Derek Y. Brandt

Firm partner Derek Brandt brings his extensive complex litigation experience – and tremendous results – to our Business and Commercial Litigation group. 

Derek’s practice focuses on the representation and counseling of business entities in contract actions, fraud actions, and other business torts. His clients have ranged from individuals involved in complex business disputes to Fortune 100 companies. He has broad experience with financial matters, recently representating the asset management arm of a major U.S. financial services company in litigation stemming from a failed international syndicated loan transaction. 

Derek played a lead role in a complex $115 million product liability action against a jumbo jet airframe manufacturer, based on the crash of a widebody aircraft at Newark International Airport in 1997. In 2001, he won a landmark summary judgment ruling in the U.S. District Court for the District of New Jersey, in what is believed to be the largest air cargo claim ($11 million) in U.S. history*.  

He has also focused on ERISA and fiduciary duty obligations, with experience counseling and representing entities ranging from Fortune 100 companies to municipalities and municipal organizations with respect to pharmacy benefit manager (PBM) function, evaluation, and litigation. 

He has been interviewed as a regular commentator on PBM issues in the healthcare landscape and has lectured on this topic before meetings of several Taft-Hartley and municipal organizations.

* Please note that recovery results vary per client. The recovery amounts in each case reflect the specific facts of that case. Further, recovery amounts in past cases are not a guarantee of future results.

Representative Experience

News & Publications

Prescription for Transparency in Pharmacy Benefits 

No Labor of Love at Medco

Drug Deals

Medco Agrees to More Financial Transparency

For PBM's, the Legal Moat Gets Narrower

Professional & Community Affiliations

• American Bar Association, Section on Litigation, 2001 -Present
• American Association for Justice, 2004 - Present
• Illinois Trial Lawyers Association, 2004 - Present