Steffanie N. Garrett is a Partner at the firm and concentrates her practice in complex state and federal civil litigation, including breach of contract, shareholder disputes, commercial real estate and condemnations. Ms. Garrett has extensive bench and jury trial experience. She acts both as local counsel in national cases and as lead counsel in cases coordinating and supervising teams of attorneys and support staff. She also advises clients on document retention and management policies, and is a member of Holland & Knight's Electronic Discovery Team.
Ms. Garrett's corporate clients include product manufacturers and financial institutions.
Representative Work
- One-week state jury trial of a complex eminent domain case involving valuing the partial taking of a gasoline service station property. The testimony on both sides included numerous expert opinions of real estate appraisers, civil engineers and land planners. After deliberating for exactly one hour over lunch, the jury returned a verdict in favor of our client, the condemning authority.
- Two-week federal jury trial involving constitutional claims of retaliatory transfer of an employee against multiple defendants. The case received significant press coverage. The jury returned a verdict in favor of our client, the only defendant found not liable.
- Successfully mediated estate dispute on behalf of beneficiaries against the trustee for accounting and breach of fiduciary duty. Recovered assets improperly taken by trustee along with costs of accounting and attorney fees.
- Lead counsel in the defense of 18 federal lawsuits against a municipality for alleged constitutional violations with total claims exceeding tens of millions of dollars, which included coordinating and supervising a team of 10 attorneys and paralegals and creating a database to organize the cases.
- Obtained settlement for a corporate client in a breach of contract and business tort case 10 times the amount of client's initial settlement demand. The favorable settlement was due in large part to locating and securing affidavit from an out-of-state third party witness who proved fundamental underlying fact of the client's case.
Ms. Garrett currently serves as a Special Assistant Attorney General to the Illinois State Police and the Illinois Department of Transportation, and previously to the Illinois Commerce Commission and the Illinois State Toll Highway Authority. She was an Assistant Cook County State's Attorney, Criminal Trial Division, from 1991-97.
Ms. Garrett is Chair of Holland & Knight's Chicago office Mentoring Program for associates and partners.