Robert S. Libman
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Miner, Barnhill & Galland, P.C.
325 N. LaSalle St. Suite 350
Chicago, IL 60654 - (312) 751-1170
Education
- Stanford Law School, J.D. (1988) – Honors: Order of the Coif
- Stanford University, B.A. (1985) – Honors: With Distinction; Phi Beta Kappa
Robert Libman is an experienced civil litigator who joined Miner, Barnhill & Galland in 2004 after more than a dozen years in the Civil Rights Division of the U.S. Department of Justice in Washington, D.C., and a two-year federal judicial clerkship. He has more than three decades of experience representing private parties and government clients as plaintiffs in a wide array of complex civil litigation in the public interest, including false claims, consumer protection, civil rights, and environmental litigation.
Bob is client-oriented, working closely and collaboratively with each of his clients to determine her or his goals and developing strategies to achieve them. More than anything, Bob views his role as a problem-solver, presenting options to each of his clients that identify risks and benefits based on his experience so that each client may make an informed judgment about how best to achieve her or his goals.
Civil Rights/Employment Law/Public Interest Litigation
From 1991 until 2004, Bob held several positions in the Employment Litigation Section of the Civil Rights Division of the U.S. Department of Justice, where he investigated, litigated and tried a wide variety of cases under Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964. This included claims of employment discrimination on the basis of sex, race, national origin and religion under both disparate treatment and disparate impact theories, as well as retaliation.
At MBG, Bob continues to represent plaintiffs in civil rights and other public interest litigation. He represented a local NAACP chapter alleging racial discrimination against African-Americans in promotions within the Jacksonville, Florida Fire Department. He represented several community organizations alleging that the system of the Office of the Assessor of Cook County, Illinois for valuing residential property unlawfully discriminated against racial minorities. He represented a group of African-American and Latino residents of an Illinois city alleging violations of their First Amendment right to protest the city’s police department for racially discriminatory enforcement of a local ordinance. He represented a putative class of African-American laborers alleging that a staffing agency refused to assign them work based on race. He represented a group of African–American construction workers who were subjected to egregious racial harassment by their employer. And he has represented many women who were subjected to sexual harassment in the workplace.
Bob also represents and counsels individuals in contract negotiations in various sectors of the work force, including a specialty in representing rabbis and cantors in Jewish reform and reconstructionist synagogues.
Government Representation
For 15 years, Bob served as outside counsel to eight states in the Average Wholesale Price (“AWP”) litigation, suing dozens of drug manufacturers and other entities under state consumer protection, Medicaid fraud, false advertising, and state false claims statutes to recover damages to state Medicaid programs caused by the publication of false and deceptive drug prices. Together with the MBG team, Bob’s efforts resulted in the recovery of nearly $1.2 billion in settlements and judgments after trial on behalf of these state clients. Bob’s work on the AWP litigation was recognized by the legal publication Law360, which named him as one of ten “Titans of the Plaintiffs Bar” in 2020.
Bob currently represents the state of Illinois in consumer fraud litigation against an alternative retail energy supplier Illinois Gas & Electric, the state of Alaska in litigation against Juul Labs, Inc. and Altria regarding their marketing of e-cigarettes to minors, and the state of Idaho in its opioid litigation.
Environmental Litigation
Bob’s environmental practice currently includes serving as co-lead class counsel in litigation against Chemtool, Inc. and The Lubrizol Corporation regarding a massive explosion and chemical fire at their lubricant and grease manufacturing plant in Rockton, Illinois, that released smoke, ash, and debris on the neighboring community.
Bob currently represents the District of Columbia, Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, and the City of Denver in litigation against manufacturers of “forever chemicals” known as PFAS that have contaminated those jurisdictions’ territories and natural resources.
Bob also served as counsel for the Sierra Club in litigation against a coal-fired power plant in Montana for failing to comply with permitting requirements under the Clean Air Act.