Bryan Johnson

Bryan Johnson is a partner in M&R’s Chicago office. He maintains a practice that ranges from complex commercial, real estate, construction, and employment disputes to contract negotiations and other business transactional matters. Bryan does so for small and medium-sized businesses in the advertising, cannabis, hospitality, marketing, real estate, construction, and technology industries.

Having successfully resolved matters involving breach of contract and breach of fiduciary duty claims, restrictive covenants, partnership disputes, business torts, defamation, fraud, and a variety of real estate- and construction-related litigation, Bryan’s caseload brings him to state and federal courtrooms nationwide. Beyond his work as a litigator, Bryan counsels corporate clients regarding a broad range of transactional matters, including business formation, entity structure, contract negotiation, and strategic organizational and operational considerations, includingrisk assessment and risk minimization advice.

More particularly, Bryan has negotiated hundreds of contracts in the out of home advertising space on behalf of industry leaders in healthcare technology and photo entertainment, and numerous asset purchase agreements and stock purchase agreements. Likewise, he advises landlord and tenant real estate clients on commercial lease agreements, and counsels corporate clients in a variety of sectors—sports marketing, healthcare, hospitality, product manufacturing, construction, design, retail, and beauty, to name a few.

Bryan is an active member of the Chicago Bar Association, and formerly served as Chair of its Commercial Litigation Committee. In addition, he maintains a robust pro bono practice, including work on behalf of elderly and disabled tenants seeking reasonable accommodations under the Fair Housing Act.

Awards & Recognition

Since 2015, Bryan has been recognized every year in Illinois Super Lawyers® as a Rising Star in Business Litigation (representing the top 2.5% of Illinois attorneys under the age of 40). He has been named an Illinois "Emerging Lawyer" by The Leading Lawyers Network for four years running, as well.

Representative Matters

Trademark & Copyright: Represented a leading photo entertainment website against copyright infringement claims.

Banking & Finance: Represented mortgage servicing agents in borrower suits alleging violations of mortgage agreements and federal statutes, including FDCPA, RESPA, EFTA

Advertising Litigation: Represented a men’s lifestyle and photoblog website in an international lawsuit alleging breach of online advertising sales and licensing contract.

Complex Litigation: Represented title insurer and escrowee against breach of contract and breach of fiduciary claims in litigation concerning development of $50M senior living facility.

Purchase & Sales: Represented a restaurateur in the purchase and sale of ten businesses since 2013.

Advertising & Digital Media: Represented a healthcare technology company in the negotiation of hundreds of advertising contracts and buyout agreements with international pharmaceutical manufacturers and their media agencies.

Healthcare/Intellectual Property: Represented a healthcare technology company in the negotiation of dozens of master services agreements with international pharmaceutical manufacturers with specific emphasis on retention and assignment of intellectual property rights.

Class Action: Obtained dismissal of a putative class action lawsuit filed against a well-known insurance carrier that alleged failure to pay interest on settlement of claims. Successfully argued that the Illinois Interest Act did not apply to settlement agreements. The dismissal was affirmed by the First District Appellate Court of Illinois in matter of first impression.

Construction Litigation: Obtained summary judgment on behalf of an architect in a multi-million-dollar suit alleging breach of contract and violations of express and implied warranties related to significant construction defects and maintenance defects in a 35-floor condominium building.

Healthcare Litigation: Aggressively defended a healthcare consulting firm against a hospital’s $10M breach of contract and breach of fiduciary counterclaims arising from development of $250M senior living facility, resulting in extremely favorable settlement.

Insurance Broker Litigation: Advocated for an insurance broker plaintiff in a federal lawsuit alleging breach of fiduciary duty, professional negligence, and fraud against sub-brokers arising out of a failure to procure insurance coverage. Aggressively negotiated a seven-figure settlement against two sub-brokers and secured a seven-figure restitution in favor of the client in vigorously contested restitution proceedings.