Jonathan C. Bunge

Jon Bunge is Co-Chair of the firm’s National Trial Practice and Managing Partner of the Chicago office.  Jon has had considerable trial and other litigation experience. He has tried over 60 jury and bench trials as well as numerous domestic and international arbitrations.   He has been the first chair litigator in the majority of these trials, many of which have lasted for weeks or months in duration.  He has tried cases in many areas, including commercial disputes, non-compete and trade secret disputes, products cases, trademark matters, white collar criminal law matters, and securities and financial disputes.  He is a Fellow of the American College of Trial Lawyers.  The American Lawyer and other publications have repeatedly described him as “one of Chicago’s top trial lawyers.”  He has tried cases in federal courts and state courts across the country for clients such as McDonald’s, IBM, private equity firms, and others.  He has been listed as one of the 500 top litigators in the United States and in The Best Lawyers in America since 2008, and in other similar publications.

A former federal prosecutor, Jon also defends clients in government regulatory and criminal investigations and has experience in matters involving both private and governmental entities such as False Claims Act litigation.  He has conducted many internal investigations at Fortune 100 and smaller corporations.  He has taught courses at the University of Chicago Law School on  Corporate Crimes & Investigations and Federal Criminal Law.  Jon worked at the United States Attorneys’ Office in Chicago for almost nine years before entering private practice.   He was Deputy Chief for the General Crimes Division and the lead prosecutor in a series of high-profile cases: the prosecution of the Ford Heights, Illinois Chief of Police and six other police officers on corruption and racketeering charges;   various cases arising out of the Silver Shovel investigation into political corruption in City and State government; a terrorism case involving the efforts of a Puerto Rican independence group to bomb a military recruiting center; the prosecution of a large Chicago street-gang that attempted to purchase military weapons for the purpose of attacking a Chicago police station; and a series of fraud prosecutions involving securities and other types of businesses.   At the Department of Justice, he received the Department of Justice’s Director’s Award for Superior Performance as an Assistant United States Attorney and four Department of Justice Special Achievement Awards.  He has represented clients in matters adverse to many state Attorney Generals’ Offices.  While in private practice, the State of Illinois appointed him a Special Assistant Attorney General to help the Illinois Attorney General's office organize a Public Integrity Unit and the State of Colorado appointed him as a Special Assistant Attorney General to prosecute police brutality cases.

Jon is a former United States Supreme Court Law Clerk and has handled numerous appeals.  He has argued over 20 appellate cases in various federal and state appellate courts, including for example four appellate arguments on civil matters before the California appellate courts.   He has been successful in the vast majority of these appeals.