Profile: Charles W Douglas

Commercial Litigation

Biography: Commercial Litigation

Charles W Douglas has served as chairman of Sidley's management committee since 1999 and a member of the firm's executive committee since 1989. A litigation partner, Mr Douglas has extensive experience in major antitrust, trade regulation, securities, product liability and commercial litigation, and is the former head of the firm's commercial, competition, and securities litigation group.

Mr Douglas has been trial counsel for several of the firm's clients in a wide range of cases. For example, in recent years Mr Douglas has tried and won a major securities case for the accounting firm of Deloitte & Touche LLP; tried a major securities class action before a jury in Trenton, New Jersey, in which the plaintiff sought billions of dollars in damages but which resulted in a favourable settlement for AT&T Corp after three weeks of trial; tried and won another major securities case for Deloitte; led the successful defence of GD Searle & Co (now a part of Pfizer) in an antitrust class action seeking billions of dollars in damages; and successfully defended AT&T in two major trials, including one where the plaintiffs were awarded nothing on their claims and instead AT&T was awarded US$26 million on its counterclaims against the plaintiffs. His trial work for AT&T has spanned two decades, dating back to the representation of AT&T and the Regional Bell Operating Companies in various antitrust actions, including the 1985 damages retrial of MCI's claims in which MCI received less than 1 per cent of the claimed damages.