Gary Kostow

Gary Kostow joined SFMS in 2003. Gary is admitted to practice law in the State of Illinois, as well as numerous federal courts, including the United States District Court for the Northern District of Illinois and the Seventh Circuit Court of Appeals. He also is a member of the Federal Trial Bar. In addition to these courts and jurisdictions, Gary has worked on cases with local counsel and co-counsel throughout the country and internationally.

Gary concentrates his practice on antitrust and complex commercial matters. In Gary's practice, he has represented a wide variety of clients, including closely-held and publicly-owned corporations, physicians, hospitals and other health care providers (in medical malpractice claims), condominium associations, architects and engineers. Gary also has represented attorneys and law firms in defense of legal malpractice claims. Over Gary's career, he has been retained on a number of notable engagements. For instance, for many years, he represented intellectual property firms in significant legal malpractice claims. He was one of two attorneys in the United States hired by the leading underwriter of patent firms to monitor and consult on pending patent related malpractice cases, and recently, this same underwriter retained him to review a pending claim against a prominent intellectual property firm, where a claim of $27 million was being made. He was retained to represent a national law firm before the Honorable Thomas Penfield Jackson, in Washington, D.C. in a multi-million dollar claim brought by a failed government contractor. Gary represented banks such as LaSalle National Bank, Melrose National Bank, and Merchandise National Bank in a variety of matters ranging from Uniform Commercial Code claims, forged instrument claims, inter-bank disputes and customer work-out matters. Gary also successfully tried an $11 million claim for lost management fees and commissions made by a prominent Philadelphia real estate concern before former Judge Paul Dorf in Baltimore, Maryland. In 1997, Gary was appointed by Judge Lee of the United States District Court in Fort Wayne, Indiana to mediate a $40 million securities fraud claim involving the sale of interest in communication satellite slots owned by the Kingdom of Tonga. Over the past fifteen years, Gary has become actively involved in representing clients in class action cases and successfully prosecuted separate national class action antitrust cases against Bayer A.G., Miles, Inc., Dial Corp., and S.C. Johnson & Son.

Gary earned his law degree from the Illinois Institute of Technology, Chicago-Kent College of Law in May, 1973, where he served as Editor-in Chief of the Chicago-Kent Law Review and graduated 'with distinction.' Following graduation, Gary served a one-year judicial clerkship with the Honorable John J. Sullivan of the Illinois Appellate Court. After his clerkship, Gary joined the Chicago firm of Clausen, Miller, where he became a partner and member of the managing board of directors within four years. In 1992, Gary and Henry Daar founded the Chicago-based law firm of Kostow & Daar, P.C., which became a national litigation firm handling such matters as the Meridian Bank building fire case pending in New York City (involving a claim of $450 million); the Alcoa and PPG property environmental coverage litigation (involving multi-billion dollar claims); the All-Alaskan vessel loss (involving a potential claim of $125 million); the Global Gaming and IGT patent infringement claim ($30 million); and a number of substantial property damage, time element, and sick building claims on behalf of such companies as Allied Signal, Cytec, American Airline, and Kohler. Additionally, Gary has represented contractors, design professionals and others in a variety of claims. Gary retired from the Kostow & Daar firm in 1997. Gary offers the Firm and its clients a unique perspective, drawn from 30 years of experience litigating complex cases and counseling sophisticated clients.

Publications

To view Gary's publications, please click here.

Admissions

Illinois
U.S. Court of Appeals, Seventh Circuit
U.S. District Court, Northern District of Pennsylvania

Education

Roosevelt University, Bachelor of Arts, 1970
Chicago-Kent College of Law, Juris Doctor, 1973