Practice Areas: Business Litigation, Estate & Trust Litigation, Civil Rights
Licensed in Illinois since: 1982
Education: Chicago-Kent College of Law, Illinois Institute of Technology
Selected to Super Lawyers: 2016 - 2025 Details
Focusing his practice on complex civil litigation, Peter M. King is the managing partner at King & Jones. From the firm’s offices in Chicago, Illinois, he represents companies and individuals throughout the country. As an undergraduate, Mr. King attended the University of Illinois Chicago, where he majored in accounting and received a Bachelor of Science in 1978. Remaining in the city for his legal education, he enrolled at Chicago-Kent College of Law, and he was a member of the school’s Trial Advocacy Team before obtaining his Juris Doctor cum laude in 1982.
Mr. King has represented both defendants and plaintiffs at the trial and appellate levels, and he has also participated in numerous arbitration proceedings. His experience has encompassed a variety of matters, including civil rights cases, disputes between business partners, allegations of breaches of fiduciary duties, mismanagement of trust assets, contract breaches, insurance coverage and professional malpractice cases. Mr. King’s diverse clients have included wrongfully convicted death row inmates, Big Four accounting firms, corporate executives, entrepreneurs, trust beneficiaries, members of boards of directors and trust and estate representatives. Peter has tried cases before state and federal judges and juries in Illinois, Wisconsin, Florida, California, Missouri and North Dakota among other states. Peter’s representations have been as wide ranging as representing individuals wrongfully convicted of murder, suing a major university for failing to keep its promise to maintain a gift of a museum, defending public accounting firms and lawyers in malpractice cases. Mr. King attended the Trial Lawyers College in Dubois, Wyoming in 2010, at the urging of Gerry L. Spence one of our countries most renowned trial lawyers. Peter worked as co-counsel with Mr. Spence in the Ford Heights Four case which was one of the first prominent wrongful conviction cases to be litigated and settled in Chicago. His successful track record throughout his distinguished career has earned him a great deal of favorable recognition from his fellow members of the bar, including an AV Preeminent* peer review rating through Martindale-Hubbell.
Mr. King has been a certified public accountant in Illinois since 1979. He has also been admitted to practice before all Illinois state courts since 1982, and he is additionally admitted to practice before the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Illinois as well as before the Supreme Court of the United States.
*AV®, AV Preeminent®, Martindale-Hubbell Distinguished and Martindale-Hubbell Notable are certification marks used under license in accordance with the Martindale-Hubbell certification procedures, standards and policies. Martindale-Hubbell® is the facilitator of a peer review rating process. Ratings reflect the anonymous opinions of members of the bar and the judiciary. Martindale-Hubbell® Peer Review Rating™ fall into two categories – legal ability and general ethical standards.
Practice areas
Business Litigation, Estate & Trust Litigation, Civil Rights- 70% Business Litigation
- 20% Estate & Trust Litigation
- 10% Civil Rights
First Admitted: 1982, Illinois
Professional Webpage: https://www.chicagobusinesstriallawyers.com/attorney-profile...
- I typically represent businesses and entrepreneurs in business disputes, as well as business partners in disputes with their business partners. I have also represented two of the Big Four in accounting malpractice cases. My practice is very diverse in the trial arena as the above description of my verdicts and settlements reflects. My clients come to me with a variety of problems because they trust me.
