Over the course of more than two decades, Jeremy Baker has been involved in claims exceeding $300 million in total, across mediations, arbitrations, and litigation in over thirty state and federal court venues nationwide. Much of this work came during seventeen years at two national law firms, where he served as part of large litigation and arbitration teams handling complex, high-value disputes. Since founding the firm in 2019, he has continued that work as lead counsel, including recording and foreclosing mechanics liens and pursuing mediation in disputes valued at $7.7 million and $6.8 million, and obtaining a $1.55 million judgment for an architecture firm against the developer of a 63-story skyscraper, to name just a few examples.
Jeremy was fortunate early in his career to study under some of the country’s top practitioners and jurists. He served in the chambers of Chief Judge Morey L. Sear of the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Louisiana, gaining exposure to federal practice and multidistrict litigation, and worked for a prosecutor in Washington, D.C. At Schiff Hardin LLP – then ranked by U.S. News as one of the nation’s leading construction litigation firms – he trained under nationally recognized litigators. In arbitration and mediation, his scholarship and practice were shaped by mentors such as Kenneth M. Roberts, Paul M. Lurie, and Mark C. Friedlander – pioneers of early, cost-efficient dispute resolution in the construction field. That training and mentorship continue to inform our firm’s approach to every dispute today.
Why Early, Cost-Efficient Resolution Matters
Across all this work, one constant emerges: While litigation and arbitration are frequently initiated, they are seldom concluded through a final ruling on the merits. They settle
Yet these settlements arrive far too late: after adversarial discovery, after ballooning legal fees, and after meaningful business relationships have frayed or collapsed. Despite this familiar pattern, legal culture has largely failed to adjust, continuing to treat trial preparation as the default approach – even when resolution is almost inevitable and trials are not.
This paradox has led many thoughtful clients to ask: “Why do we spend so much time and money preparing for trials that probably will not occur?”
Preparing for trial – through motion practice, document exchanges, depositions, and expert discovery – is expensive. Even simple disputes can become costly due to the burden of managing electronic discovery. And the longer a dispute persists before settlement, the more those costs multiply. Legal fees accrue. Opportunity costs rise. Professional relationships deteriorate.
Our philosophy is different. We aim to resolve disputes earlier, while still protecting our clients’ rights and advancing their business goals – often using litigation and arbitration as tools, to that end, when it is in our clients’ strategic interests.
Mediation
Jeremy has participated in mediations continuously since 2002, helping resolve high-stakes construction and design disputes. His experience spans seven- and eight-figure claims, often tied to federal court lawsuits and involving multiple parties and highly technical subject matter.
Earlier in his career, he was part of teams mediating disputes such as:
Alleged defects in the curtainwall of one of the tallest skyscrapers in North America, with exposure approaching $50 million
A$9 million loss of productivity claim, where the methodology for calculating damages and similar issues of quantum and entitlement were heavily contested
A $5.4 million federal lawsuit over the decontamination and demolition of a Department of Energy nuclear test reactor, where expert analysis addressed radiological mapping, groundwater transport, dose limits, and disposal of materials deep underground
Since founding Baker Law Group, Jeremy and our team have handled mediations as lead counsel in matters such as a $7.7 million mechanics lien foreclosure and a $6.8 million payment dispute where mediation was pursued in parallel with lien foreclosure litigation.
In some matters, mediation has allowed resolution within available insurance coverage, avoiding catastrophic exposure. In others, it has provided a forum for addressing delay, disruption, and lien issues without the expense of trial. We view mediation not only as a settlement event, but as a process best used early, before costs escalate and positions harden.
Jeremy has been involved in well over a dozen American Arbitration Association (AAA) proceedings over the course of his career. In the largest and most complex matters—such as defending a utility property owner against approximately $25 million in claims over 20 hearing days, or working on a $2.5 million acoustical design dispute involving four parties and ten expert witnesses—he served as part of larger national teams.
He has also first-chaired fully contested evidentiary hearings before single arbitrators, personally handling multiple-day proceedings, examining witnesses, and taking cases through to a binding arbitration award. In these matters, he has secured client recoveries aggregating well into seven figures and substantially defeated the claims made against his clients.
This combination of experience gives him perspective from both ends of the spectrum: contributing to multi-party, multi-million dollar arbitrations as part of sophisticated teams, and independently guiding contested hearings through to final resolution.
His arbitration practice is reinforced by his role as a principal author and editor of the arbitration and alternative dispute resolution chapters of the Illinois Institute for Continuing Legal Education’s (IICLE) Construction Law Disputes treatise, where he has led revisions to Chapter 20: Arbitration in the 2018, 2022, and 2025 editions. Spanning over 60 single single-spaced pages, Chapter 20 is considered an authoritative treatise on Illinois arbitration law.
Jeremy has litigated continuously since 2002, handling cases in well over thirty state and federal court venues nationwide. His work has included hundreds of depositions and contested hearings, with claims ranging from six figures to over $150 million.
Earlier in his career, as part of national litigation teams, he prosecuted and defended multimillion-dollar disputes in federal court, including a $7 million design negligence claim tied to a billion-dollar healthcare project, allowance of a seven-figure design fee in a prominent skyscraper project bankruptcy, architectural copyright infringement, Miller Act surety bond claims, and accessibility litigation under federal statutes. He also defended utilities against claims exceeding $150 million and represented architects and engineers in countless malpractice lawsuits.
Since 2019, our firm has continued to handle substantial litigation with Jeremy as lead counsel. Examples include:
A $7.7 million mechanics lien foreclosure involving dozens of parties
A landmark ruling in the first judicial test of the 2014 amendments to the Illinois Mechanics Lien Act, defeating a lender’s effort to extinguish a lien
A $1.55 million judgment for a global architecture firm against the developer of a 63-story skyscraper
A $1.8 million mechanics lien foreclosure in a mountain hotel resort project
The successful defense of an owner’s representative firm and its CEO in a $5.2 million multiparty lawsuit
Litigation is sometimes unavoidable, whether because lien rights must be enforced, statutes require judicial resolution, or an opposing party refuses to act reasonably. Even then, our approach remains cost-conscious, using litigation strategically to secure leverage while continuing to evaluate settlement opportunities.
Mediation, arbitration, and litigation are not separate silos. Disputes can touch all three forums before resolution. A case may begin in mediation, proceed to arbitration if settlement proves elusive, and return to mediation once key issues are clarified. Another may require immediate litigation to protect lien rights, then shift to arbitration under a contract clause.
Our role is to guide clients through these options, selecting the right tool at the right time. Whether in mediation, arbitration, or litigation, our objective is consistent: resolution that is early, cost-efficient, and aligned with our clients’ real-world business goals.
