Gail A. Niemann

OF COUNSEL

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Massey & Gail LLP
50 East Washington Street
Suite 400
Chicago, IL 60602

Office: 312.283.1590
Direct: 312.626.2714
Fax: 312.379.0467

Gail Niemann has more than forty years of experience practicing law in Chicago and is an experienced commercial litigator and counselor to senior management.

Gail has practiced law inside a range of institutions, including large and small litigation-focused law firms, a multi-national corporate law department, and state and local government, as a litigator and general counsel.

Gail began her career at the litigation-focused Jenner & Block law firm, starting as an associate just out of law school and becoming an equity partner. While there, she represented a broad range of clients in civil litigation matters in state and federal court, with an emphasis on class actions, complex commercial litigation, and securities litigation. She also worked for four years for a Fortune 100 telecommunications company where she oversaw all of the company’s litigation in the Midwest, including competitive and antitrust litigation, class actions, commercial litigation, and defense of tort and employment litigation. She also worked closely with the company’s federal and state regulatory counsel. Gail has worked in multiple levels of government, including the City of Chicago representing it in constitutional, policy, and commercial litigation; as General Counsel to the Chicago Housing Authority in the early years of its Plan for Transformation; and as General Counsel to two different State of Illinois agencies. She has represented pro bono clients in both criminal and civil matters.

  • University of Illinois Law School, J.D. magna cum laude, 1979; member of the University of Illinois Law Review; Order of the Coif
  • University of Chicago, M.A., 2011
  • Eastern Illinois University, B.A. with high honors, 1974
  • Illinois
  • United States Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit
  • Trial Bar for the United States District Court for the Northern District of Illinois
  • “Historic Preservation and Transferable Development Rights,” 1978 U. Ill. Law (Forum) Review 1927
  • Adjunct Instructor, Trial Advocacy and Trial Practice, Northwestern Law School (1987-1997)
  • Illinois Department of Revenue, General Counsel (2011-2015)
  • Illinois Department of Commerce and Economic Opportunity, General Counsel (2009-2011)
  • Chicago Housing Authority, General Counsel (2002-2006)
  • City of Chicago Law Department, Deputy General Counsel Litigation (1992-1997)
  • Hibbler Pro Se Help Desk, Northern District of Illinois (2018 to present)
  • Settlement Assistance Program, Northern District of Illinois (2019 to present)
  • Center for Economic Progress, Volunteer Income Tax Assistance (2018)
  • Legal Assistance Foundation, Volunteer for U-Visa Program and EEOC Mediation Program (2008-2009)
  • Successfully defended JPMorgan Chase & Co. at trial in Los Angeles Superior Court in a case that involved two wealthy foreign nationals who claimed they had been defrauded by their former business partners.
  • Represented the Illinois Department of Insurance, as Liquidator of Land of Lincoln Mutual Health Insurance Co., in a challenge to the authority of the federal Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (part of the Department of Health & Human Services) to act to benefit itself as a creditor without approval of the State liquidation court.
  • Successfully settled a 12-year-old tort case involving a claim of traumatic brain injury in a suburban New York City state court.
  • Represented South African nationals in filing a petition for certiorari in the United States Supreme Court challenging the dismissal of claims against IBM and Ford relating to apartheid.
  • Represented witnesses in connection with internal, FBI and SEC investigations.