It’s a fair question, and one I get a lot.
It starts with why I became a lawyer. I believe in the principles of the profession. The sacred relationship between lawyer and client. The privilege and pressure of advocating for someone else when everything is on the line. The thrill of an argument. The practice of law is about more than just money. It’s about commitment to the ideals of the profession.
After a federal court clerkship, I started my career at Kirkland & Ellis, one of the largest firms in the world. I was drawn to technology cases, and learned the practice of law from some of the best patent litigators in the country. I would not be the lawyer I am today without the education Kirkland gave me as an associate, but as a partner, I wanted more. I wanted to build a practice, not just service someone else’s. I saw an opportunity to grow my pro bono Freedom of Information Act work to satisfy a large unmet need in the market through statutory fee shifting, and to pivot my intellectual property practice towards representing the inventors, entrepreneurs, and content creators who drive this country forward.
I had a lot of options, and a civil rights firm wasn’t an obvious choice. But I read an article about the firm and its founder, Jon Loevy, in Crain’s Chicago Business. What struck me was that it was a firm that offers several things rarely seen in combination.
First, it is a fundamentally entrepreneurial place. Jon saw an opportunity years ago to build a financially successful private practice from righting the wrongs of constitutional violations and police misconduct, to do well by doing good. And he too left a major law firm to take a chance on it.
Second, it is a firm devoted to taking only cases it believes in. While the core of the firm’s practice has always been police-related civil rights cases, and we’re a national leader in that area, we also see the injustice in intellectual property theft, in illegal government secrecy, and in companies ripping each other off when they do business. If we believe in a case and think we can use our extensive trial experience to help, we will, no matter what the subject matter. And no matter how much money can be made, we simply will not take a case we don’t believe in, period. It’s not who we are.
Finally, it was important to me to practice law in a culture of excellence, especially at a time in which more and more firms offer professional mediocrity and focus on the “business of law.” The creativity, intelligence, and commitment of Loevy + Loevy lawyers is every bit as strong, if not stronger, as what I experienced at Kirkland, and I am able to draw on that every day in my own practice.
At the end of the day, you will win or lose your case, or be in position to resolve it on favorable terms, based on the ability of your lawyers to show a judge or jury why justice is on your side. There are few firms that can do that with the skill and authenticity of Loevy + Loevy, and that’s why I consider joining the firm over ten years ago to be the smartest professional decision I’ve ever made.
Matt Topic is a partner with Loevy + Loevy, where he leads the firm’s work in government transparency, artificial intelligence issues, media rights, intellectual property disputes, and Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) requests. He was named one of Time Magazine’s 100 Most Influential People in Artificial Intelligence in 2024.