James S. Montana, Jr.

Shareholder

T: +1 (312) 609 7820 F: +1 (312) 609 5005

Chicago

James S. Montana, Jr. joined Vedder Price in 2002 as a Shareholder. Mr. Montana, former Chief Legal Counsel to Illinois Governor James Edgar and a former Assistant US Attorney, concentrates in complex commercial litigation, white collar criminal defense, parallel proceedings, internal investigations, gaming and government relations.

Mr. Montana served as Senior Vice President and General Counsel to Bally Entertainment Corporation. In private practice, he represents casino and supplier licensees before gaming authorities and the legislature and in litigation. He also advises financial services and asset managers and investment banking firms on gaming regulatory requirements and matters related to the financing of and investments in regulated gaming entities.

His years as an Assistant U.S. Attorney and in the private practice of law handling complicated commercial litigation make Mr. Montana a well-experienced and seasoned litigator with a varied and diverse background. His commercial litigation experience includes securities act litigation, corporate derivative suits, antitrust litigation, banking and banking regulatory litigation, immigration and a variety of other commercial litigation.

For four years, Mr. Montana served as Assistant US Attorney and, consequently, he has an active practice in white collar criminal defense, civil and criminal antitrust and SEC matters and parallel civil and administrative proceedings. He has also conducted numerous internal investigations.

In 2011 Mr. Montana was appointed to a 14-member bipartisan Judicial Review Commission formed by US Senator Mark Kirk. This committee screens and recommends federal district court judges for the state of Illinois for consideration by the President and US Senate.

Mr. Montana served as Chief Counsel to Governor James Edgar, serving as the Governor’s top legal advisor. He drafted legislation on issues dealing with gaming; consumer fraud; economic development; gaming—public safety, criminal law, business and financial regulation; environmental regulation; and human services. He also advised Governor Edgar on labor and personnel issues affecting 64,000 state employees and managed all litigation brought by or against the State of Illinois. He also served as Chief Justice of the Illinois Court of Claims, having been originally appointed to the bench in 1983 by Governor Jim Thompson and confirmed by the Illinois Senate. In 1985, he was appointed Chief Justice. Mr. Montana is also active as an arbitrator for the American Arbitration Association in numerous commercial disputes.

Mr. Montana plays an active role in civic and charitable affairs. He is a former member of the Board of Directors for the Metropolitan Pier and Exposition Authority in Chicago, which owns and operates McCormick Place and Navy Pier. He also serves as a member of the Board and Executive Committee of the Chicagoland Chamber of Commerce and is former Chairman of the Governmental Affairs Committee. He has served as a board member for a number of institutions of higher learning, including Lewis University in Illinois and Georgetown University in Washington, DC. He is also a former member of the Board of Managers of the Chicago Bar Association and the Board of Directors of the Chicago Bar Foundation.

Mr. Montana is a frequent speaker and lecturer, having served as an Adjunct Professor of Law at Loyola School of Law, where he taught Advanced Trial Practice. For many years he served as an instructor for the National Institute for Trial Advocacy (NITA), which trains beginning lawyers in trial skills.

Mr. Montana also is co-chairman of the Preservation Subcommittee of the Seventh Circuit E-Discovery Committee, chaired by Chief Judge James Holderman of the Northern District of Illinois.

Mr. Montana is admitted to practice in Illinois and New York, the federal courts in those states and the Supreme Court of the United States.

Mr. Montana was selected for inclusion from 2005 to 2012 in Illinois Super Lawyers. He was selected by his peers from 2006 to 2012 for inclusion in The Best Lawyers in America. Vedder Price’s Gaming Practice, of which Mr. Montana serves as Chair, was ranked Tier One in Chicago by US News & World Report—Best Lawyers "Best Law Firms" 2010. Mr. Montana received an "AV Preeminent" Peer Rating in Martindale-Hubbell.

