William K. Merkel

Dunstan H. Barnes is a Partner at McAndrews and practices in all areas of intellectual property law with emphasis on protecting and analyzing design rights. His work in that area includes drafting and prosecuting design patent applications and conducting opinion work and due diligence investigations. In addition, Dunstan has considerable experience drafting and prosecuting utility patent applications and trademark applications across a range of technological fields and industries. As a practi...

Dan Boho has a national trial and mediation practice with verdicts in Illinois, California, New York, New Jersey and Pennsylvania and appearances as pro hac vice counsel in 18 states. Mr. Boho, State Chair of the prestigious American College of Trial Lawyers and Fellow of the International Academy of Trial Lawyers (600 top trial lawyers from the US and 30 other countries), handles high-profile, media-intensive matters. He served as General Counsel of the 22,000 member Chicago Bar Association,...

Todd A. Solomon focuses his practice on designing, amending and administering pension, profit sharing, 401(k), employee stock ownership and 403(b) plans, as well as nonqualified deferred compensation arrangements. He also counsels privately and publicly held corporations and tax-exempt entities regarding fiduciary issues under the Employee Retirement Income Security Act (ERISA), employee benefits issues involved in corporate transactions, executive compensation matters and the implementation ...

Joe Madonia is leader of the firm’s Environmental Litigation team. For more than 25 years, Joe has defended and counseled clients on a wide array of toxic tort and environmental matters at the local, regional and national levels. Joe delivers strong skills as a litigator, multifaceted trial experience, and the regulatory know-how and scientific depth needed to problem-solve at virtually any level of sophistication or difficulty. His experience includes serving as national trial counsel ...

Sergio Acosta is Co-Chair of Akerman’s White Collar Crime and Government Investigations Practice. A former federal prosecutor and Fellow of the American College of Trial Lawyers with over 70 jury trials to his credit, he has extensive experience defending companies and individuals in criminal and regulatory proceedings, conducting internal investigations, and counseling clients on compliance programs and related issues. Sergio represents companies and individuals in regulatory, civil, a...

Ryan Schultz is a top attorney recognized by Best Lawyers in the practice area(s) of Bankruptcy and Creditor Debtor Rights / Insolvency and Reorganization Law. Ryan, who practices law in Chicago, Illinois, has been recognized since 2022. This recognition is based on an exhaustive peer-review survey, reflecting the high esteem in which Ryan is held by other top lawyers in the same geographic and legal practice area.

M. Christine Graff is a top attorney recognized by Best Lawyers in the practice area(s) of Real Estate Law. M. Christine, who practices law in Chicago, Illinois, has been recognized since 2025. This recognition is based on an exhaustive peer-review survey, reflecting the high esteem in which M. Christine is held by other top lawyers in the same geographic and legal practice area.

Matthew Antinossi's practice includes all ERISA-related areas, and he has extensive experience with the employee benefits aspects of mergers, acquisitions and divestitures, including ESOP transactions. In addition to his transactional practice, Matthew is frequently involved in representing debtors in the employee benefits aspects of bankruptcy, insolvency and restructuring. Such representations frequently involve resolution of complex ERISA Title IV issues. A significant portion of Matthew's...

Raiford Palmer is a top attorney recognized by Best Lawyers in the practice area(s) of Collaborative Law: Family Law, Family Law and Family Law Mediation. Raiford, who practices law in Naperville, Illinois, has been recognized since 2026. This recognition is based on an exhaustive peer-review survey, reflecting the high esteem in which Raiford is held by other top lawyers in the same geographic and legal practice area.

John has more than 40 years of experience advising hundreds of financial institutions and their boards on mergers and acquisitions, bank regulatory issues, corporate governance, and securities law matters. John is straight-forward, a good sounding board and strategic thinker, meticulous, and personable. John is the founder and former co-chair of Barack Ferrazzano’s Financial Institutions Group and has advised hundreds of financial institutions on strategic, corporate governance and othe...