- U.S. Supreme Court, 2009
- Illinois, 1982
- American, Illinois & Chicago Bar Associations
- U.S. Federal Court, 1982
- Forbes Business Council
- Co-Author, "Crimes of the State: Obtaining Justice for the Wrongfully Imprisoned", ABA Litigation Magazine, Fall, 2002
- University of Illinois, Chicago, Illinois, 1978 B.S., Bachelor of Science
- Trial Lawyers College, Dubois, Wyoming, September 2010
- Certified Public Accountant, 1979
- In 2019, a Florida court granted summary judgment for our client, a personal representative of a large estate, on claims of breach of fiduciary duty seeking damages in excess of $20,000,000., 2019
- I was appointed to represent James Marshall, a Burge torture victim, in his post-conviction proceedings. On February 8, 2019, following a full evidentiary hearing, the Circuit Court granted James's post-trial motion and he was freed from prison after serving 30 years for a crime he did not commit. The People of the State of Illinois v. James Marshall, Case No. 88 CR 18817 (Circuit Court of Cook County, Illinois)., 2019
- In 2013 I successfully defended the directors of a venture capital firm in a suit brought by a minority shareholder seeking over $30,000,000 in damages, under Delaware law. After an eight day bench trial the trial judge issued an opinion holding for my clients on every claim., 2013
- In 2012, I obtained a multimillion dollar settlement for my client who was involved in a management consulting business and had been denied his share of the firm's profits, 2012
- In 2003, I successfully prosecuted and settled a claim on behalf of trust beneficiaries against a bank trust department for mismanaging the beneficiaries' trust assets., 2003
- In June 2004, I obtained an injunction in the Circuit Court of the Fifth Judicial Circuit in Marion County, Florida for a philanthropist who had donated a museum, artwork and millions of dollars to a large university foundation. My client alleged a breach of a promise to care for the Museum in perpetuity in exchange for the gift. The Circuit Court required the foundation to fund and maintain the Museum pending the final disposition of the case. The case settled during the appeal of the injunction order., 2004
- I have tried to verdict, many arbitrations involving securities disputes, shareholder disputes and breach of contract claims. Arbitration awards are typically upheld. I had an arbitration award reversed in my clients favor by the Illinois Appellate Court in First Merit Realty Services v. Amberly Square Apartments, L.P., 373 Ill. App. 3d 457, 869 N.E. 2d 394 (1st Dist. 2007)
- Together with the Dallas firm of Jackson Walker LLP I successfully prosecuted a claim based on a breach of a joint venture agreement to distribute beer, wine and spirits in Illinois, culminating in a settlement in 2013., 2013
- In 2012, a jury returned a verdict in my clients favor on a legal malpractice claim I was defending where the plaintiff was seeking over $12,000,000.00. , 2012
- In 2003, I obtained a reversal from the 7th Circuit Court of Appeals of a dismissal of a large industrial customer's antitrust claims against the largest natural gas utility in Indiana. The case subsequently settled. Midwest Gas Services v. Indiana Gas Co., 317 F.3d 703 (7th Cir. 2003), 2003
- Together with Gerry L. Spence of Jackson, Wyoming, I represented Dennis Williams, one of the "Ford Heights Four," in a malicious prosecution case against Cook County, Illinois and certain sheriff's deputies. Mr. Williams spent 18 years in prison, 15 of those on death row, for a crime he did not commit. All four cases were settled in April 1999 for $36,000,000. Williams v. County of Cook, Case No. 97 L 4886 (Circuit Court of Cook County, Illinois)., 1999
- I favourably settled, during a jury trial, my client's claim that he was defrauded into executing a $4,000,000 promissory note. , 2015
- In 2011, I settled a multimillion dollar insurance property damage claim for our client, a nationally known antique furniture dealer., 2011
- In 2010, I settled a damage claim for unit holders of a Delaware LLC alleging the failure to timely provide books & records. Plaintiffs claimed defendant's failure to provide the timely books & records caused Plaintiffs to lose the window to sell their interests prior to the 2008 recession. The litigation resulted in Plaintiffs being able to sell their units for a multiple of their purchase price., 2010
- In 1999, together with my since retired partner, I obtained a jury verdict in excess of $18 million against a general partner of a limited partnership for breach of fiduciary duty. The claim against the general partner involved overcharges on related party loans. The trial court added over $6 million in equitable prejudgment interest. The case was settled after an appeal., 1999
- In 2001, I successfully defended a shareholder of a closely held corporation in a preliminary injunction trial in St. Louis County, Missouri. The plaintiff sought our client's ouster from his corporate offices in a breach of fiduciary duty case involving a dispute over management fees and dividend distributions., 2001
- I tried to a jury, a squeeze out of a minority shareholder claim in Illinois and obtained a verdict in favor of my client, the minority shareholder., 2015
Selections
- Super Lawyers: 2016 - 2025
