Meet Our Team

Joanne Sweeney is an experienced and charismatic trial lawyer. Joanne has extensive experience litigating and trying cases in state and federal courts throughout the country, having represented numerous Fortune 100 and 500 companies in commercial litigation in a wide variety of matters. Joanne spent the first 14 years of her career at Jenner & Block LLP, where she was a partner in the litigation group, before joining Sweeney, Scharkey & Blanchard.

Clients praise Joanne’s empathy and her skill with witnesses. She has served as lead trial counsel and was a member of the trial teams for several nationally followed trials— most notably Rivera v. Allstate Insurance Company, in which she obtained the highest ever jury verdict in Illinois history in a defamation case, and Coleman (Parent) Holdings, Inc. v. Morgan Stanley & Co., Inc., which resulted in the largest jury verdict for an individual plaintiff in United States history.

Joanne served as law clerk to Justice Mary Ann G. McMorrow, former Chief Justice of the Illinois Supreme Court. She is a certified instructor for the National Institute of Trial Advocacy and has taught trial advocacy at the University of Notre Dame School of Law and at Loyola University Chicago School of Law. She spent seven years as an adjunct professor and head coach for the Philip H. Corboy Fellowship and Loyola University Chicago School of Law’s national trial team.

Joanne graduated magna cum laude from Loyola University Chicago School of Law and cum laude from Miami University (Ohio). During law school, Joanne was an executive editor of the Loyola University Chicago Law Review and was awarded the prestigious Philip H. Corboy Fellowship in Trial Advocacy.

Education
Loyola University Chicago School of Law, J.D. 1999
Miami University (Ohio), B.A. 1995

Admitted to Practice
Supreme Court of the United States
Illinois Supreme Court
United States Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit
Member of the Federal Trial Bar