Paul E. Slater

Paul E. Slater


Sperling Kenny Nachwalter PA

Recognized since 2006

Chicago, Illinois

Practice Areas

Litigation - Antitrust

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Lawyer of the Year Badge - 2021 - Litigation - Antitrust Lawyer of the Year Badge - 2014 - Litigation - Antitrust
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A firm founder, visionary leader, and skilled litigator, Paul Slater handles high-stakes antitrust cases for private and public enterprises, including Fortune 500 companies. He pioneered the opt-out practice, representing companies as individual plaintiffs in industry-wide multidistrict antitrust litigation. This practice enables clients to tailor their claims and maximize their recoveries outside of class action proceedings, which often fail to meet individual client needs.

Mr. Slater represents clients in wide-ranging industries, including national drugstore, grocery store, and restaurant chains; domestic and international airlines; the leading air freight service provider; national car rental companies; and major shopping, internet, and media marketing companies. He has successfully resolved price-fixing, monopolies, customer allocation, anticompetitive vertical agreements, and other restraint-on-trade cases.

Among his many successes are first-of-their-kind antitrust cases, including ones against credit card companies, and industry-impacting actions against pharma giants for drug overcharging. Clients appreciate Mr. Slater’s ability to optimize their recoveries while working out resolutions that improve the parties’ relationship and results in better business terms for the future.

Before founding the firm, Mr. Slater taught at the University of California School of Law at Berkeley (Boalt Hall) and then at Northwestern University School of Law, where he was a professor of antitrust law and then an adjunct professor teaching an advanced antitrust law course for 35 years. Highly respected for his legal acumen and insight, he has been cited by the U.S. Supreme Court on several occasions. His exceptional knowledge of antitrust laws is rare, if not unrivaled.

Location
  • 321 North Clark Street, 25th Floor
    Chicago, IL 60654
Education
  • Northwestern University, J.D., graduated 1970
Bar Admissions
  • Illinois, Illinois State Bar Association, 1970
Affiliations
  • Chicago Bar Association - Antitrust & Patent Committees
  • Illinois State Bar Association - Antitrust Council
  • American Antitrust Institute - Advisory Board
  • Loyola Antitrust Institute - Advisory Board
  • University of California School of Law - Boalt Hall, Faculty, 1970-1971
  • University of Connecticut Law School - Assistant Professor, 1971-1972
  • Northwestern University School of Law - Professor and Adjunct Professor, 1972-2007

Lawyer of the Year Badge - 2021 - Litigation - Antitrust Lawyer of the Year Badge - 2014 - Litigation - Antitrust
Named "Lawyer of the Year" by Best Lawyers® for:
  • Litigation - Antitrust, Chicago (2021)
  • Litigation - Antitrust, Chicago (2014)
Recognized in The Best Lawyers in America® 2026 for work in:
  • Litigation - Antitrust
Awards:
  • Honoree for the Antitrust Enforcement Award for Outstanding Antitrust Achievement in Private Law Practice, American Antitrust Institute, 2022

  • Illinois Super Lawyers, Antitrust Litigation, 2006-2025

  • Chambers USA, Senior Statesman, Antitrust, 2003-2025

  • Lawdragon: 500 Leading Global Antitrust & Competition Lawyers, 2025

Publications

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