David C. Hilliard
''We checked, and found David Hilliard was the best trial lawyer in his field.''
Sun Life of Canada
As a trial lawyer, David C. Hilliard has built a career representing national brands in "bet-the-company" litigation. His clients come to him looking for a lawyer who can orchestrate a month-long trial, withstand three days of intense cross-examination, or bring stubborn parties to a mediated settlement.
A senior partner (and former Managing Partner) of the firm, David handles IP matters of every description, from anti-counterfeiting and infringement to unfair competition and false advertising. He has tried major copyright, trademark and unfair competition cases and appeals throughout the United States. See Opening Statements and Closing Arguments. He protects iconic brands like Ford, Pepsi, BASF, Encyclopedia Britannica, and the American Medical Association. In recent years, his cases have resulted in over 70 leading Federal Appellate and District Court opinions.
In addition to representing clients in litigation, he's a frequent mediator, arbitrator and expert witness.
David's interests aren't limited to law practice. He is a Trustee and former Vice-Chairman of the Art Institute of Chicago, past president of the Chicago Bar Association and The Lawyers Trust Fund of Illinois, and past Chair of the Visiting Committee of the University of Chicago Law School. He was a founding member of the Illinois Commission on the Rights of Women, and was honored by the Chicago Council of Lawyers for leadership in judicial reform.
It says a lot about his practice that he is regularly selected as counsel by corporations and lawyers whose first experiences with him were as adversaries. "Clients like focus," he explains, "So I'm also frequently brought into litigation as replacement counsel to set things right."
Clients reach out to him because of his extensive experience as a trial lawyer. "Trial experience is the key to protecting your business assets when they are on the line," David explains.
David has won important cases for Sun Life of Canada, which established the principles of "doctrinal moorings" and "inevitable confusion" in trademark cases and introduced the first "mystery shopper" survey as an innovative new means of assuring survey trustworthiness.
As lead counsel representing Ford Motor Company, he shut down fifty counterfeiters of Ford parts and established the legal bases for protection in anti-counterfeiting cases. For PepsiCo, he successfully launched more than sixty gray-market goods cases that resulted in Federal Court opinions that helped define the standards for protection against illegal imports.
David is listed in The BEST LAWYERS IN AMERICA, and is a Fellow of the American College of Trial Lawyers.
He has written and co-authored dozens of publications, including a treatise, TRADEMARKS AND UNFAIR COMPETITION (3rd ed. 2007), which has been cited and quoted by federal courts, and has been used since 2001 to train federal judges in intellectual property law.
He is also an adjunct professor at Northwestern University School of Law and, since 1999, has been a Lecturer in Law at the University of Chicago Law School. His law school text, TRADEMARKS AND UNFAIR COMPETITION (7th edition, 2008), was cited and quoted by the United States Supreme Court (Moseley v. Victoria's Secret , 2003), and is used in over forty-five law school courses nationally.
As a CPR/INTA-certified mediator and arbitrator, David handles many high-profile cases. "An expert decision-maker lets the parties focus on the nuances of their particular dispute, and get a result comparable to an appellate decision that might take years, and cost hundreds of thousands of dollars to reach." One of his most challenging mediations was in the $750 million Terra Museum conflict with the State of Illinois. It generated coverage in the New York Times , Wall Street Journal and elsewhere, and is described in The Art of Mediation: The Terra Museum War.
David often serves as an expert witness in major litigation for clients like General Motors, The Hoover Company and Blue Shield of California. He was an expert for the Internal Revenue Service in a case involving Nestle's evaluation of the assets of the Carnation Company, which it had acquired. His analysis "focused on Carnation's records which tracked the strengths and weaknesses of the many transferred brands and won a very favorable settlement for the Internal Revenue Service," David explains.
He was the founding Chair of the Young Lawyers Section of the Chicago Bar Association (see "The Law and Other Things"). In his honor, the Association established the David C. Hilliard Award, which is given annually to the outstanding Section Committee Chair. The Chicago Bar Foundation, the charitable arm of the Chicago Bar Association, awarded him the Maurice Weigle Award for Outstanding Service to the Legal Profession.
What has he learned from his years of practice and community service? "Patience," he says.
Industry
Expertise
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Automobiles & Components
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Banks
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Food Beverage & Tobacco
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Hotels, Restaurants & Leisure
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Household & Personal Products
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Insurance
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Health Care Equipment & Services
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Media
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Pharmaceuticals & Biotechnology
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Technology Hardware & Equipment
Professional
Activities
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Northwestern University annual Symposium on Intellectual Property Law and the Corporate Client
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Chairman 1985-2005
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Northwestern University School of Law
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Adjunct Professor of Intellectual Property Law
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University of Chicago Law School
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Lecturer in Law on "Advanced Trademarks and Unfair Competition"
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Chicago Bar Association
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Former President
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Lawyers Trust Fund of Illinois
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Former President
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Legal Club of Chicago
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Former President
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Visiting Committee of the University of Chicago Law School
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Former Chairman
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Chicago Bar Record
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Former Editor-in-Chief
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Young Lawyers Section of the Chicago Bar Association
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Founding Chairman
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International Trademark Association
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Former Director
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American College of Trial Lawyers
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Courageous Advocacy Committee, Former Chair
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ABA Intellectual Property Law Section
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Former Trademark Division Chairman and Member of Council
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Art Institute of Chicago
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Trustee; Former Vice-Chairman; Former Chairman of the Board of Governors of the School; Former President, Auxiliary Board; Former Chairman, Sustaining Fellows; Chairman, Exhibitions Committee; Founding Chairman, Department of Architecture and Design
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Newberry Library
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Trustee and Vice-Chairman
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Wayfarers Club
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Former President
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US Navy
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Former Judge Advocate under Admiral John S. McCain
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Chambers USA-The 2007 Client's Guide
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"David Hilliard retains a reputation as 'the top trademark lawyer in the state, and one with an enviable client base.' A seasoned trial lawyer, he is also a skilled mediator and arbitrator."
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Illinois Super Lawyers
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Recognized again in 2008 as one of Illinois' top 100 Super Lawyers
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Legal 500
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Recognized in 2007 as "one of the firm's most respected trademark litigators [with] an impressive track record of involvement in precedent-setting cases."
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CPR-INTA Distinguished Panel of ADR Neutrals
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Member
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Art Institute of Chicago
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Benefactor of Architecture medal
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Chicago Council of Lawyers
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Honored for leadership in judicial reform
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American College of Trial Lawyers
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Fellow
Recent Publications
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Co-Author of more than a dozen Law School coursebooks, including: Unfair Competition and Unfair Trade Practices; Trademarks; and Trademarks and Unfair Competition (7th edition, 2008, Lexis Nexis).
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Co-Author of a single volume treatise for practitioners: Trademarks and Unfair Competition (3rd edition, 2007, Lexis Nexis).
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"Global Trademarks and Unfair Competition," 157 pages, Ford Global Summit, Detroit, MI, June, 2006.
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"An Economic Analysis of Arbitrary, Suggestive and Descriptive Marks," Lexis Nexis Advanced Trademark Strategies, Chicago, IL, 2002.
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"Trademark, Copyright and FTC Issues in E-Commerce, " Northwestern University Corporate Counsel Institute, Chicago, IL, 2000, and San Francisco, CA, 2001.
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"The End of an Era: Trademarks and Unfair Competition," Houston Intellectual Property Association and University of Houston Law Center Institute for Intellectual Property & Information Law, Galveston, TX, 2000.