LINTON CHILDS serves as the firm’s general counsel. A former leader of the firm’s Accountants and Professional Liability practice, Linton has more than 35 years of experience representing major accounting firms and other professional services firms (including law firms) and their partners in litigation and government investigations, including jury trials in state and federal court and several lengthy arbitration proceedings. He has also advised lawyers and law firms on a wide variety of ethics, compliance, and governance issues.
Linton’s accountant liability experience includes the representation of accounting firms and accountants in securities class actions brought under Section 11 of the Securities Act of 1933 and Section 10(b) of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934; in professional negligence actions, including actions brought by former clients, the FDIC and other receivers, bankruptcy trustees, liquidating trusts, and creditors; and in a variety of investigations by the SEC’s Division of Enforcement, the Public Company Accounting Oversight Board, FDIC, State Boards of Accountancy, and other government agencies. He is the former co-chair of the Accountants Liability Subcommittee of the Professional Liability Litigation Committee of the American Bar Association’s Section of Litigation.
Linton also has extensive experience representing issuers, mutual funds, officers and directors, underwriters and broker-dealers in federal securities litigation brought under the 1933 Act and the 1934 Act, as well as defending claims for breach of fiduciary duty and claims brought under other state law theories. He has also represented public companies, officers and directors, and investment banks in several shareholder actions challenging the fairness of proposed mergers and acquisitions and the adequacy of disclosures made in proxy statements, tender offers and other disclosure documents.
Linton has also represented banks, telecommunications companies, manufacturers, real estate developers and other clients in a wide variety of other complex litigation matters in state and federal courts, including price fixing and tying cases brought under the federal antitrust laws, contract disputes, partnership disputes, ERISA class actions, insurance coverage disputes, and cases involving earnouts, purchase price adjustments, and valuation of stock in closely held corporations. He has argued appeals in the Seventh Circuit, the Illinois Appellate Court and the Illinois Supreme Court.
In 2003, he received the Excellence in Pro Bono and Public Interest Service Award from the United States District Court for the Northern District of Illinois and the Chicago Chapter of the Federal Bar Association.