law School and Bar Admissions
After completing his service in the U.S. Navy, Geoffrey attended the John Marshall Law School, where he served on the school’s Law Review and currently teaches legal writing and research to first and second year law students as a member of the school’s adjunct faculty. Upon graduating from law school, Geoffrey served as a law clerk to a federal judge, the Honorable Charles R. Norgle, Sr., a District Judge of the United States District Court for the Northern District of Illinois located in downtown Chicago.
Geoffrey is currently admitted to practice in the State of Illinois, as well as before the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit, and the U.S. District Courts for the Northern, Central and Southern Districts of Illinois, Eastern and Western Districts of Wisconsin and Northern District of Indiana.
Pro Bono and Charitable Work
A parent of a child on the autism spectrum, Geoffrey currently serves as the Chair of the Board of Directors of the Chicagoland Chapter of Autism Speaks, the nation’s largest autism science and advocacy organization dedicated to funding research into the causes, prevention, treatments and potential cures for autism; increasing awareness of autism spectrum disorders; and advocating for the needs of individuals with autism and their families. He has also served as the Corporate Sponsorship Chair of Autism Speaks’ Walk Now for Autism event at Soldier’s Field, the home of the Chicago Bears, where in 2009 more than 16,000 assembled to raise more than $1.2 million. Before his involvement in Autism Speaks, Geoffrey was the President of the Chicago Volunteer Legal Services Foundation, a prominent pro bono legal services provider in Chicago. He served on CVLS’s Board of Directors for more than seven years, and is proud to have successfully represented dozens of members of the Chicago working poor community for no charge.
Education
- John Marshall Law School, J.D. (cum laude), 1995
- Michigan State University, B.A., 1992
