Sara Barnes joined the firm after several years of success as a civil litigator. Ms. Barnes has practiced in the areas of securities fraud, director and officer liability, shareholder and corporate litigation, professional malpractice, civil rights, breach of contract, and intellectual property. She has passionately represented international insurance companies, healthcare institutions, government entities, corporations and executives in state and federal court.

Prior to joining the firm, Ms. Barnes successfully represented corporate and individual clients throughout the United States and Europe in cases involving advertising torts, commercial liability, contract interpretation, toxic torts and catastrophic loss. During law school, she was a summer associate with the Cook County State’s Attorney Office – Appellate Division, where she wrote the appellate brief that became precedent for claims asserting telephone harassment.

Ms. Barnes is a member of the Illinois State Bar and the federal bar for the Northern District of Illinois. She is a member of the Chicago Bar Association and the Defense Research Institute and served on the 2008 Seminar Committee of the Defense Bar Association. In 2008, she was named an Honored Member of Cambridge Who’s Who Registry of Female Executives, Professionals and Entrepreneurs.

Ms. Barnes graduated from DePaul University College of Law in 2004, where she earned the Cali Award and American Jurisprudence Award in Torts and was an active member of the Student Bar Association and Women’s Law Caucus. Ms. Barnes also served as a research assistant for Professor Terrance Kiley with whom she helped established the Forensic Law Society. Before law school, she graduated from Michigan State University, where she took part in a semester-abroad program at American University in Washington, D.C. and interned with the National Legal Center. Ms. Barnes also spent a semester in Europe as part of a foreign studies program at the University of Edinburgh, Scotland, where she assisted European banks with the initial implementation of the Euro.