Stephen R. Brown
Partner
Stephen is a litigator with first-chair jury trial and first-chair arbitration experience. He represents businesses and individuals from a wide range of industries in high-stakes complex business disputes in state and federal courts around the country.
Stephen is devoted to his clients and works tirelessly—with attention to detail and creative problem solving—to achieve their goals.
As a practicing lawyer, Stephen has published extensively, and his articles have been cited by the Iowa Supreme Court, the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania, Wright & Miller’s Federal Practice & Procedure, and numerous law journals.
Stephen joined Esbrook P.C. in September 2020 after 11 years at Jenner & Block LLP.
Selected Mergers and Acquisitions Litigation
- Served as lead counsel and successfully resolved multimillion dollar dispute arising out of acquisition, including claims for fraud, indemnification, and breaches of representations and warranties
- Representing buyer of automative technology company in defending against claims for breach of an earnout clause in merger agreement
- Second chaired arbitration to pursue claims against seller in post-closing purchase price dispute arising out of $1 billion sale of investment advisory firm
Selected Private Equity Litigation
- Successfully first chaired arbitration in defending private-equity fund against demands for advancement and indemnification
- Represented private-equity firm in dispute with former employee concerning compensation
Selected Breach-of-Contract Litigation
- Serving as lead counsel in defending multimillion dollar dispute concerning services contract
- Served as lead counsel in resolving multimillion dollar dispute concerning revenue-sharing payments
- Served as lead counsel defending telecommunications company in multimillion dollar breach-of-contract dispute
- Successfully represented insured in seeking insurance coverage for losses arising from fire at manufacturing plant
- Defended mortgage originator in multiple cases, including a three-week bench trial concerning a claim $900+ million in damages
Selected Business Torts Litigation
- Served as lead counsel in resolving multimillion dollar breach of fiduciary duty claim asserted on behalf of shareholder in two family-owned Illinois corporations
- Defended construction company against claims for tortious interference and breach of nonsolicit agreement in connection with hiring of a competitor’s former employee
Selected Force Majeure Litigation
- Served as lead counsel in seeking more than $15 million damages against service provider that raised COVID issues as force majeure excuse for nonperformance
- Represented buyer of natural gas in claims against sellers raising force majeure defense
Selected Multidistrict and Class Action Litigation
- Successfully defended putative class action alleging violations of the Illinois Genetic Information Privacy Act
- In re JUUL Labs, Inc. Marketing, Sales Practices, and Products Liability Litigation (MDL No. 2913): Defended retailer and distributor clients against product liability claims relating to the sale of JUUL vaping product
- In re Processed Egg Prods. Antitrust Litig. (MDL 2002): Asserted claims on behalf of opt-out purchasers of processed egg products