Glen H. Kanwit is a retired partner with Foley & Lardner LLP, where he was a member of the firm’s Insurance & Reinsurance Litigation and Intellectual Property Litigation Practices and the Insurance & Reinsurance Industry Team. He focused on complex commercial litigation in federal and state courts, and insurance and reinsurance arbitrations.
Mr. Kanwit has been involved in a wide variety of civil cases, in diverse factual and legal settings, for over 35 years. For example, he has represented both insurance and reinsurance companies in complicated issues arising from reinsurance agreements, companies in significant tax litigation with the Internal Revenue Service, a French chemical company in litigation over a plant closure in the U.S., a national retailer accused of price fixing, a startup company accused of technology theft, pharmaceutical companies in patent infringement litigation, a government agency accused of wrongfully repudiating a $400 million bond issue, corporations in litigation against former employees for theft of trade secrets, a major brewer in several trademark infringement cases, both acquirors and target companies in corporate control contests, corporate defendants in securities and ERISA class actions, a wrestler seeking an injunction to be able to participate in the Olympics, and a Lebanese businessman accused of fraud in connection with construction of a dairy farm in Saudi Arabia.
Mr. Kanwit has achieved a success rate in excess of 90%, by approaching each case creatively to find the most effective and appealing factual and legal themes. He presented these themes at trial with a clear and common sense approach that incorporates the latest trial technology to enhance effectiveness of the evidence. He is recognized as a skilled and relentless cross examiner of opposition witnesses.
Mr. Kanwit is an adjunct professor at Northwestern Law School, teaching trial advocacy and civil discovery courses. He is a member of the faculty of the National Institute of Trial Advocacy. He has served as chair of the Civil Practice Committee of the Chicago Bar Association, and on the board of the Chicago Council of Lawyers. He was elected to two terms on the management committee of Hopkins & Sutter before its 2001 merger with Foley & Lardner. He was the national practice manager of the litigation department of Hopkins & Sutter, and for three years, chair of its recruiting committee.
In recognition of his achievements, Mr. Kanwit was Peer Review Rated as AV® Preeminent™, the highest performance rating in Martindale-Hubbell's peer review rating system.
Mr. Kanwit is a graduate of Swarthmore College and Columbia Law School. He is admitted to the bar in Illinois and admitted to practice before the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Illinois; the Courts of Appeals for the First, Second, Third, Fourth, Fifth, Seventh, and Tenth Circuits; the Federal Circuit Court; the U.S. Tax Court; the U.S. Court of Claims; and the U.S. Supreme Court.