William M. Sweetnam (Of Counsel)
William M. Sweetnam joined Freed & Weiss as a senior attorney in 2002.
Bill was a defense lawyer from 1994 until 1997, when he joined Schiffrin & Craig (now Schiffrin Barroway), where he practiced in the area of consumer fraud and securities class action litigation until 1999. During that time, Bill was part of a team of lawyers involved in prosecuting class actions challenging abusive marketing practices in several areas involving life insurance and annuities. These cases led to class settlements valued at hundreds of millions of dollars, and sometimes even billions of dollars, with such major life insurance companies as Prudential, Met Life, John Hancock, New York Life, State Farm, American Express/IDS, Transamerica, and many others, as well as to numerous changes in industry-wide sales practices.
Bill worked at Freed & Weiss from 2002 to 2008, and focus exclusively on representing consumers, professionals and various entities in class actions against major corporations and insurance companies.
With more than a decade of class action and complex litigation experience, Bill has prosecuted hundreds of consumer, shareholder and antitrust class actions in federal and state courts across the country.
Bill received his bachelor’s degree from The University of Michigan in 1990 and his law degree from DePaul University College of Law in 1994. He has written and lectured on class action litigation and reform.
When not practicing law, Bill enjoys spending time with his wife and three sons, in addition to attending various sporting events, including college football games and NASCAR races.
Since Bill left Freed & Weiss in 2008, we continue to work closely with him on many important matters.
wms@sweetnamllc.com
t: 312 346-5100
Area of practice:
Litigation
Antitrust
Education:
The University of Michigan, A.B., 1990
DePaul University College of Law, J.D., 1994
Admissions:
Illinois Supreme Court
United States Supreme Court
United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit
United States Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit
United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit
United States District Court for the Northern District of Illinois
United States District Court for the Southern District of Illinois
United States District Court for the Eastern District of Michigan
United States District Court for the Western District of Michigan