Rebecca R. Hanson is senior counsel with Foley & Lardner LLP and a member of the firm's Business Litigation & Dispute Resolution, Labor & Employment, and Consumer Financial Services Practices. Ms. Hanson's practice focuses on complex general commercial litigation, class actions, healthcare and ERISA litigation, consumer financial services litigation, and trade secrets claims.

Ms. Hanson has successfully represented clients in all phases of commercial disputes, ranging from pre-litigation dispute resolution, litigation or arbitration of commercial claims and defenses, and negotiation of favorable settlements for clients. Ms. Hanson's notable engagements include representing:

· Health benefit holding company and several of its affiliates in successful effort to defeat two separate motions for class certification of a putative nationwide class of healthcare providers in an ERISA action - once in PCA v. BCBSA, 2011 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 148689 (N.D. Ill.) and again in PCA v. BCBSA, 2012 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 146955 (N.D. Ill) - and to obtain summary judgment on the claims of a subscriber plaintiff who sought to represent a class of health care subscribers. 2012 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 7257.

· Japanese supplier in an arbitration where hundreds of millions of dollars were at issue and a favorable settlement was negotiated.

· Managed care company in an arbitration involving a contract dispute with a hospital provider over payment rate for a particular procedure.

· Managed care company, a health insurance company, and health benefit holding companies in an ERISA dispute with out-of-network providers over the rate of payment for services.

· Health insurance company in an ERISA dispute with an out-of-network provider over coverage verifications.

· Food manufacturer in federal class action in the Southern District of Illinois involving numerous state consumer fraud statutes. Represented same food manufacturer and a supermarket chain in a separate matter in successful effort to obtain dismissal of state law consumer fraud class action claims. Zaycer v. Weis Markets, 2012 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 129791 (D. Md.).

· Credit Union in obtaining favorable ruling in federal tax "test case" for the credit union industry, Bellco Credit Union v. United States, in U.S. District Court in Denver, Colorado, challenging recent IRS determinations that the sale of debt protection and financial service products by credit unions are subject to unrelated business income tax (UBIT).

· Canadian corporation in obtaining a Seventh Circuit ruling that a the foreign corporation is not subject to ERISA liability in the U.S. courts. GCIU Employees v. Goldfarb Corp. (7th Cir. 2009).

· Construction company in obtaining favorable and landmark franchise law ruling in FMS, Inc. v. Volvo Construction Co., 557 F.3d 758 (7th Cir. 2009), reversing a jury verdict for plaintiff and holding that Volvo properly terminated plaintiff's Samsung dealership when Volvo bought Samsung and discontinued that line of equipment.

· Major retailer in obtaining favorable dismissal of constitutional claims involving free speech and assembly rights on private property. Kuna v. Illinois State Board of Elections, et al., 2012 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 137689 (S.D. Ill.).

· Consulting company in breach of fiduciary duty in breach of contract case involving trade secret issues where a former employee solicited and recruited the company's employees for a new business venture.

· Numerous clients in successfully litigating employment cases involving Family and Medical Leave Act, gender discrimination, and age discrimination.

Ms. Hanson has also:

· Managed and conducting all phases of oral and written discovery in large-scale complex litigation and arbitration, including successfully litigating discovery disputes.

· Argued motions before the Seventh Circuit and the United States District Court for the Northern District of Illinois and represented clients in state and federal courts around the country.

· Successfully litigated several pro bono cases, including an immigration case that resulted in asylum for a woman from Sudan.

Ms. Hanson is admitted to practice before the U.S. District Courts for the Northern, Central, and Southern Districts of Illinois; the District of Colorado; and the U.S. Court of Appeal for the Seventh Circuit. Ms. Hanson regularly writes for the firm's Employment Law Update and has contributed to the firm's Consumer Financial Services Litigation Bulletin, a blog devoted to legal developments in consumer financial services.

Prior to joining Foley, Ms. Hanson served as an Afghanistan analyst in the Directorate of Intelligence at the Central Intelligence Agency, during which time she received many performance awards for her analytic skills. In March 2002, she was invited by the President's Envoy to Afghanistan and Iraq to serve as the associate director for Afghanistan, Islamic Outreach, and Southwest Asia Initiatives at the National Security Council at the White House, which she did until September 2003. During her time at the National Security Council, Ms. Hanson traveled extensively in Afghanistan, Iraq, and other parts of the Middle East and Central Asia, and took part in negotiations with heads of state and other leaders regarding United States post-9/11 foreign policy.

Ms. Hanson has a master's degree from Georgetown University and a law degree from the University of Chicago (with honors).

Ms. Hanson is a junior member on the board of the Chicago Lawyer's Committee for Civil Rights Under Law, Inc. She is also an active member of the Chicago Bar Association and the American Bar Association.