Defamation Attorney Jobs in Chicago, IL (NOW HIRING)

LITIGATION ATTORNEY

Technology-Focused Litigation | Chicago | Hybrid

Independent enough to carry responsibility; coachable enough to improve.

Mudd Law seeks an experienced litigation attorney who can assume meaningful responsibility quickly, manage sophisticated matters with sound judgment, and work directly with clients while continuing to grow within a collaborative, technology-forward practice. We are a small firm by design. Our attorneys work on consequential matters involving Internet, technology, privacy, defamation, intellectual property, business disputes, and other evolving areas of law.

This is a position of responsibility with the benefit of collaborative refinement. We want an attorney who already knows how to litigate and who wants to become even better at it.

What You Will Do

• Take meaningful ownership of litigation matters and help move them forward from strategy through resolution.
• Draft and revise complaints, motions, discovery, demand and preservation letters, deposition outlines, and trial-related materials.
• Conduct sophisticated legal research efficiently and translate it into practical strategy and persuasive writing.
• Prepare for, take, and defend depositions; participate meaningfully in trial preparation and courtroom work.
• Communicate directly with clients and related parties, including in sensitive or high-pressure situations.
• Manage competing deadlines, priorities, court rules, and client needs across a caseload.
• Collaborate with the firm while as well as independent management of matters.
• Work across litigation and assist with transactional, intellectual-property, or emerging-technology issues.

What We Are Looking For

• A willingness to take ownership of matters while remaining receptive to candid professional feedback and strategic refinement.
• An active Illinois law license. Additional state or federal admissions are also valuable.
• Substantial litigation experience sufficient to handle core responsibilities with limited training and supervision. The quality, breadth, and independence of your actual work matter more than an arbitrary year count.
• Meaningful deposition and trial experience.
• Excellent legal research, analytical, and writing ability.
• The ability to manage a caseload, prioritize intelligently, and recognize when additional research or editing adds value and when it does not.
• Strong client judgment: the ability to put clients at ease when appropriate, focus a distressed client on what matters, manage expectations, and remain aware that lawyer-client communications also have time and billing consequences.
• Professional time discipline, including punctuality and contemporaneous timekeeping.

Technology, AI, and the Way We Practice

Mudd Law has practiced at the intersection of law and technology for decades. Today, that includes artificial intelligence. We expect our attorneys to work intelligently with modern legal technology and to understand that responsible use of AI can strengthen research, analysis, drafting, organization, and problem solving when paired with independent legal judgment.

We are interested in attorneys who do more than simply use available tools. Strong candidates remain curious about how technology works, experiment thoughtfully with new capabilities, understand limitations and risks, protect client confidentiality, verify outputs, and recognize when technology should and should not be used.

Technology should enhance an attorney's thinking, not replace it. We are particularly interested in attorneys who want to help shape how a technologically sophisticated law firm practices law in the AI era.

How You Will Work

• You will work directly with Charles Mudd and other members of the Mudd Law team in a collaborative environment.
• You will receive meaningful responsibility based on demonstrated capability, judgment, and reliability.
• You should take pride in your matters and understand that litigation sometimes requires flexibility including arriving early, staying late, or adjusting plans when a matter genuinely requires it.
• You should be able to work independently without becoming isolated and accept candid professional feedback without defensiveness.
• You should understand both the details and the larger strategic objective: we value attorneys who can see the forest and the trees.

What May Distinguish You

• Experience with Internet law, privacy, cybersecurity, defamation, intellectual property, technology disputes, or other emerging legal issues.
• Evidence that you use AI or advanced legal technology thoughtfully and responsibly in your work.
• Law review, significant writing experience, or other evidence of exceptional analytical rigor.
• Experience with Clio or comparable practice-management software.
• Additional admissions or experience that broaden the matters you can help Mudd Law handle.

About Mudd Law

Mudd Law is a small firm by design and a technology-forward legal practice. The firm handles consequential and evolving matters involving Internet and technology law, litigation, privacy and reputation, intellectual property, business and transactional issues, and emerging areas including artificial intelligence and space. Our attorneys assume meaningful responsibility and work directly with clients.

We value ownership, sound professional judgment, client care, responsiveness, collaboration, coachability, and thoughtful use of technology to improve legal work. We take our work seriously without believing that serious work requires a generic law-firm culture.

Position and Benefits

• Full-time, salaried position.
• Hybrid working options.
• Medical, dental, and vision insurance.
• Competitive vacation time and paid holidays.
• Retirement plan.
• Professional-development budget.
• Compensation commensurate with experience, demonstrated capability, and the economics of a sophisticated small-firm practice.

Application

Please submit your resume and a brief cover letter explaining why this position interests you and how your litigation experience has prepared you to assume meaningful responsibility with limited training. We are also interested in learning how you currently use or thoughtfully choose not to use AI and other technology in legal practice.

Please reference "Litigation Attorney" in the subject line and submit materials to Katherine Mudd, Director of Finance and HR, at katherine@muddlaw.com.