Rachael G. Pontikes focuses her practice on high-profile and high-stakes litigation, with a particular emphasis on matters involving significant media attention and public scrutiny. Ms. Pontikes represents foreign companies in disputes in the United States, acts as liaison for American companies that are sued abroad, represents companies in inter- and intra-company disputes and represents financial institutions in a broad range of commercial litigation and arbitration. She distills complex legal theories to an essence that anyone can understand. Ms. Pontikes also crafts and implements creative solutions from beneficial settlements to creating novel legal theories that push the law to a new edge. She communicates the law and her clients' positions clearly and tailored to her audience, a highly unique skill when dealing with judges, regulators and juries.
Fluent in Italian and formerly a resident of Milan, Ms. Pontikes is a citizen of both the United States and Greece and maintains contacts throughout the European Union. She brings a true cross-border perspective to representation of Italian clients that are sued in the United States, as well as representation of American interests in Italy and elsewhere outside of the United States. Ms. Pontikes also represents clients in heavily-regulated industries such as financial services. She serves a broad range of institutions in the securities, futures and derivatives markets in federal trial and appellate courts, and also in customer and broker disputes before the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority ("FINRA"). Ms. Pontikes also has brought civil actions for several minor girls who allege they were sexually exploited when featured in child pornography.
Ms. Pontikes is highly active in civic activities and her community. She serves on the Executive Committee of the Chicago Bar Association Alliance for Women, is a member of the Chicago Lyric Opera Guild Board, and on the board for the Chicago Alliance Against Sexual Exploitation. Through the Alliance, Ms. Pontikes co-founded the mentoring circles program sponsored by the Chicago Bar Association Alliance for Women, the largest mentoring program for women attorneys in Chicago. She serves as the pro bono coordinator for the Duane Morris Chicago office, and is a lecturer in law at the University of Chicago.
In 2012, Ms. Pontikes was named an Illinois Rising Star. No more than 2.5 percent of the lawyers in Illinois are named to the list.
Ms. Pontikes is a 2001 graduate of the University of Chicago Law School and an honors graduate of Wesleyan University, where she was elected Phi Beta Kappa.
Areas of Practice
· Commercial Litigation
· Appellate Advocacy
· Healthcare Litigation
· Financial Services Law
Representative Matters
· Cross Border Disputes - Lead trial counsel in defending an Italian vineyard from an $18 million claim brought by its former U.S. importer in federal district court. Defeated a preliminary injunction and eliminated $6 million of the claim on summary judgment. Defeated the remaining $12 million of the claim after a federal jury trial and obtained a $500,000 defense verdict. Defeated post-trial motions challenging the jury verdict.
· Intra-Partnership disputes - Lead trial counsel for the general partner of a family partnership. Obtained a favorable verdict in a family dispute over the partnership assets after a bench trial. Defeated the preliminary injunction brought by the other general partner and the receivership petition brought by other family members.
· Child Pornography Civil Actions - Trial counsel in federal trial and U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit for seven girls, beginning in 2006, and for four girls, beginning in 2008, against Joe Francis and the Girls Gone Wild companies for allegedly producing child pornography. Argued in the Eleventh Circuit and obtained decision vacating a district court order requiring the plaintiffs reveal their identities prior to trial (2011).
· Broker-Dealer disputes - Represented a broker-dealer that specialized in the distribution of proprietary managed investment funds in an extensive regulatory investigation, and enabled the client to settle lesser administrative charges rather than charges alleging fraud and/or manipulation.
· Represented an online trading company in a FINRA arbitration and negotiated a settlement that the client found favorable.
· Represented clearing broker in the United States Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit defending a challenge to a U.S. District Court confirmation of a pre-hearing summary judgment granted in favor of the clearing broker. Olson v. Wexford Clearing Services Corp., 397 F.3d 448 (7th Cir. 2005)
· Consumer Disputes - Represented consumer in Magnuson and Moss actions in the Illinois Court of Appeals.
· Defended a manufacturer in a Magnuson and Moss class action in federal court.
· Compounding Pharmacy Disputes with the Government - Represented compounding pharmacy in an administrative action against the Drug Enforcement Administration.
· Represented compounding pharmacy in a federal court action against the Food and Drug Administration in the trial court and the Third Circuit.
· Represented a group of compounding pharmacies against the Food and Drug Administration in federal court.
· Pro Bono - Obtained political asylum for an African woman, a victim of domestic violence, for the National Immigrant Justice Center (NIJC).
· Obtained a settlement for a prisoner beaten by a guard in a 1983 civil rights action in federal court.
· Obtained citizenship for a seventeen year old girl beaten by her father under the Violence Against Women Act.
Professional Activities
· American Bar Association
· Chicago Bar Association
- Alliance for Women
- Executive Committee, 2009-2011
· Hellenic Bar Association
· Securities Industry Association - Compliance Legal Division
· National Society of Compliance Professionals
· University of Chicago Women's Mentoring Program
Experience
· Duane Morris LLP
- Partner, 2010-present
- Associate, 2003-2009
· The University of Chicago Law School
- Lecturer In Law, 2011
· Altheimer & Gray, Chicago, Illinois
- Associate, 2002-2003
· Lovells, Chicago, Illinois
- Associate, 2001-2002
Board Memberships
· Lyric Opera of Chicago Guild
- Member, 2007-present
- Vice President of Silent Auction, 2007
· Chicago Alliance Against Sexual Exploitation, 2011-present
Honors and Awards
· Named an Illinois Rising Star, 2012
Selected Publications
· Author, "Lawyers See Challenges in Cross-Border Disputes," Chicago Daily Law Bulletin, November 10, 2011
· Featured in "Q&A: Rachael Pontikes" by Olivia Clarke, The Chicago Lawyer, March 2011
· Quoted in "Panel: Girls in 'Wild' video to remain anonymous," Bloomberg Businessweek, February 1, 2011
Selected Speaking Engagements
· Guest Lecturer, "International Litigation: Determining Jurisdiction in Cross Border Disputes," LUISS University, Rome, Italy, November 14, 2011
· Speaker, "Legal remedies for teenage victims of child pornography," Women's Conference 2011, Wheelock College
· Speaker, "Changing the System: Enhancing Multicultural Competence in Law Firms," Indiana Lawyer's 2008 Diversity in Practice Conference, October 2008
· Speaker, "Women and Negotiation," Bayer Pharmaceutical, September 2008
· Speaker, "Current Texas Federal Litigation Against the FDA," International Academy of Compounding Pharmacies, June 2005
· Presented on the Animal Medicinal Drug Use Clarification Act at "Fundamentals of Food and Drug Law and Regulation in California," a seminar by the Food Drug Law Institute, San Francisco, June 2005
· Presented the position of compounding pharmacies in current litigation, 48th annual conference of the Food Drug Law Institute, Washington, D.C., March 2005