Peter J. Slawniak, Associate

Peter Slawniak is a litigation associate in the firm’s Chicago office who focuses his practice on complex litigation, particularly intellectual property disputes and commercial matters. Mr. Slawniak’s experience in litigation matters ranges from initial counseling through expert discovery, trial, and appeal. 

Mr. Slawniak has focused much of his practice over the last few years on patent litigation, representing both patentees and alleged infringers. Mr. Slawniak is a licensed patent attorney before the United States Patent and Trademark Office. He also has experience in complex proceedings before the USPTO, including inter partes reexaminations and reissue protests, among others. In addition, he has experience with patentability opinions, providing nearly a dozen to an investment firm in connection with its evaluation of funding of third party projects. 

Mr. Slawniak has spent much of the last few years representing generic pharmaceutical firms in Hatch-Waxman Act cases. Representative cases include:

AstraZeneca AB v. Andrx Pharmaceuticals, Inc. 
Representation of Andrx in litigation concerning Prilosec® (omeprazole).

Daiichi Sankyo v. Impax Laboratories.
Representation of Impax Laboratories in litigation concerning Welchol® (colesevelam).

Genzyme Corp. v. Impax Laboratories.
Representation of Impax Laboratories in litigation concerning Renvela® (sevelamer carbonate) and Renagel® (sevelamer hydrochloride).

Endo Pharmaceuticals, Inc. v. Watson Laboratories.
Representation of Watson Laboratories in litigation concerning Lidoderm® (lidocaine).

Mallinckrodt v. Watson Laboratories. 
Representation of Watson Laboratories in litigation concerning Exalgo® (hydromorphone hydrochloride).

Schering Corp. v. Barr Laboratories. 
Representation of Barr Laboratories in litigation concerning Temodar® (temozolomide).

Outside the litigation context, Mr. Slawniak has also engaged in successful dispute resolution. He was part of a team of Winston & Strawn lawyers who successfully represented four professional minor league baseball teams, the Gary SouthShore Railcats, the Winnipeg Goldeyes, the Kansas City T-Bones, and the Fargo Redhawks, in their successful efforts to transfer their franchises from the Northern League of Professional Baseball Teams (NL) to the American Association (AA). Winston assisted the four teams in crafting and negotiating a settlement and severance agreement that did not require the payment of any monies to their former league.

Prior to attending law school, Mr. Slawniak was a co-op engineer for General Motors (2005-2006). Prior to joining the firm, he was special corporation counsel for the City of Chicago where he managed a large docket of cases for the City (2009-2010). There, Mr. Slawniak represented the City and its employees in more than 20 civil arbitrations. As special counsel, he tried two jury trials to verdict in Illinois State Court as a first chair, obtaining victories for the City both times.

Pro Bono

Mr. Slawniak maintains a very active pro bono practice, representing individual clients in litigation in various civil matters. His representations include:

• Several representations of disabled individuals seeking accommodations under the Americans with Disabilities Act in partner with Access Living of Metropolitan Chicago;
• Representing a widower and father in challenging fraudulent statements made during a foreclosure proceeding against him;
• Defended a small local startup from claims of breach of contract in a bench trial in Cook County;
• Represented an artist in obtaining attribution for his contributions to musical performance at a major theatre in Chicago
  

Education

Mr. Slawniak received a B.S. in Mechanical Engineering in 2006 from Northwestern University. While at Northwestern, he was a recipient of the Evans Scholarship – a four-year full tuition scholarship. Mr. Slawniak received his J.D., magna cum laude, from Washington University in St. Louis School of Law in 2009, where he was a sources manager of the Washington University Journal of Law & Policy and elected to the Order of the Coif.

Speeches and Publications