JAY EDELSON is the founder and managing partner of Edelson LLC He has been recognized as a leader in class actions, technology law, corporate compliance issues and consumer advocacy by his peers, the media, state and federal legislators, academia and courts throughout the country.
Jay has been appointed lead counsel in numerous state, federal, and international class actions, resulting in hundreds of millions of dollars for his clients. He is regularly asked to weigh in on federal and state legislation involving his cases. He testified to the U.S. Senate about the largest pet food recall in the country's history and has advised state and federal politicians on consumer issues relating to the recent federal bailouts, as well as technology issues, such as those involving mobile marketing. Jay also counsels companies on legal compliance and legislative issues in addition to handling all types of complex commercial litigation.
Jay is a graduate of the University of Michigan Law School and Brandeis University. Jay was born in New York, grew up in Boston, and currently lives with his wife and two kids in Chicago, Illinois
Representative Plaintiff's Class Actions:
- Lead counsel in over a half-dozen nationwide class action settlements collectively worth hundreds of millions of dollars involving claims of unauthorized charges on cellular telephones.
- Lead counsel in $30 million class action settlement involving lead-infused Thomas the Tank Engine children's toys.
- Lead counsel in numerous text message spam class actions, including a $16 million settlement involving 20th Century Fox, a $10 million settlement involving Simon & Schuster and a $7 million settlement involving the Timberland Co.
- Part of a U.S. and Canadian class action mediation team obtaining a $24 million settlement involving the 2008 contaminated pet food recalls.
- Named interim co-lead attorney in putative nationwide class actions alleging illegal suspensions of home loans against Citibank and JPMorgan Chase.
- Obtained an injunction preventing an insurance company from cancelling the health insurance of thousands of self-employed individuals, later reaching settlement guaranteeing them insurance for the future.
- Successfully prosecuted a case against Riverboat Casino on behalf of employees suffering from second hand smoke.
- Settled cases involving claims of privacy breaches or intrusive behavior against companies such as Netflix, Facebook, Microsoft, and Sears.
Representative Commercial Litigation Matters:
- Represented one of the nation's largest mortgage lenders in multiple putative employment class actions.
Represented leading advertising company in defense of consumer class action.
Successfully resolved threatened multi-million dollar class action against technology company pre-suit for nuisance value. - Successfully negotiated the abandonment of threatened mulit-million class action against advertising company involving digital rights.
In a 2-1 split decision before the Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit, won the dismissal of all charges against former Governor Rod Blagojevich in 9-figure civil racketeering claims on the basis of legislative immunity. - Successfully won multi-million dollar pre-suit settlement on behalf of technology company and its officers claiming professional negligence.
- Successfully defended several "bet the company" cases involving commercial disputes against marketing company, all resulting in "nuisance value" type settlements.
Representative Corporate Consulting:
- Advised start-up on host of legal issues, including reformulating their business plan to ensure compliance with myriad state regulatory schemes. Company later became recognized as one of the fastest growing businesses in Chicago.
- Part owner in successful mid-west technology company, also recognized as one of the fastest growing in the area.
- Part owner and General Counsel in consumer technology company.
- Part owner and C-Level executive in health care company.
- Consultant on several tech start-ups, providing legal and strategic advice, including helping to secure VC funds.
Awards and Honors:
- Selected as an Illinois Super Lawyer, 2012
- Benchmark Plaintiff top class action lawyer, 2012
- Named one of the top 40 Illinois attorneys under 40 by the Chicago Daily Law Bulletin's 2009. In that award, Jay was heralded for his history of bringing and winning landmark cases and for his "reputation for integrity" in the "rough and tumble class action arena." In the same award, he was called "one of the best in the country" when it "comes to legal strategy and execution."
- Included in the American Bar Association's "24 hours of Legal Rebels" program, where he was dubbed one of "the most creative minds in the legal profession" for his views of associate training and firm management.
- Presented with the Annual Humanitarian Award for his "personal integrity, professional achievements, and charitable contributions" by the Hope Presbyterian Church.
Teaching:
- Adjunct professor at Chicago-Kent College of Law, Class Action Litigation and Negotiation Seminar.
- Guest lecturer at Northwestern University Law School and The John Marshall Law School on consumer and class action issues.
Media:
- Appeared on dozens of local, national, and international television and radio programs, including ABC
- World News, CNN, Your World With Neil Cavuto, Big Story with John Gibson, CBS Radio and NPR.
Appeared in thousands of newspapers, magazines, and other publications. - Nicknamed the "Spam Slammer" in Chicago Sun-Times' front- page cover article after reaching the first ever class action settlement for text message spam.
Public Speaking:
- Panelist for ITT Chicago-Kent College of Law's "Conference on Internet Privacy, Social Networks and Data Aggregation" (March 23, 2012).
- Panelist for Chicago-Kent College of Law's "Class Dismissed? How the Supreme Court's Recent Decisions Have Shifted the Balance Between Individuals and Corporations" (November 2, 2011).
- Panelist for Daily Deal Media Conference 2011, Roundtable on Legal Landscape of the Daily Deal Industry (September 8, 2011).
- Panelist for Chicago Bar Association's Committee on Cyber Law and Data Privacy, Seminar on Consumer Privacy (June 10, 2011).
- Co-chair of CLE International's national multi-day conferences on consumer class actions (May 12-13, 2011; June 14-15, 2010).
- Panelist for Law Seminar International's "Trends in Federal Circuit Class Certification Rulings" (Nov. 4, 2010).
- Panelist at Decalogue Society of Lawyers' Symposium on "Representing Celebrity Clients" (Jan. 28, 2010).
- Panelist at DePaul University College of Law & The International Institute for Animal Law's symposium, "How Much is Fido/Fluffy Worth? Animal Valuation Issues Raised by the Pet Food Recall and Other Litigation" (Oct. 25, 2007).
