Lawyers in the Chicago office of McDermott Will & Emery landed major victories in legal disputes — no matter where in the country they had to fight. The team in 2012 racked up two of their biggest wins on behalf of chemicals maker Celanese Corp. and grocery retailer The Kroger Co. "I think this was an exceptional year for us," said Chicago-based McDermott partner Lazar Raynal, the firmwide trial practice leader.
In Southern Chemical Corp. v. Celanese, a McDermott team led by Raynal and Amy Doehring secured a complete trial victory for Celanese in a state trial court in Houston. The firm also won for Celanese $558,000 in direct damages. Southern Chemical claimed $4 billion in damages against Celanese over a contract for methanol, widely used to produce other chemicals.
