About William M. Sweetnam
William M. Sweetnam, has spent the duration of his career as a litigator, concentrating in the area of class action and complex litigation, prosecuting hundreds of consumer, shareholder and antitrust class actions in federal and state courts across the country. In addition to representing both plaintiffs and defendants in a wide variety of cases involving both economic and non-economic injuries, Mr. Sweetnam and his firm have acted as lead counsel, co-lead counsel and has been a member of the executive and steering committees in consumer, antitrust and other class action, complex and multi-district litigation matters.
Notably, Mr. Sweetnam was appointed sole lead counsel in Kelly v. Old National Bank, No. 82C01-1012-CT 627 (Cir. Ct Vanderburgh Cty, Ind.), in which he obtained a settlement valued at more than 90% of the class’ damages incurred as a result of the unlawful overdraft fee scheme alleged therein, far exceeding the results obtained by much larger firms against some the countries’ largest banks, resulting in some class members receiving several thousand dollars each in refunded overdraft fees.
Mr. Sweetnam was previously the principal shareholder of Sweetnam LLC, a Chicago boutique class action litigation firm representing victims of fraud at the hands of corporations, financial institutions and insurance companies, in addition to representing publicly traded companies in trade secrets and other litigation matters. After successfully operating that firm for 12 years, Mr. Sweetnam went into practice with Keogh Law, Ltd., another Chicago class action boutique. Among other noteworthy achievements during his tenure there, Mr. Sweetnam was class counsel in Stewart v. LexisNexis Risk Data Retrieval Services, LLC, No. 3:20-cv-903-JAG (E.D. Va.), a class action brought on behalf of judgment debtors who alleged the defendant credit reporting agency maintained credit files reporting outdated judgment and lien information that resulted in a $21.5 million settlement.
Mr. Sweetnam began his career as a class action and complex litigation practitioner with what is now known as Kessler Topaz Meltzer & Check, LLP, where he represented plaintiffs in 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 sales practices.
Mr. Sweetnam is a graduate of The University of Michigan and the De Paul University College of Law where he received the American Jurisprudence Award in Constitutional Law and was a member of the Journal of Art and Entertainment Law. He has written and lectured on class actions and class action litigation reform.
Mr. Sweetnam was born and raised in Grand Rapids, Michigan. He is married with three children, and resides in Lake Forest, Illinois.
Professional Affiliations
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Federal Bar Association
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Chicago Bar Association
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Illinois State Bar Association
Professional Recognition
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AV® Preeminent™ Peer Review Rating™ from Martindale-Hubbell®
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“Excellent” (9.7) Avvo™ Rating
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Selected to Super Lawyers® 2021 – 2024