Jacob J. Meister
Jacob J. Meister has been practicing law since 1990 and is admitted in Illinois and Wisconsin. Prior to starting his own firm in 2002, Mr. Meister was a Partner with Michael, Best & Friedrich LLC, a 350 attorney firm and Schwartz & Freeman, a 60 attorney firm that merged with Michael, Best & Friedrich LLC.
He received a Juris Doctor degree, with honors from the University of Wisconsin Law School in Madison, Wisconsin in 1990 and a Bachelor of Arts degree, cum laude, from The American University in Washington, D.C. in 1986. Mr. Meister was the recipient of the University of Wisconsin Law School’s Goerge Young Memorial Award.
He practices primarily in the areas of commercial law, including commercial litigation, real estate, and general business matters with an emphasis in contracts, construction, condominium law, transportation, ERISA, employee benefits and class actions.
Mr. Meister has extensive trial experience and represents a broad range of clients, including both small to mid-sized business clients and Fortune 500 companies. His clients include, manufacturers, real estate developers, transportation companies, service providers, banks and financial institutions, import and wholesale companies, internet based companies and non-U.S. corporations that conduct business in the United States.
Mr. Meister handles a wide variety of complex commercial matters, including:
· Business Disputes – Mr. Meister regularly represents his business clients in a wide array of business-related disputes including, contract disputes, shareholder and partnership disputes, business-related tort claims and employment disputes.
· Real Estate and Construction Litigation – He regularly handles a wide variety of real estate and construction-related matters involving, among other things, complex title issues, bonding disputes and multi-party construction disputes. His work in the construction area encompasses both public and private construction projects.
· Condominium Law – Mr. Meister represents condominium associations in a variety of matters involving condominium property rights, construction disputes and the enforcement of condominium declarations, by-laws and rules.
· Telecommunications Litigation - He has handled cutting-edge Federal litigation involving the ability of municipalities to tax certain types of non-regulated interstate telecommunications carriers.
· Transportation Law – He regularly handles matters involving the carriage of goods in intrastate, interstate and foreign commerce, including cargo damage, loss and delay claims and controversies involving carrier rate disputes. Prior to its dissolution, Mr. Meister regularly practiced before the Interstate Commerce Commission.
· Employee Benefits Litigation – Mr. Meister regularly handles litigation involving the Employee Retirement Income Security Act of 1974 (“ERISA”). His work in this area includes handling a wide variety of disputes related to employee welfare and pension benefits. In addition, has been a featured speaker on ERISA litigation issues before the Chicago Bar Association’s Employee Benefits Committee.
· Class Action Defense - Mr. Meister has successfully defended a number of consumer class actions in the banking and mortgage lending industries.
Mr. Meister regularly appears in state and Federal courts throughout the United States. He is admitted to practice law in the States of Illinois and Wisconsin. In addition, he is also admitted to practice before the United States Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit, United States District Courts for the Northern District of Illinois, Central District of Illinois, Eastern District of Wisconsin and Western District of Wisconsin. He is a member of the American Bar Association, the Illinois State Bar Association and the State Bar of Wisconsin. He was born in Milwaukee, Wisconsin on April 21, 1965.