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• James S. Montana, Jr., Comments on Blagojevich’s Sentence in Bloomberg
• Vedder Price Advises Video Gaming Technology, Inc. in Successful Bid for Illinois Gaming Licenses
• Vedder Price Successfully Advises Schawk During SEC Investigation
• An Analysis of the Illinois Gaming Expansion Bill

• Alternative Dispute Resolution
• Antitrust and Trade Regulation
• Business Immigration
• Commercial Litigation
• Financial Institution Litigation
• Gaming Law
• Governmental Investigations
• Health Law Litigation Services
• Privacy and Data Security
• Records Management, eDiscovery and Data Privacy
• Securities Litigation
• Trade and Professional Associations, Accrediting and Not-For-Profit Organizations
• White Collar Criminal Defense, Parallel Civil/Administrative Proceedings and Internal Investigations

• J.D., Northwestern University School of Law
• A.B., Georgetown University

• New York, 1969
• Illinois, 1971
• US District Court, Southern District of New York, 1970
• US District Court, Northern District of Illinois, 1971, and Trial Bar, 1982
• US Court of Appeals, Second Circuit Court, 1969
• US Court of Appeals, Seventh Circuit Court, 1971

• US Supreme Court, 1991

• Member, Board of Directors, Chicagoland Chamber of Commerce
• Member, Counsel of Regents, Lewis University
• Member, Board of Advisors of the College of Arts & Sciences, Georgetown University
• Member, Board of Regents of Georgetown University
• Former Member, Board of Directors, Chicago Bar Foundation
• Former Member, Board of Managers, Chicago Bar Association
• Former Member, Board of Directors, Metropolitan Pier and Exposition Authority in Chicago
• Past President, Chicago Inn of Court  

Publications and Speaking Engagements

• Speaker, "DOJ:  Trends in Enforcement," at the Law Bulletin’s White Collar Crime + Corporate Governance Conference with Dan Webb and former US District Judge and Deputy Attorney General of the US Department of Justice, Mark Filip, February 11, 2010
• Speaker, "Ethical Issues in eDiscovery including preservation of evidence and protections of the Attorney-Client Privilege—the New Federal Rule of Evidence 502," at the Vedder Price Ethics Course for Corporate Counsel program on privilege waiver and eDiscovery, June 17, 2009
• Speaker, "Prosecution of Business Organizations: Implications of DOJ Policy on the Prosecution of Corporations," at the Chicago Law Bulletin’s White Collar Crime/Corporate Governance Conference with Dan Webb at The University Club of Chicago, January 13, 2009
• Speaker, "SEC and Law Enforcement Actions, The Expanding Credit Crisis—The Litigation and Regulatory Fallout," at the Vedder Price Conference Center, June 17, 2008
• Speaker, "Ethical Considerations for Corporate Counsel in Conducting Internal Corporate Investigations," Vedder Price Ethics Course for Corporate Counsel at The Standard Club, June 12, 2008
• Speaker, "Prosecution of Business Organizations," at the University Club for the Law Bulletin with Dan Webb, April 24, 2008
• Author of Chapter 11, "Knowing When to Stop," Your Witness:  Lessons on Cross-Examination and Life from Great Chicago Trial Lawyers, foreword by Scott Turow (Law Bulletin Publ. Co., 2007)
• Speaker, "Risk and Responsibility for Directors and Officers in the Wake of Enron," Illinois Association of Healthcare Attorneys, Twentieth Annual Health Law Symposium, November 5, 2002
• Co-author, "Right to Counsel:  Courts Adhere to Bright-Line Limits," Criminal Justice, American Bar Association, Section of Criminal Justice, vol. 16, no. 2, Summer 2001
• Co-author, "Sensible Decision on Admissibility of Witness Guilty Pleas Repudiated by Third Circuit, but Dissenters Offer Hope in Other Circuits," White Collar Crime Reporter, vol. 14, no. 6, June 2000