Miller Shakman Levine & Feldman regularly represents clients who are adverse to governmental entities, including the City of Chicago, the State of Illinois, and Federal agencies. These include commercial clients seeking to protect their business or property interests and individuals and businesses facing threats to their civil rights. We have represented businesses in contractual and regulatory disputes with the City, as well as developers and property owners in zoning, permitting, and takings matters.

The firm also has a long history of handling complex, high-profile matters that have transformed Chicago’s governance and public policies. Notably, in the landmark Shakman case, named for our partner Michael L. Shakman, our firm played a leading role in obtaining and enforcing court orders that prohibit patronage employment practices by the City of Chicago, Cook County, and other government bodies.

In other federal lawsuits, our attorneys enforced the consent decrees that ended unlawful surveillance by the ChicagoPolice Department and unconstitutional searches of public housing by theChicago Housing Authority. We also represented the State of Illinois in litigation successfully opposing the City’s first attempt to close Meigs Field.For nearly two decades, the firm represented the Federal Court receiver responsible for development of new public housing in Chicago in the landmark Gautreaux litigation.