Mitchell J. Edlund

Member

Mitchell Edlund focuses his practice on general business and commercial litigation and has served as lead counsel in a variety of matters, including professional liability, directors and officers liability, breach of fiduciary duty, restrictive covenants, such as actions for injunctive relief, banking, both regulatory and enforcement, and business torts.  Mitchell also has experience in contract, trademark and consumer and common law fraud cases, as well as litigation with respect to community associations.

Mitchell has extensive experience defending complex, high-stakes commercial litigation matters involving claims of fraud and malpractice as well as other litigation that implicates professionals as defendants. His E&O work includes defending retail and wholesale insurance agents and brokers, captive/exclusive agent programs, MGA’s, securities brokers, lawyers and other professionals. Mitchell has developed and implemented successful defense strategies, which focus on defenses well beyond standard of care liability issues. In addition, because of Cozen O’Connor’s widespread geographic litigation presence, Mitchell and the other members of Cozen O’Connor’s professional liability practice group have developed a strong local knowledge in state and federal courts throughout the country.

Mitchell has successfully defended a large retail insurance broker against professional liability claims brought by a publicly traded company seeking more than $20 million in business interruption losses relating to the broker's placement of commercial property policies, as well as a retail insurance broker against negligence misrepresentation claims relating to the placement of a technology errors and omissions policy.  He also has represented retail and wholesale brokers in matters involving non-solicitation/non-competition disputes. 

Mitchell has successfully defended directors and officers of banks and bank holding companies in actions brought by the FDIC, shareholders and borrowers.  He successfully defended a former bank director in a $10 million shareholder derivative action.  He also successfully defended certain directors of the holding company of a failed bank in an action brought by the FDIC-R, which sought in excess of $20 million arising out of alleged deficiencies in the bank’s lending program. Mitchell currently serves as outside general counsel for various community banks.

In addition to his litigation practice, Mitchell counsels businesses and executives on a variety of matters, including advising financial institutions and retail and wholesale insurance brokerage companies on the enforceability of their competition restrictions and hiring protocols to reduce the risk of liability for those companies when recruiting potential employees from competitors. He also helps clients develop strategies relating to potential professional liability claims asserted against companies and their executives.

Experience

News

Leading Lawyers Network Recognizes 19 Cozen O’Connor Lawyers as Top Illinois Practitioners

March 05, 2024

Ira Bodenstein, Jack Carriglio, Janet Davis, John Dunn, Mitch Edlund, Wendy Enerson, Gary Gassman, Tia Ghattas, Jeremy Glenn, Erin Bolan Hines, Mark Rabinowitz, Peter Roberts, Brian Shaw, Joseph Tilson, Julie Trester, Peter Valeta, Anna Wermuth, and Brian Williams were recognized as Leading Lawyers, Christina Sanfelippo was recognized as an Emerging Lawyer.

Leading Lawyers Network Recognizes 23 Cozen O’Connor Lawyers as Top Illinois Practitioners

March 02, 2022

The Leading Lawyers Network has named 22 Cozen O’Connor lawyers to its annual list of Illinois’ top practitioners and named one other as an Emerging Lawyer in its 2022 survey results.

Leading Lawyers Network Recognizes 26 Cozen O’Connor Lawyers as Top Illinois Practitioners

January 26, 2021

The Leading Lawyers Network has named 24 Cozen O’Connor lawyers to its annual list of Illinois’ top practitioners and named two others as Emerging Lawyers in its 2021 survey results.

Leading Lawyers Network Recognizes 17 Cozen O’Connor Lawyers as Top Illinois Practitioners

May 21, 2019

The Leading Lawyers Network has named 17 Cozen O’Connor lawyers to its annual list of Illinois’ top practitioners - including one Emerging Lawyer - in its 2019 survey results.

Leading Lawyers Network Recognizes 22 Cozen O’Connor Lawyers as Top Illinois Practitioners

November 29, 2017

Leading Lawyers Network has recognized 22 Cozen O'Connor attorneys as top Illinois practitioners, including 19 "Leading Lawyers" and 3 "Emerging Lawyers" for its 2017 survey results publication.

Education

  • Valparaiso University School of Law, J.D., 1995
  • Augustana College, B.A., 1990
  • Northern Illinois University, M.P.A.

Awards & Honors

Leading Lawyers Network, “Top Illinois Practitioner” 

  • Illinois
  • U.S. District Court -- Northern District of Illinois
  • U.S. District Court -- Central District of Illinois
  • Illinois Bar Association
  • Chicago Inn of Court