Dan Hefter is a founding partner with a broad-based background in business-related litigation. He has, over the past 30 years, gained substantial experience and expertise in handling cases involving a wide range of areas of the law at both the trial and appellate levels. Dan’s cases have included, among others, those involving contracts, trade secrets, non-competition restrictive covenants, defamation, real estate disputes, partnership and shareholder disputes, estate litigation, employment issues, professional liability, trademark and copyright infringement, insurance coverage, lender-borrower disputes, and constitutional and statutory issues relating to doing business with Native American tribes and tribal business entities.

Dan graduated cum laude from the University of Michigan Law School in 1980. Upon graduation, he joined the firm of Isham, Lincoln & Beale which, until its dissolution in 1988, was one of the oldest and most respected law firms in the city of Chicago. Dan practiced in the area of business litigation at I,L & B, and he became a partner there in 1987. In 1988, he founded his own litigation firm, which eventually became known as Hefter & Carroll. On April 1, 2000, Hefter & Carroll merged with the business transactions firm of Fox, Swibel & Levin to form the full-service business litigation and business transactions firm of Fox, Hefter, Swibel, Levin & Carroll.

In 2010, Dan was designated as an “Illinois Super Lawyer” for the fifth consecutive year by the Law & Politics organization and Chicago Magazine, based in part on the views of other Illinois business litigation attorneys and a “blue ribbon” commission of leading attorneys in Illinois. He has also been selected as a Leading Lawyer each year since 2005, and has, since 1989, been rated A-V by Martindale-Hubbell (the highest rating given).

Dan has successfully tried cases to judges and to juries, and has handled -- and prevailed in -- numerous appeals in the state and federal appellate courts and in the Illinois Supreme Court.

Representative Matters (PDF)
Reported Appellate Opinions (PDF)