Max Chester

Max B. Chester is a litigation partner with Foley & Lardner LLP. He focuses his practice on litigation and arbitration of domestic and international commercial business disputes and government enforcement actions primarily in the areas of insurance and reinsurance, financial fraud, securities enforcement, and FCPA.

Max is also active in pro bono matters. He won political asylum after a trial in the United States Immigration Court in Chicago for a refugee from Iran who was persecuted for converting from Islam and becoming a member of a Bahai Faith.

He represented an elderly Holocaust survivor in a claims proceeding before the Conference on Jewish Material Claims Against Germany. He volunteers in the Milwaukee Justice Center.

Education :

Max is a graduate of Marquette University Law School (J.D., magna cum laude, 2001) and the University of Wisconsin – Madison (B.S, distinction in the major of political science, with honors in the College of Letters & Science, 1998). At Marquette, he was a senior note and comment editor for the Marquette Law Review.

Admissions and Professional Memberships :

Max is a member of the State Bar of Wisconsin and is admitted to practice in Wisconsin state and federal courts.

Representative Matters :

• Served as counsel to a small publicly traded bank holding company which was comprised of a former Congressman and a banker. The individuals were responsible for evaluating derivative claims which had been asserted against the bank.
• This was in connection with a jury verdict which found the bank had aided a large lending fraud. The special committee conducted an extensive investigation, prepared a report of the investigation, and the derivative matter was resolved.
• Foley represented a former senior officer of UnitedHealth Group, Inc. in a series of shareholder derivative actions filed in 2006 in the U.S. District Court for the District of Minnesota and in Minnesota state court related to alleged stock options backdating.
• The Minnesota Supreme Court decided an issue of first impression regarding the business judgment rule and judicial deference to special litigation committee decisions.
• Represented an attorney for a video game manufacturer investigated by the SEC for possible backdating of stock options. Foley’s client, outside counsel and a director of the company, had been involved with the issuance of the stock options at issue and had received options that appeared to be backdated.
• Foley also represented the attorney in the company’s own internal investigation conducted by a special committee of the board of directors.
• Putative class action regarding mortgage lending; investment and RESPA; novel issues re claims of conspiracy and inducement; Foley lead defense counsel for MGIC.