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Kenn Brotman

Kenn Brotman focuses his practice on complex commercial litigation, including breach of contract, breach of warranty, breach of fiduciary duty, and commercial evictions, as well as disputes involving product liability, premises liability, and toxic tort claims. He is a founding member of the firm's biometric data compliance and defense affinity group and advises clients with respect to litigation and compliance under the Illinois Biometric Information Privacy Act (BIPA). 

In addition to his commercial litigation, torts, and privacy practices, Kenn frequently serves as national litigation coordination counsel for manufacturers and retailers and is responsible for managing, overseeing, formulating, and implementing consistent defense strategies for similar litigation filed throughout the United States.

Kenn represents clients in a variety of fields and industries, including recreational product manufacturers, family entertainment centers, REITs, cemeteries, boats, big-box retailers, and trucking companies. He practices in state and federal courts throughout the country, as well as arbitration proceedings, with significant experience navigating the nuances and complexities of state courts and procedures in Illinois. Kenn has broad experience in all aspects of discovery, mediation, settlement negotiations, pretrial, and trial. 

As the Chicago office’s Pro Bono Coordinator, Kenn manages opportunities to help K&L Gates reach its pro bono objectives and helps lawyers to succeed meeting their individual pro bono goals. He also assists the firm's Cyber Civil Rights Legal Project representing victims of cyber-bullying and cyber-exploitation.

Prior to joining K&L Gates, Kenn served as an associate at a mid-sized law firm, where he acted as national product liability counsel by managing, coordinating, and defending litigation for national recreational equipment manufacturers. He also previously served as a supervising law clerk for the Circuit Court of Cook County, and began his legal career as a sole practitioner, where he provided criminal defense of felony, misdemeanor, and traffic offenses.

Since 2008, Kenn has been a Hearing Board Panel Chair for the Illinois Attorney Registration & Disciplinary Commission (ARDC). In this capacity, he presides as Panel Chair during hearings, rules on evidentiary objections, and considers evidence and testimony submitted. Following the hearing, the Panel Chair leads deliberations with panel members, adjudicates ethical rule violation complaints and allegations asserted by the ARDC Administrator against attorneys, reports findings, and recommends sanctions to the Illinois Supreme Court as appropriate.

In 2022, Kenn was appointed Chair of the Hearing Board by the ARDC. Prior to that, since 2016, Kenn served as the Assistant Chair of the Hearing Board. The Chair and Assistant Chair are responsible for working with and advising the Director of Adjudication Services to ensure the Hearing Board efficiently and fairly fulfills the directives of the Commission and the Supreme Court to promote and protect the integrity of the legal profession in Illinois.

Kenn has completed the 40-hour performance based mediation skills training and was certified by the Chicago Center for Conflict Resolution.

  • “Daubert/Frye Motions in Construction Litigation: Navigating Standards for Expert Witnesses in Design and Defect Claims,” Strafford webinar, December 2017 (Presenter)
  • “The Ethical Limits of Advocacy,” 2017 National Employment Lawyers Association’s Seventh Circuit Conference, Chicago, IL February 2017 (co-presenter)
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