James O. Latturner

(Retired in 2020)

James O. Latturner is a 1962 graduate of the University of Chicago Law School. Until 1969, he was an associate and then a partner at the Chicago law firm of Berchem, Schwantes & Thuma. From 1969 to 1995 he was Deputy Director of the Legal Assistance Foundation of Chicago, where he specialized in consumer law and acted as lead counsel in over 30 class actions.

He has taught in a nationwide series of 18 federal practice courses sponsored by the Legal Services Corporation, each lasting four days and designed for attorneys with federal litigation experience. He has argued some 30 appeals, including two cases in the United States Supreme Court and two in the Illinois Supreme Court. Mr. Latturner was involved in many of the significant decisions establishing the rights of Illinois consumers.

Areas of Practice:

• 25% Consumer Law
• 75% Class Actions
• Deceptive Trade Practices
• RICO Act
• Trade Regulation
• Unfair Competition
• Mortgages & Foreclosures
• Foreclosures
• Garnishment
• Uniform Commercial Code
• Warranties
• Wage & Hour Laws
• Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification (WARN) Act
• Bankruptcy Litigation
• Complex Litigation
• Federal Appellate Practice
• Federal Trial Practice
• Multidistrict Litigation
• State Appellate Practice
• State Trial Practice
• US Supreme Court
• Landlord/Tenant

Litigation Percentage:

• 100% of practice devoted to litigation

Bar Admissions:

• Illinois, 1963
• U.S. District Court Northern District of Illinois, 1964
• U.S. Court of Appeals 7th Circuit, 1965
• U.S. Supreme Court, 1970
• U.S. Court of Appeals 1st Circuit, 2003
• U.S. Court of Appeals 3rd Circuit, 1997
• U.S. Court of Appeals 5th Circuit, 1997
• U.S. Court of Appeals 10th Circuit, 1997
• U.S. Court of Appeals 11th Circuit, 1996
• U.S. District Court Central District of Illinois, 2000
• U.S. District Court Southern District of Illinois, 2002
• U.S. District Court Northern District of Indiana, 2002
• U.S. District Court Southern District of Indiana, 2002
• U.S. District Court Western District of Texas

Education:

• University of Chicago Law School, Chicago, Illinois, 1962
  • J.D.

• Miami University, Oxford, Ohio
  • B.S.
  • Major: Business

Published Works:

• Federal Practice Manual, National Legal Aid and Defender Association, 1989
• Governmental Tort Immunity in Illinois, 55 Ill. B.J. 29, 1966
• Illinois Should Explicitly Adopt the Per Se Rule for Consumer Fraud Act Violations, 2 Loy. Consumer L. Rptr. 64, 1990
• Illinois Consumer Law, Chicago Bar Association, 1996

Representative Cases:

• Gonzalez v. AECU, 419 U.S. 90 (U.S. Supreme Ct. 1974)
• Dixon v. Love, 431 U.S. 105 (U.S. Supreme Ct. 1977)
• Lead counsel in MDL Class Actions
• Frydman v. Portfolio Recovery Associates, LLC 2011 U.S Dist. LEXIS 69502(N.D. Ill. 2011)

Classes/Seminars Taught:

• Federal Practice, Legal Services Corp., 1995 – 1999
• Consumer Financial Services, PLI, 2006 – 2008

Professional Associations & Memberships:

• Chicago Bar Association

Past Employment Positions:

• Legal Assistance Foundation of Chicago, Deputy Director, 1969 – 1995
• Berchem, Schwanes & Thuma, Partner, 1962 – 1969