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Overview

Will Irwin is a skilled litigator with experience in a variety of civil matters and a focus on products and premises liability claims associated with the use of asbestos.

As part of national coordinating counsel teams for multiple large industrial products companies, Will oversees asbestos litigation nationwide and in some of the country’s most active and high-risk jurisdictions—including California, Illinois, Louisiana, Michigan, Missouri and New York—analyzing and executing client strategy with a long-term perspective. In addition to this national litigation work, clients frequently ask him to assist with merger and acquisition due diligence associated with asbestos-related risks.

As local and regional trial counsel in Illinois, Missouri, Wisconsin and Indiana for numerous companies embroiled in litigation over the use of asbestos in their products and on their premises, Will handles the day-to-day aspects of large-liability wrongful death and terminal illness claims, including fact and expert depositions, pleadings and motion practice, settlement negotiations, and trial.

Prior to MG+M, Will was a shareholder at a national Chicago-based law firm. There in 2016, Will served as second chair trial counsel in an asbestos products liability action tried to verdict in St. Louis, Missouri, against one of the leading boutique mesothelioma plaintiff firms in the country. He successfully applied foreign law instead of Missouri law, which allowed the jury to allocate 95 percent of the fault for the plaintiff’s injuries to non-parties. This strategy resulted in a verdict that represented a savings of more than $4.75 million from the plaintiff’s final settlement demand and savings of more than $12.75 million from the amount of damages requested at trial.

Will previously served as a judicial law clerk to the Honorable Donald J. Stohr in the US District Court for the Eastern District of Missouri, where he gained invaluable insight into the judicial decision-making process that continues to inform his case strategy and enhance his ability to achieve positive results for his clients.

Recognition

  • Illinois Emerging Lawyer, 2017–present 
  • Illinois Super Lawyers Rising Star, 2016–present

Involvement

  • DRI

Education

  • Washington University, JD, 2007
  • Illinois Wesleyan University, BA, Biology and Economics,, magna cum laude, 2004

Bar Admissions

  • Illinois
  • Michigan
  • Missouri
  • New York

Court Admissions

  • US Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit
  • US District Court, Northern District of Indiana
  • US District Court, Southern District of Indiana
  • US District Court, Central District of Illinois
  • US District Court, Northern District of Illinois
  • US District Court, Southern District of Illinois
  • US District Court, Eastern District of Missouri
  • US District Court, Eastern District of Wisconsin

News + Insights

Publications

Products Liability Practice Handbook , Illinois Institute for Continuing Legal Education