Jennifer Kenedy is Managing Partner of our Chicago Office and a member of Locke Lord's Board of Directors. She concentrates her practice on commercial litigation, including trade secret misappropriation and other intellectual property litigation, employment and distributorship contractual disputes, construction, product liability, ERISA, real estate and eminent domain. Ms. Kenedy mediates, arbitrates and tries cases on behalf of clients nationwide. Her experience as national counsel for several financial services, insurance and other companies covers all aspects of litigation from supervising complex discovery and attending mediations and arbitrations to pursuing injunctive relief, trying cases and briefing and arguing state and federal court appeals.
Education
- J.D., cum laude, Northwestern University School of Law, 1993
- B.A., summa cum laude, University of Illinois, 1990
Phi Beta Kappa
Bar Admissions
Admitted To Practice
- U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Indiana, 1996
- U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Illinois, 1993
- U.S. Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit, 1998
- U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Illinois Trial Bar, 2002
Representative Experience
National Trade Secret/Restrictive Covenant Counsel. In 2003 Ms. Kenedy was selected as national counsel on trade secret and noncompete issues for an internationally known financial services and mutual fund company. She obtains injunctions in federal and state courts nationwide against former brokers who leave, join competitors and misappropriate the Company’s proprietary trade secret customer data. She also handles arbitrations before the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA) seeking damages caused by the former employee and new employer’s misappropriation of trade secret client data. In the past year she has had cases pending in Massachusetts, Texas, California, Ohio, Maryland, New Jersey and Florida. She also acts as national restrictive covenant counsel for several other insurance and financial services clients, acting as lead counsel in litigation pending around the country.
Preferred Outside Counsel, Procter & Gamble. Since 2005, Ms. Kenedy has led a team of LLBL attorneys as P&G’s Preferred Outside Counsel in Illinois, handling product liability actions for P&G companies alleging burn and other injuries. Ms. Kenedy has also represented P&G in several product liability and commercial (FCRA) class actions.
National Litigation Counsel for Construction Products Manufacturer. Ms. Kenedy is national litigation counsel for a construction product manufacturer and, in the last two years, has represented the company in commercial and construction lawsuits and claims involving Dulles Airport, the Portland Chinese Classical Garden, a tourist attraction in Portland, Oregon, and other commercial construction claims in Washington D.C., New Jersey, Florida, Wisconsin, Texas and Michigan. She also prosecutes and defends claims nationwide relating to the company’s contractual relationships with its representatives, from enforcement of confidentiality and noncompete clauses to defending against claims of fraud, unfair and deceptive business practices and arbitrary refusals to deal.
Since 1995:
National Product Liability Counsel For TRW. Ms. Kenedy, with three other Firm attorneys, acted as national counsel for TRW; representing it in catastrophic injury product liability cases in 25 states. She has been lead counsel in over 30 states on significant, complex product liability cases including Conkling v. Standard Steel (1995, Texas) (death; circus train derailment; metallurgical defect in train wheel); Endicott v. Fruehauf (2002, Illinois)(double leg amputee; trailer conspicuity claim; summary judgment after court concluded that plaintiff was more than 50% at fault as a matter of law); Ford v. TRW (2001, Massachusetts)(death of fetus, mother broke neck)(seat belt); Hoffman v TRW (New York)(2001, air bag; blindness; verdict against codefendant for $7 million; settled pre-trial for nuisance value); Hylsky v. Fruehauf (2000, brain injury)(trailer); Price v. Kelsey-Hayes (2001, South Carolina)(death; rear trailer underride); Hasty v. GM (1999, death); Freeburg v. GM (2001, death; fuel gauge); Saunders v. TRW (2000, Arkansas) (beheading of physician)(seat belt); Shannon v. TRW (Pennsylvania)(death)(seat belt); Longo v. GM (burns); Maraviglia v. Polaris (brain injury); Walker v. TRW (Tennessee; defense verdict)(truck steering gear assembly).
