William M. Blumthal, Jr.

When Bill joined J+K as an Associate Attorney, he brought a honed prosecutorial acumen and extensive investigatory insight from more than a decade spent in government service. After concentrating on criminal law at DePaul University’s College of Law, he served as an Assistant State’s Attorney in Cook County, Illinois for eight years. He subsequently oversaw criminal and regulatory investigations at the Illinois Department of Insurance, the 250-employee agency responsible for regulating all aspects of the insurance industry in Illinois, for another seven years. As Deputy Director of DOI’s Investigations Division, Bill worked closely with both federal and state prosecutors.

Since 2018, Bill has applied his trial and investigatory experience to his representation of J+K’s Taft-Hartley clients. Bill’s practice includes many different facets of ERISA litigation: from handling run-of-the-mill lawsuits involving the collection of unpaid contributions; to litigating cases involving alter-ego, single-employer, and successor liability claims; to advocating for the firm’s pension fund clients in litigation involving withdrawal liability assessments; to defending the J+K’s pension and welfare fund clients in lawsuits alleging the wrongful denial of benefits. He has obtained judgments and rulings on behalf of his clients in lawsuits involving each of these different areas of the law.

Not only is Bill well versed in pursuing judgments on behalf of his clients, but he has also had a great deal of success collecting on those judgments. He attributes this success to his background in investigations and his knowledge of post-judgment procedures in the jurisdictions where J+K’s clients are located.

During his time at J+K, Bill has also negotiated many favorable settlement agreements for his clients, including resolution of complex cases.

Bill’s keen analytical mind and enthusiasm for the law have allowed him to travel throughout Illinois for speaking engagements, delivering remarks at numerous conferences concerning workers’ compensation fraud. Additionally, he routinely appears in state and federal district courts throughout the Midwest.