Stephen J. Rosenfeld

Managing Partner

EDUCATION:
J.D., University of Illinois - 1993 (cum laude)
B.A., University of Michigan - 1990

EXPERIENCE:

Mr. Rosenfeld is the Managing Partner of Mandell Menkes.  He has extensive experience in a broad range of complex commercial litigation, concentrating in matters involving complex information technology and intellectual property disputes.  Mr. Rosenfeld has represented a wide variety of corporate clients, including high-technology corporations, bio-medical corporations, and insurance companies.  In addition, he has represented corporate directors in securities litigation and attorneys in legal malpractice cases.

Mr. Rosenfeld has appeared before state and federal courts and arbitrators and mediators across the country in complex litigation involving, among other things, enterprise software implementation and consulting disputes, patent litigation, trademark infringement claims, defamation claims, misappropriation of trade secret claims, claims of violations of restrictive covenants and insurance coverage disputes.  He has tried numerous cases in state and federal courts and before arbitration panels located throughout the nation. In addition, he has been invited to speak at numerous conferences on information technology and e-discovery issues and has published several articles on those topics.

Highlights of Mr. Rosenfeld’s recent litigation experience include:

• In 2008, won a jury verdict in favor of a public company in a case involving allegations of insider trading and breach of a separation agreement;

• In 2007, obtained summary judgment on breach of contract and partnership-by-estoppel claims against a Fortune-500 software manufacturer in federal court in Michigan (See 2007 WL 2351007);

• In 2006, won a jury verdict in favor of a Fortune-500 lending institution in a case involving allegations of anticipatory breach by a company that had borrowed money to purchase a chain of medical clinics.  The jury not only found against the plaintiffs on its claim, but also found for the lending institution on its counterclaim and awarded the lending institution its attorney’s fees;

• In 2006, tried a high-profile defamation case brought by the Chief Justice of the Illinois Supreme Court;

• In 2004, Mr. Rosenfeld successfully tried three complex software cases for one of the nation’s leading enterprise resource software companies.  In one of the cases, which involved both software issues and international copyright infringement issues, Mr. Rosenfeld convinced the plaintiff to abandon its case just before argument on a directed verdict motion.

• Obtained a dismissal with prejudice of all fraud, quasi-contract and warranty claims brought by a manufacturing company against a major software manufacturer in federal court in Michigan  (See 2005 WL 1475390);

• Obtained a dismissal with prejudice of all fraud and quasi-fraud claims brought by a multi-national manufacturing company against a major software manufacturer in federal court in Indiana  (See 2004 WL 828226 and 2004 WL 2538641);

• Obtained summary judgment upholding the limitation of liability clause in a software contract in the face of allegations of fraud and unconscionability;

• Obtained a dismissal with prejudice of all claims filed against a software company in federal court in Illinois based on the applicable statute of limitations (See 2004 WL 1375383);

• Obtained a preliminary injunction in federal court in Illinois on behalf of a Fortune 500 food company against a website publisher in a high-profile trademark suit involving the protection accorded commercial versus free speech (See 205 F. Supp. 2d 942); and

• Obtained a summary judgment in state court in Louisiana in a defamation case involving allegedly defamatory allegations in a pleading.

Prior to practicing law, Mr. Rosenfeld founded a computer consulting firm that concentrated in the development and implementation of custom software designed to manage mid-sized distribution and service companies.

Mr. Rosenfeld is AV rated by the Martindale-Hubbell Law Directory. He is a member of the Litigation Section, the Section on Intellectual Property Law, the Science and Technology Law Section, and the Tort Trial and Insurance Practice Section of the American Bar Association.

Mr. Rosenfeld is admitted to practice in Illinois and before the United States Courts of Appeals for the Sixth and Seventh Circuits, the United States District Courts for the Northern and Central Districts of Illinois (Member of the Trial Bar of the Northern District), the District of Colorado, the Eastern District of Michigan, and the Western District of Michigan.