Anthony J. Ashley
Shareholder
T: 312-609-7884
F: 312-609-5005
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Chicago
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Anthony J. Ashley joined Vedder Price P.C. in 1998 and is currently a shareholder in the litigation practice area. Mr. Ashley has represented clients in pretrial, trial and appellate proceedings in state and federal courts across the United States involving complex commercial matters, including executive employment contracts and compensation, professional liability, RICO, breach of fiduciary duty, misappropriation of trade secrets, defamation and environmental liability. He also has extensive experience with emergency injunctive proceedings at both the state and federal levels.
In addition to his litigation experience, Mr. Ashley regularly counsels corporations and individuals on how to safeguard corporate assets, including retaining and hiring key executives and protecting customer relationships and confidential information. He also has extensive experience negotiating executive employment contracts, and frequently represents companies and individuals in connection with separation arrangements. Finally, he is a founding member of Vedder Price’s Unfair Competition Sub-Practice Group.
Representative clients include Acme Electric Motor, Inc.; CLARCOR Inc.; Coyote Logistics, LLC; Leor Energy, LLP; Milwaukee Electric Tool Corporation; Mueller Industries; Ryobi Technologies (UK) Ltd and Techtronic Industries Co. Ltd., among others.
In May 2005, Mr. Ashley was identified as a “Super Lawyer” within the category of business litigation in Chicago Magazine’s first annual survey of more than 47,000 Illinois lawyers. Mr. Ashley has also received and maintained an “AV Peer Review” Rating by the Martindale-Hubbell Attorney Directory.
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In November 2007, Mr. Ashley served as lead US trial counsel prosecuting a declaratory judgment action in the Royal Courts of Justice in London, England. In this case, Mr. Ashley sought a declaratory judgment in the British high court to invalidate certain restrictive covenants that would otherwise have prevented a former senior European executive of Black & Decker Europe from accepting the position as President of Ryobi Technologies (UK) Ltd. After a three-week trial, Justice Field invalidated the restrictive covenants in all respects, and awarded attorneys’ fees and costs.
In September 2006, Mr. Ashley obtained the dismissal of a multi-million dollar lawsuit brought by the former Chief Executive Officer of a Houston based energy company.
In June 2005, Mr. Ashley obtained the dismissal of a $110 million defamation suit brought by a former Illinois Appellate Court Judge and candidate for the Illinois Supreme Court against a political action committee and one of its members. This trial court decision has now been affirmed by the Illinois Appellate Court and Illinois Supreme Court.
Mr. Ashley served as trial counsel to the former Chairman of Foley’s Department Stores, a division of May Department Stores Company. Along with counsel for Victoria’s Secret Stores, Mr. Ashley successfully prosecuted a declaratory judgment action to allow Foley’s former Chairman to accept the position of Chief Operating Officer at Victoria’s Secret Stores.
Mr. Ashley also represented a Chicago-based technology consulting firm and its senior executives alleged to have breached their fiduciary duties and misappropriated trade secrets in a civil action pending in the United States District Court for the Northern District of Texas. Following court-ordered mediation, Mr. Ashley obtained a walk-away settlement notwithstanding plaintiff’s pre-mediation demand exceeding $1.5 million.
Mr. Ashley also served as lead counsel for the former President, Chief Operating Officer and Executive Vice President of an $80 million hair care conglomerate following these executives’ sudden termination. After pursuing claims for breach of contract, breach of fiduciary duty, fraud and negligent misrepresentation, Mr. Ashley was successful in obtaining a multi-million dollar settlement on behalf of this senior management team.
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- J.D., DePaul University College of Law, 1992
- B.S., Miami University of Ohio, 1988
- Illinois, 1992
- U.S. District Court, Northern District of Illinois, 1992
- U.S. District Court, Central District of Illinois, 1996
- U.S. Court of Appeals, Seventh Circuit, 2000
- U.S. Supreme Court, 2003
- U.S. District Court, Texas, 2006
- U.S. Court of Appeals, Tenth Circuit, 2007
- U.S. Court of Appeals, Fifth Circuit, 2007
- Member, American Bar Association
- Member, Chicago Bar Association
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