Esther Seitz

EXPERIENCE:
Esther is an accomplished litigator who focuses on media and construction law matters. She has successfully tried and argued high-profile cases involving First Amendment, intellectual property, privacy, pension, construction and design defect, construction claims, procurement and eminent domain issues. She has argued over a dozen appeals, including as lead counsel in the Illinois Supreme Court on precedent-setting media and constitutional law cases. Esther routinely represents governments and railroads before the Illinois Commerce Commission. Her transactional practice includes negotiating construction-related contracts for infrastructure and transportation projects on behalf of owners, builders and designers.

Esther previously served as a judicial law clerk to the Hon. D. Price Marshall Jr., Arkansas Court of Appeals, Little Rock, AR.

Esther speaks German (native) and French (proficient).

PROFESSIONAL MEMBERSHIPS AND ACTIVITIES:

• Illinois Attorney Registration and Disciplinary Commission (ARDC) Review Board, Chairperson
• Lincoln-Douglas American Inn of Court, President
• Society of Illinois Construction Attorneys (SOICA)
• Media Law Resource Center

SELECT PUBLICATIONS:

• What Construction & Transportation Leaders Need to Know About Agreements that Curb Employee Mobility, Road Builders Magazine, at 39-41 (April 2024)
• Chapter 5: Enforcement under the Freedom of Information Act, in Illinois Sunshine Laws (IICLE, 2024) (Jan. 2024) (co-author)
• Chapter 7: Pleadings, in Illinois Civil Practice: Opening the Case (IICLE, 2023) (Feb. 2023) (co-author)
• Has Cannabis Really Been Decriminalized in Illinois? 105 Ill. B.J. 30 (April 2017)
• No Fooling FOIA; public servants should be expected to comply fully and in a timely manner, The News-Gazette, Oct. 18, 2015, at C1, reprinted online as Private Email Doesn’t Fool FOIA, The State Journal-Register, Oct. 19, 2015 (Fall 2015) (co-author)
• Illinois Chapter in Media Libel Law 2014-15, MLRC 50-State Survey (Media Law Resource Ctr., Inc. ed., 2015) (Fall 2015) (co-author)
• #Oyez, #Oyez: Why Judges Should Let Reporters Tweet from the Courtroom, 101 Ill. B.J. 39 (Jan. 2013)
• Illinois Reporter’s Privilege Shields Tech—Tech Blog Deemed “News Media” Under Functional Approach, MLRC Media Law Letter (Media Law Resource Ctr., New York, N.Y.), at 10 (July 2012)
• Illinois Judge Snubs Tech Blog—Holds Reporter’s Privilege Inapplicable, MLRC Media Law Letter (Media Law Resource Ctr., New York, N.Y.), at 29 (Jan. 2012)

ADMISSIONS:

• Illinois
• United States District Court, Central District of Illinois
• United States District Court, Northern District of Illinois

EDUCATION:

• Munich Intellectual Property Law Center, Max Planck Institute for Innovation and Competition, Munich, Germany, LL.M. IP
• University of Arkansas School of Law, J.D.
• Centenary College of Louisiana, B.A. (Economics), B.A. (English)