Newswise — Dan Webb, who has been ranked as the No. 1 litigator in the United States by Euromoney's Guide to the World's Leading Litigation Lawyers, will receive an Honorary Doctorate of Humane Letters at Western Illinois University's 1 p.m. Saturday, May 12 Commencement Ceremony and will speak to the 2007 class, which will surpass the University's 100,000th graduate milestone.
A partner in the litigation department, a firm chairman and a member of the Executive Committee for Winston and Strawn, LLC in Chicago, Webb is also ranked the No. 1 white-collar criminal defense attorney by Corporate Crime Reporter. In 2006 he was ranked as one of the top 25 litigation experts in the world by the Guide to the World's Leading Lawyers and has been selected as one of the "100 Most Influential Lawyers in America" by the National Law Journal.
Webb grew up in Bushnell, 15 miles from Western Illinois University where he studied history. He received Western's Distinguished Alumni Award in 1992 and is a former member of the WIU Board of Trustees. He has also established the Keith Webb Memorial Scholarship at Western in memory of his father.
During his career, Webb has tried more than 100 jury cases, including numerous successful commercial and white-collar criminal trials. Webb joined Winston & Strawn in 1985 as a partner, after serving as the U.S. attorney for the Northern District of Illinois.
Webb, who has spent his entire professional life as a courtroom trial attorney and litigator, received international attention for his successful prosecution of retired Admiral John Poindexter in the Iran-Contra affair. As the U.S. attorney in Chicago, he spearheaded the "Operation Greylord" investigations into judicial corruption in Cook County. Webb received national attention for his work as lead trial counsel for General Electric, successfully defending it against criminal price-fixing allegations, as well as for his representations of Microsoft Corporation in its antitrust litigation and Philip Morris in its tobacco-related litigation. In addition, Webb represented the New York Stock Exchange in connection with an internal investigation over compensation to the former Chairman Richard Grasso and currently represents the NYSE in subsequent litigation. Most recently, Webb served as lead defense counsel in the six-month jury trial of former Illinois Gov. George Ryan on public corruption charges, including racketeering, mail fraud and income tax fraud.
Webb received his juris doctorate from the Loyola University Chicago School of Law in 1970. He is a Fellow of the International Academy of Trial Lawyers and the American College of Trial Lawyers. He has authored numerous articles for professional publications and is a member of numerous public boards and bar associations.
Western Illinois UniversityWestern Illinois University " recognized as one of the "Best in the Midwest" colleges and one of the nation's "Best Value" undergraduate institutions (Princeton Review) as well as a Tier 1 Midwestern Masters Institution ("U.S. News & World Report") " serves approximately 13,600 students in the heart of the Midwest through its traditional, residential four-year campus in Macomb, IL (population 20,000) and its upper-division urban commuter location in the Quad Cities/Moline, Ill. (QC population 376,000; Moline population 44,000).
WIU is a comprehensive university offering 57 undergraduate degree programs, 36 graduate degree programs and a doctorate degree in educational leadership. With a student to faculty ratio of 17:1, Western's 656 full-time faculty teach 95 percent of all undergraduate as well as graduate courses in addition to 13 pre-professional degree programs and 14 certificate programs. And to keep education affordable, Western's GradTrac and Cost Guarantee programs ensure that students can achieve their degrees within four years while paying a fixed rate for tuition, fees, plus room and board. Western Illinois is the only university in Illinois to guarantee the cost for tuition plus fees and room and board for students over a four-year period at both the undergraduate and graduate level.
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