Merrick Wayne

Merrick Wayne joined Loevy & Loevy in 2018. He works on the Freedom of Information Act & Government Transparency Team, where he primarily focuses his practice on federal FOIA litigation, along with state-level FOIA, Open Meetings Act, First Amendment, and election matters.  Merrick has litigated FOIA cases at all levels across the State of Illinois, in federal courts, and as pro hac vice in other state courts, including Alabama, Colorado, and Michigan.  Among other successes on behalf of our clients, Merrick forced the release of police bodycam videos showing a squad car hitting a pedestrian, footage of a police officer striking a protester at a summer 2020 protest, records pertaining to the destruction and mishandling of classified documents and the FBI raid at Mar-a-Lago, emails showing government employees using public resources for an elected official’s political action committee, records detailing law enforcement agencies’ access to Amazon Ring video doorbells and other surveillance technology, police reports for the arrests of elected officials, and communications between government officials discussing our clients.

Merrick is a graduate of the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign and the University of Alabama School of Law.  While in law school, Merrick served as the President of the Student Bar Association and as the Executive Articles Editor for the Law and Psychology Review, was awarded the Dean’s Community Service Award, and was chosen to speak at his graduation.  Additionally during law school, he worked in the Elder Law Clinic, where he assisted and advised clients on a broad range of matters including estate planning, Medicaid benefits, housing discrimination, immigration, tax, and property disputes.

Merrick is a frequent speaker at events and conferences aimed at teaching journalists, students, activists and concerned citizens about their rights under FOIA.  He is also an investigator for the Chicago Bar Association’s Judicial Evaluation Committee.  And he successfully completed the Improv Program at Second City. After work, you can find Merrick practicing the ukulele, playing recreational kickball, and performing stand-up comedy.

Bar Admissions

• Illinois, 2018
• U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Illinois, 2019
• U.S. District and Bankruptcy Courts for the District of Columbia, 2019
• U.S. District Court for the Central District of Illinois, 2022