Picture of Michael J. Merrick

Michael J. Merrick

Direct Dial: (312) 269-9299
merrick@merricklawfirm.com
Download VCard

Main: (312) 269-0200
Fax: (312) 269-0800

150 North Michigan Avenue, Suite 800
Chicago, Illinois 60601

Legal Assistant
Laura Crawford
312.269.0200
laura@merricklawfirm.com
Omaha Tel. (402) 933-4256

Michael J. Merrick is the founding member of Merrick Law Firm LLC and has 20 years of employment law experience.  His clients and peers, other lawyers and judges, rate him as "AV/Preeminent," Martindale-Hubbell's highest rating in legal ability and ethical standards.  Mr. Merrick has also been honored as a Super Lawyer in 2012 for being chosen as one of the top 5% of practicing employment lawyers in Illinois.

After graduating with honors from law school, Mr. Merrick served a two-year term as a federal judicial law clerk during which he experienced first hand how federal judges and juries decide employment cases. He then spent eight years first as an associate attorney and later as a partner with a Chicago law firm where he practiced labor and employment law representing both employers and employees, commercial litigation, and intellectual property law.

In 2003 Mr. Merrick became Of Counsel to a Chicago employment law boutique firm to focus his practice on exclusively representing employees in employment law matters. In 2005 he founded his own law firm, Merrick Law Firm LLC, to do one thing and to do it very well—aggressively and efficiently represent employees to enforce their workplace rights to the fullest extent of the law. Mr. Merrick has represented his many clients before federal, state and local administrative agencies, the United States Supreme Court, and at every federal and state trial and appellate court level in between.

Mr. Merrick can be reached by e-mail or on his direct phone line at (312) 269-9299.

Education

J.D., cum laude, Creighton University School of Law, 1992
Assistant Editor, Creighton Law Review
American Jurisprudence Award for Highest Grade in Trial Practice
Highest Grade, Federal Courts
Highest Grade, Nonphysical Torts

B.A., University of Nebraska, 1988

Jurisdictions Admitted to Practice

United States Supreme Court, 1996
United States Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit, 1995
United States Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit, 1992
United States District Court for the Northern District of Illinois, including Trial Bar, 1995
United States District Court for the District of Nebraska, 1992
Illinois State Courts, 1995
Nebraska State Courts, 1992
All other state and federal courts nationwide on a pro hac vice (special permission) basis.

Professional & Bar Association Memberships

National Employment Lawyers Association

National Employment Lawyers Association, Illinois Chapter

American Bar Association

Illinois State Bar Association

Nebraska State Bar Association

Chicago Bar Association

Judicial Clerkship and Legal Teaching Experience

Law Clerk to Hon. Thomas D. Thalken, United States Magistrate Judge, United States District Court for the District of Nebraska, 1993-1995

Legal Writing Instructor, Creighton University School of Law, 1994-1995

Mr. Merrick also writes articles about employment law and practice and speaks at bar association meetings and other events. To inquire about enlisting Mr. Merrick to write an article or speak about employment law, send him an e-mail at merrick@merricklawfirm.com.

Practice Areas

Mr. Merrick devotes 100% of his practice to representing employees involved in employment disputes.  His practice includes counseling, negotiations, litigation, trials and appeals in all administrative agencies and state and federal courts.  For more information on the specific areas of employment law in which he practices, please click on the Practice Areas menu to the left.