Overview
Eric Silvestri is a partner in Chapman’s Banking and Financial Services Department and a member of the Litigation Group. He has experience representing creditors and financial institutions in a variety of complex commercial litigation matters in connection with fiduciary duties, secured transactions, lender liability disputes, and commercial contracts under the Uniform Commercial Code. He has also represented creditors in workouts, commercial foreclosure proceedings, as well disputes arising out of sophisticated transactions such as leveraged buyouts and bond issuances.
Eric has also worked on a number of intellectual property matters, including representation of domestic and foreign defendants in patent infringement cases. Such cases have involved international depositions, analysis of license agreements, vendor agreements, e-sports sponsorship contracts, patents, and other contracts related to intellectual property. Eric has also obtained his ACEDS e-discovery certification.
Representative Matters
- Successfully defended manufacturer of professional-grade computer peripherals in a patent infringement suit brought by a non-practicing entity in the Eastern District of Texas. A jury verdict of non-infringement was reached with less than two hours of deliberation.
- Won summary judgment and successfully defended subsequent appeal in a claim alleging a breach of fiduciary duty against a Chicago-based bank.
- Successfully recovered from more than 90 percent of account debtors in a national litigation campaign to collect accounts receivable from a defunct borrower.
- Served as counsel of record for Amicus Brief filed by constitutional law scholars on behalf of petitioners in Obergefell v. Hodges, in which the U.S. Supreme Court held that the right to marriage is guaranteed to same-sex couples.
- Routinely provides pro bono services for Cabrini Green Legal Aid in connection with clemency petitions to the Illinois governor for highly qualified applicants.
- Successfully fought to dramatically limit the scope of a plaintiff’s e-discovery requests under recently enacted Illinois Supreme Court Rules, resulting in significant savings for the client, in a suit against a major financial institution.
- Successfully represented beverage manufacturer client with FDA labeling regulatory dispute.
Practice Focus
- Bank Defense
- Commercial Foreclosure and Real Estate Litigation
- Commercial Litigation and Alternative Dispute Resolution
- Environmental Advice and Litigation
- Fiduciary Litigation
- Israel Practice
- Real Estate Finance
- Restructuring and Bankruptcy
- Securities Litigation and Arbitration
- Special Situations and Restructuring
Languages
French
Honors & Awards
- Chapman's 2014 Pro Bono Attorney of the Year
Admitted
Illinois
U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit
U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Illinois
Education
Indiana University Maurer School of Law, J.D., cum laude, 2013
Indiana University (Bloomington), B.A., Political Science, 2010
Notable Engagements
All Year Holdings Bond RestructuringChapman served as US counsel to the indenture trustee in the successful consummation of the Chapter 11 Plan of Reorganization for All Year Holdings Ltd., a British Virgin Islands company whose US subsidiaries were engaged in the acquisition and development of real estate projects located in New York.