Mr. Sullivan has consulted and represented clients in complex litigation in both federal and state courts. He has appeared in over two hundred federal court cases. Representative matters have included cases involving  pharmaceutical products, aerospace, contract disputes, contested estates, trusts and fiduciary litigation, products liability, partnership agreements, sales agreements, construction claims, business fraud, physician-hospital disputes, trade secrets, employee non-competition agreements, employment matters, creditor’s rights, fiduciary duties of corporate officers, unfair competition, defamation claims, lender liability, contests for corporate control, business valuations, copyright and trademark claims, administrative tax disputes, products liability, trade regulation and anti-trust, ERISA, insurance issues and shareholder rights. Mr. Sullivan routinely counsels corporate, institutional and business clients on legal issues affecting their business operations and appears regularly in administrative, federal and state proceedings.

Mr. Sullivan is a court certified mediator in both state and federal courts and is a federal mediator for the Western Division of the Northern District of Illinois. He has participated in a wide variety of arbitrations and mediations of commercial, unfair competition, contract and business tort disputes. He also has extensive business experience as he served as a director of a publicly traded corporation for 20 years.

Mr. Sullivan is an honors graduate of the University of Notre Dame and its law school. Throughout his career, Mr. Sullivan has received the following industry recognitions:

• Selected by his peers for inclusion in The Best Lawyers in America© 2015-2021 in the field of commercial litigation.
• Induction in 2011 as a Fellow of the Litigation Counsel of America, a trial lawyer honorary society whose membership is limited to less than one-half of one percent of American lawyers.
• In 2010, he was profiled in the Business Edition of Leading Lawyers Magazine, as one of the “Top Business Lawyers in Illinois.”
• Selected by his peers for inclusion in the Leading Lawyers Network (2004-2021), a distinction awarded to only the top five percent of all attorneys in Illinois.
• Selected as an Illinois Super Lawyer (2005-2021) by Law & Politics in the area of commercial litigation and corporate law.
• Received an AV Peer Review Rating from Martindale-Hubbell®, its highest rating for attorneys for ethics and legal ability; and
• His business experience includes service as a director of a publicly traded corporation for more than 20 years.

Representative cases include:

• City of Rockford v. Mallinckrodt ARD, Inc., United States District Court, N.D. Illinois. January 25, 2019, 360 F. Supp. 3d 730 – (Antitrust)
• Cleland v. Cleland, Appellate Court of Illinois, Second District. August 23, 2018 — N.E. 3d — 2018 IL App (2d) 170949 2-17-0949 – (Contested Estate and Trust Litigation)
• Village of Rockton, Illinois v. Sonoco Products Company, 135 F.Supp.3d 700 (2015)  – (Land Use / Constitutional Law)
• Toscano v. Koopman, 148 F.Supp.3d 679 (N.D. IL, 2015) – (Shareholder Derivative Suit)
• Clarke v. Clarke, 2013 IL App (2d) 120157-U. (2013) – (Partnership Dispute)
• Ennenga v. Starns, 677 F.3d 766 (7th Cir., 2012) – (Contested Estate)
• Beringer v. Standard Parking Corp., (N.D.IL, 2008) (2008 WL 4390626) – (Class Action)
• Bryan v. Belvidere Nat. Bank, 122 Fed.Appx. 858 (7^th Cir., 2005) – (Fair Credit Reporting Act)
• Martin Properties, Inc. v. Florida Industries Inv. Corp. (N.D. IL, 2004) (2004 WL 433217) – (Breach of Contract)
• Holden v. Rockford Memorial Hosp., 295 Ill.App.3d 45 (2^nd Dist 1998) – (Breach of Non-Compete Contract)
• Design Ben. Plans, Inc. v. Enright, 940 F. Supp. 200 (N.D. IL., 1996) – (Breach of Non-Compete Agreement)
• Arachnid, Inc. v. Beall, 210 Ill.App.3d 1096 (2^nd Dist.  1991) – (Employment Dispute)
• Merrill Lynch v. Tobias, 90 C 20210 (N.D. IL. 1990) – (Injunction – Non-Compete)
• U.S. v. Rockford Memorial Corp., 898 F.2d 1278 (7^th Cir., 1990) – (Anti-Trust)
• Mohr v. Arachnid, Inc., 201 Ill.App.3d 984 (2^nd Dist.1990) – (Employment Dispute)
• Lindenmier v. City of Rockford, 156 Ill.App.3d 76 (2^nd Dist. 1987) – (Negligence)
• Dolan v. Rockford School Dist. No. 205 (N.D. IL., 1984) (1984 WL 2740) – (Fair Share – Injunction)
• Merrill Lynch v. Luedke, 83 CH 329 (1983) – (Injunction – Non-Compete)

Sullivan is an active volunteer in his community and serves as a Trustee of the Lincoln Academy of Illinois, a not-for-profit, non-partisan organization dedicated to recognizing notable contributions made by distinguished Illinoisans. Named for Abraham Lincoln, the Academy administers the Order of Lincoln, the highest award given by the State of Illinois. Each year several persons are selected as Lincoln Laureates at a ceremony presided over by its president, the Governor of Illinois.

Sullivan also has dedicated his time and talent to serving on the board of directors of the Rockford Symphony Orchestra (chair of the committee that hired Maestro Steve Larsen); as a founding officer and director of The Friends of the Coronado (formed to spearhead and manage an $18.5 million renovation, restoration and reopening of the historic Coronado Theatre); as board director of the Rockford Area Arts Council; as board director of the Rockford Area Convention and Visitors Bureau; as board director of the Natural Land Institute; and as a Trustee of the Smith Charitable Foundation.

Mr. Sullivan is a member of the executive committee of the Notre Dame Law Association, the Alumni Board of the Notre Dame Law School. He was honored by the Rockford Chamber of Commerce as one of 20 People You Should Know. The honorees were chosen for their civic, economic and cultural contributions to the Rockford area. He has been inducted into the Irish Legal 100 by the New York-based Irish Voice Newspaper and Irish America Magazine.

He is a member of the trial bar of the Federal District Court, Northern and Central Districts of Illinois, and is admitted to practice before the United States Court of Appeals, Seventh Circuit, and the United States Supreme Court.