Anton R Valukas

Career

Anton Valukas is a litigator and senior partner at Jenner & Block. A former United States Attorney, and a Fellow of the American College of Trial Lawyers, he focuses on major civil and white collar criminal litigation, representing individuals and corporations in contested proceedings throughout the nation. Fortune 500 companies and public entities seek Anton's counsel on matters ranging from government contracts and health care to class actions, ethics violations and internal corporate investigations. In 2014, he led a highly complex internal investigation for General Motors Company regarding events leading up to certain recalls stemming from faulty ignition switches. In 2009, Anton was appointed as the examiner in the Lehman Brothers Holdings bankruptcy, reputed to be the largest such case in US history. The resulting account, coined by the press as the “Valukas Report,” was universally applauded for its clarity and usefulness in determining what brought about the demise of Lehman Brothers, an event many commentators point to as the precipitating event triggering the economic crisis of 2008.

Chambers USA named Anton one of the leading US litigation lawyers for eight consecutive years, and in 2009, Chicago Lawyer named him “Person of the Year.” In 2013, he was recognized by The National Law Journal as one of "The 100 Most Influential Lawyers in America” and by Best Lawyers as “Chicago Bet-the-Company Litigation Lawyer of the Year.” He has also been recognized by Best Lawyers for over 25 years. Anton is AV Peer Review Rated, Martindale-Hubbell’s highest peer recognition for ethical standards and legal ability. In 2011, The American Lawyer magazine recognized him as the “Newsmaker of the Year,” and in January 2012, AmLaw named him “Litigator of the Year.” Anton was recognized by the National Association of Corporate Directors (NACD) Directorship as among the 100 “Most Influential People in the Boardroom” (2010-2014).

Anton has been appointed to a number of special investigative roles for the City of Chicago, the Chicago Transit Authority and the Chicago Housing Authority. He also served as chairman of the Governor’s Task Force on Crime and Corrections for the State of Illinois, a two-year effort that led to the passage of major prison reform legislation in 1993. He has been an instructor at the John Marshall School of Law and an adjunct professor of law at Northwestern University School of Law. Anton has published extensively, been a featured speaker at numerous American Bar Association seminars and institutes, and presented to thousands of leading business and legal executives from across the globe on some of the most pressing financial, ethical, and legal challenges facing the United States today.