Joanne A. Sarasin

Joanne has deep experience handling a broad range of complex commercial litigation, with a strong emphasis on class action defense. She has successfully defended class actions in federal courts in California, New York and Illinois as well as in state courts. Joanne's work spans cases involving employment, insurance and consumer litigation, and statutory actions such as the Telephone Consumer Privacy Act (TCPA) and the Biometric Information Privacy Act (BIPA).

Joanne often defends policyholders in insurance coverage class actions, especially those with underlying issues involving claims under TCPA and BIPA. Her successful representations include securing dismissals of consumer class action complaints and obtaining insurance coverage for policyholders sued for violations of federal statutes. A particular highlight is Joanne's work on "blast fax" cases that resulted in a victory for policyholders in the Illinois Supreme Court, which overturned a decision by the Seventh Circuit Court of Appeals denying coverage based on issues concerning the definition of privacy.

Joanne's practice focuses on winning cases at the motion stage, including defending against class certification motions, through effective legal writing. She created a seminar on effective appellate writing and argument, which she presented with the Honorable Dianne Wood of the Seventh Circuit Court of Appeals and other counsel at an American Bar Association section conference. Joanne also acts as an advisor to attorneys at other law firms seeking to obtain appeals before the Illinois Supreme Court.