Seventh Circuit Sets New Bar For Compliance With Rule 26 After Affirming Summary Judgment For Inadequate Expert Reports In Brain-Injured Toddler Case. Ms. Kenedy secured summary judgment in a brain-injured minor case in federal court on behalf of General Motors after barring plaintiff’s experts after they submitted untimely expert reports that failed to meet the requirements of Rule 26. Ms. Kenedy briefed and argued the appeal before the Seventh Circuit, which affirmed the trial court’s strict adherence to Rule 26, its own scheduling orders and Rule 37. The oft-cited opinion, 150 F.3d 735, set a new bar for compliance with the requirements of Rule 26 and its strict interpretation of the obligation to sanction under F.R.C.P. 37.
Ms. Kenedy has acted as lead trial counsel in several bench and jury trials, preliminary injunction hearings in state and federal courts around the country and in arbitrations before various tribunals.
Maxwell Street Redevelopment By The University of Illinois. Jennifer was lead trial counsel for the University of Illinois, filing eminent domain actions to obtain property needed to complete the University of Illinois at Chicago’s successful and well-publicized South Campus Development Project. In the only trial resulting from this politically-charged development, Jennifer obtained a directed verdict for the University after striking the testimony of the opposing expert after her cross-examination. The directed verdict was upheld on appeal.
Real Estate Litigation. Jennifer has been lead counsel in cases for the City of Chicago, IDHA, banks, an energy ventures company, large development companies and others in high profile litigation over large real estate deals which have gone sour. She has been lead counsel in several complex real estate cases, including disputes over a $100 million energy plant development, a $17 million senior citizen condominium development and other large deals in dispute. These cases cover the range of commercial causes of action and equitable relief, from estoppel to breach of contract, specific performance, tortuous interference, consumer fraud, quiet title, slander of title and apparent agency to pursuing and defending against requests for injunctive relief.
Publications & Presentations
- Panelist, "Ambition: The Fuel For Your Career Engine," Women in Law Empowerment Forum (June 2011)
- Co-Author, "Locke Lord QuickStudy: New Georgia Law Makes Easier for Employers to Draft Enforceable Restrictive Covenants," Locke Lord (May 17, 2011)
- Panelist, Illinois Women's Conference, National Diversity Council (March 2011)
- Co-Author, "Client Alert Update: Georgia's New Non-Competition Statute," Locke Lord (November 23, 2010)
- Co-Author, "Client Alert: New Georgia Non-Compete Law is a Peach for Employers," Locke Lord (November 5, 2010)
- "Legal Issues in Noncompetes in Preneed Insurance", Life Insurers Counsel, Atlanta, GA (November 2010)
- Keynote Speaker, Northwestern University Diversity Week, "Diversity in Leadership" (September 2010)
- CLE Presenter, "When Key Employees Leave: Protecting Your Valuable Information", McDonald's Corporation (November 2009)
- Panelist, "Bring On The Rain: Business Development", Ms. JD's Third Annual Conference on Women in Law (November 2009)
- Panelist, Mealey's, "Achieving Partnership in a Law Firm" (December 2008)
- Panelist, LexisNexis, "Strategies for Women Achieving Leadership in a Law Firm" (May, 2008)
- Panelist, LexisNexis, Women in the Legal Profession Summit: Rainmaking, Negotiating and Collaborative Development (April, 2008)
Press
- Law360, "Q&A with Locke Lord's Jennifer Kenedy" (June 2011)
- Chicago Lawyer, Around the Water Cooler, "Q&A with Jennifer Kenedy" (November 2010)
- Chicago Lawyer "The Next Generation of Leaders" (June 2009)
- Today's Chicago Woman, "Taking It To The Greens" (April 2009)
- Chicago Lawyer Roundtable, "Combining Firms To Create a New Enterprise" (June 2008)
Professional History
- Managing Partner, Chicago Office of Locke Lord LLP
- Member, Locke Lord Board of Directors (2007-present)
- Co-Chair and Co-Founder, Women’s Initiative
Professional Affiliations & Achievements
- Recipient, Women’s Bar Association of Illinois Esther Rothstein Award (2012)
- Named, The Best Lawyers in America, Commercial Litigation (2012)
- Named, "2011 Most Powerful and Influential Women in Illinois," National Diversity Council
- Member, American Bar Association, Litigation Section
Community Leadership
- Member, Board of Directors/Executive Committee, Coalition of Women's Initiatives in Law Firms
- Member/Former Chair, Board of Directors, The Fairway Network
- Coordinator, Western Springs Peer Jury
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