Michael J. Merrick
Direct Dial: (312) 269-9299Download VCard
Main: (312) 269-0200
Fax: (312) 269-0800
150 North Michigan Avenue, Suite 800
Chicago, Illinois 60601
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, 1996United 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.