Rafey S. Balabanian - Chicago, IL

RAFEY S. BALABANIAN is a Partner and the Chair of the Corporate Governance and Business Litigation Practice Group. Rafey's practice focuses upon a wide range of complex consumer class action litigation, as well as general business litigation.

On the plaintiff's side, Rafey has been appointed lead counsel in numerous class actions, including landmark settlements involving the telecom industry worth hundreds of millions of dollars. Rafey has been appointed Class Counsel in nationwide class action settlements against the major wireless carriers, aggregators, and providers of "mobile content," including Van Dyke v. Media Breakaway, LLC, No. 08-cv-22131 (S.D. Fla.); Parone v. m-Qube, Inc., 08 CH 15834 (Cir. Ct. Cook County, Ill.); Williams v. Motricity, Inc., et al., No. 09 CH 19089 (Cir. Ct. Cook County, Ill.); and Walker v. OpenMarket, Inc., et al., No. 08 CH 40592 (Cir. Ct. Cook County, Ill.).

On the business side, Rafey has counseled clients ranging from "emerging technology" companies, real estate developers, hotels, insurance companies, lenders, shareholders and attorneys. He has successful litigated numerous multi-million dollar cases, including several "bet the company" cases.

Rafey also assists in the firm's civil litigation defense of former Governor Rod Blagojevich, flowing from his criminal charges. Rafey has first chaired jury and bench trials, mediations, and national and international arbitrations.

Rafey received his J.D. from the DePaul University College of Law in 2005. While in law school, he received a certificate in international and comparative law. Rafey received his B.A. in History, with distinction, from the University of Colorado – Boulder in 2002.