Michael L. Weissman

Experience 

Mr. Weissman’s practice is devoted to financial and business transactions, especially the negotiation and documentation of a wide variety of financing transactions. He has also actively prosecuted civil and bankruptcy matters on behalf of financial institutions and defended lender liability lawsuits. During his career, he has represented most of the major banks and commercial lenders in the Chicago area. He formerly served as Executive Vice President and General Counsel of the Bridgeview Bank Group and was a partner at Foley & Lardner and Holland & Knight.

Publications

He frequently publishes articles in journals devoted to banking and commercial finance. He currently authors a column titled “The Legal Corner” for The RMA Journal and writes “Flashpoints”, a monthly internet column on recent developments of interest to financial services attorneys, for the Illinois Institute on Continuing Legal Education. He has also authored articles for the Commercial Insights publication of the American Bankers Association. His book titled “Commercial and Industrial Loan Documentation” was published by IICLE Press in January 2012 and again in 2018.

He has presented seminars called “Documenting Commercial Loans: Doing It Right!” in the Master Teachers series of the Illinois Institute for Continuing Legal Education, conducted in-house training programs for major financial institutions throughout the country and served as an Adjunct Professor at The University of Illinois John Marshall Law School teaching Secured Transactions. He also has taught commercial loan documentation and asset-based lending seminars in the Mentor program of the Risk Management Association and conducted training sessions for the National Credit Union Association. He helped create the course on Commercial and Industrial Loan Documentation for RMA and has worked with RMA on a web-based program on Article 9 of the UCC. He has also served as a consultant to the UCC Plus Division of Fidelity Financial and for the Lien Solutions Division of CT Corporation System. He has presented seminars and webinars for the Illinois Banker’s Association and has been a featured speaker at several of that group’s Annual Bank Counsel Conferences, the latest in 2022.

He has also served on the American Bar Association’s team-teaching program for South Africa’s Black Lawyers’ Association in Capetown, South Africa, and taught How to Negotiate and Draft Contracts for the African Centre for Legal Excellence in Zanzibar, Tanzania, Kampala, Uganda, and Dubai, United Arab Emirates.

Association Activities

He was member of the Executive Committee and past Chairman of the Illinois Institute for Continuing Legal Education. He serves on the Illinois State Bar Association’s Section Council for Commercial Banking having prepared numerous articles for the Section Newsletter. He has made numerous presentations at the Chicago Bar Association’s Committee on Commercial Finance and Transactions.

Expert Witness

Mike has served as an expert witness in Commercial Lending and Uniform Commercial Code cases.

Education

He received his Bachelor of Science degree in Economics from Northwestern University, his M.B.A. from the Wharton Graduate Division of the University of Pennsylvania and was a Fulbright Scholar at the University of Sydney Faculty of Law, Sydney, Australia, and earned his J.D. from the Harvard Law School. He has received Fulbright Senior Specialists Awards to lecture at the School of Business Administration Turiba, Latvia and at the National University in Vietiane, Laos.

Courts and Bar Admissions

Illinois

U.S. District Court, Northern District of Illinois
United States Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit
United States Supreme Court (where he was co-counsel in American Mutual Reinsurance Co. v. Calvert Fire Insurance Co.)