Brian Hays

Brian I. Hays focuses on defending clients in high stakes class action litigation. His practice includes the representation of insurance companies, financial institutions, and national corporations against claims brought under federal and state antitrust laws, RICO, the Telephone Consumer Protection Act, and other consumer protection statutes.

He has participated in a wide variety of litigation matters before state and federal courts, including bench and jury trials. Brian has a national litigation practice and appears regularly in courts throughout the country.

He is seasoned in handling hard cases with substantial financial exposure. He has served on a number of national defense steering committees, where he has been responsible for directing and coordinating litigation in multiple jurisdictions.

Brian serves as the Chair of Locke Lord’s TCPA Litigation and Compliance Section. He tracks new decisions addressing the TCPA on a daily basis to keep up-to-date on the latest develops around the country.

He represents some of the nation’s largest companies in responding to class action litigation pursuant to the TCPA. He has obtained orders of dismissal in a number of TCPA cases and resolved others on a class-wide basis. Brian has also worked with clients to develop and strengthen their TCPA compliance programs.

Brian defends clients in class action and high-exposure individual cases that often seek recovery for breach of contract, common-law fraud, violations of state or federal consumer-fraud or deceptive-trade-practice statutes, various consumer-protection statutes, purported RICO claims, or other related theories.

Brian has defended numerous civil antitrust cases. He also advises clients on substantive merger analyses and investigations and has worked on numerous high-profile mergers in the insurance industry.

Brian has also represented companies in defending their intellectual property by enforcing non-compete and non-solicitation clauses in employment and dealership contracts to protect customer data and proprietary business information. He has also represented clients in protecting their trademarks under the Lanham Act.

Brian is a former member of Teach For America, a national teacher corps of recent college graduates who commit to teach for two years in inner city and rural public schools. He is a founding Board Member and former President of Namaste Charter School on Chicago’s southwest side.

Representative Experience :

• Defend companies against class action claims seeking to hold client liable for telemarketing calls placed by independent contractors
• Advise clients on developing vigorous TCPA compliance programs for direct marketing, marketing through independent agents, and lead vendors
• Represent insurance companies and financial institutions in connection with investigations by state Attorney General over allegations involving violations of the TCPA and state consumer protection statutes and regulations
• Represent P&C companies defending class actions arising after major catastrophes alleging breach of insurance policies, fraud, violations of state consumer fraud acts, and other theories
• Represented workers compensation carriers in numerous antitrust, RICO, and state law claims against claims for price fixing, conspiracy, and breach of contract
• Represent insurance companies and financial institutions enforcing noncompete and nonsolicitation agreements in state and federal courts around the country

Education :

• J.D., Northwestern University School of Law, 1998
• B.A., Haverford College, 1992

Admissions : Illinois, 1998

Admitted To Practice :

• State Courts, Illinois, 1998
• U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Illinois, 1998
• U.S. Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit
• U.S. Court of Appeals for the Tenth Circuit