ROBERT R. STAUFFER, Partner Publications · Professional Activities Chicago Office Office: (312) 923-2905 Fax: (312) 840-7305 Email: rstauffer@jenner.com  Add to Outlook Contacts

Robert R. Stauffer is a partner in the Firm’s Litigation Department.  He is a member of the White Collar Defense and Investigations, Class Action, and Health Care Litigation Practices.  Mr. Stauffer is AV Peer Review Rated, Martindale-Hubbell’s highest peer recognition for ethical standards and legal ability.

Mr. Stauffer represents clients in white-collar criminal matters and compliance counseling.  He has represented individuals and corporations in grand jury and SEC investigations, trials and appeals, and he has conducted internal investigations for clients who are faced with internal or external allegations of wrongdoing.  His white collar experience has included topics as diverse as alleged accounting irregularities, health care fraud and abuse, and public corruption.  Mr. Stauffer is the Editor of Jenner & Block's Internal Investigations Update online resource center, which provides regular updates on legal developments relating to internal investigations and collects resources of use to practitioners in this area.

Mr. Stauffer also has extensive experience in civil commercial litigation.  For instance, he has represented corporations in efforts to recover insurance proceeds to compensate for environmental liabilities incurred at dozens of sites across the country.  Reported opinions in cases handled by Mr. Stauffer include In re Commercial Financial Services, Inc., 247 B..R. 828 (Bankr. N.D. Okla. 2000) (allowing limited privilege waiver), and Andersen Consulting LLP v. UOP, 991 F.Supp. 1041 (N.D. Ill. 1998) (dismissing action brought under Electronic Communications Privacy Act).

Mr. Stauffer represents clients in connection with a wide range of health care issues, particularly those related to fraud and abuse laws.  He represents pharmaceutical companies, hospitals and other providers in the defense of government investigations, in the conduct of internal investigations, and in the defense of civil lawsuits.  These representations have involved a variety of issues, including Medicare billing requirements, anti-kickback statutes, self-referral statutes, off-label marketing prohibitions and pharmaceutical pricing.  Matters in which Mr. Stauffer’s efforts resulted in reported opinions include In re Lupron Marketing and Sales Practices Litigation, 245 F. Supp. 2d 280 (D. Mass. 2003) (personal jurisdiction challenges in multi-district litigation involving pharmaceutical pricing); Stetser v. TAP Pharmaceutical Products Inc., 591 S.E.2d 572 (N.C. App. 2004) (personal jurisdiction challenge in pharmaceutical pricing case); and D.A.B. v. Brown, 570 N.W.2d 168 (Minn. Ct. App. 1997) (affirming dismissal of class action alleging improprieties relating to educational grants).

Mr. Stauffer’s appellate experience covers a wide variety of civil and commercial litigation.  He has successfully argued cases in the state and federal appellate courts dealing with issues of constitutional law, application of the federal criminal Sentencing Guidelines and interpretation of commercial contracts.  Examples of cases in which Mr. Stauffer handled appeals include Stromberg Metal Works, Inc. v. Press Mechanical, Inc., 77 F.3d 928 (concerning enforcement of forum selection clause); Janotta v. Subway,  225 F.3d 815 (2000) (appeal of fee award), and U.S. v. Tai, 41 F.3d 1170 (1994) (appeal of application of Sentencing Guidelines).

Mr. Stauffer is also active in pro bono matters.  For example, on two occasions he has secured not guilty verdicts in jury trials for individuals who had spent years in prison following wrongful convictions.  See People v. Vera, 660 N.E.2d 9 (1st Dist. 1995) (vacating original conviction), and People v. Johnson, 329 Ill. App. 3d 1230 (1st. Dist. 2002) (table) (vacating original conviction).  Mr. Stauffer also successfully represented a youth who claimed he was coerced into confessing to the murder of an elderly woman in 1993, when he was 10 years old.  The federal appellate court ruled that the police had violated the youth’s constitutional rights.  See A.M. v. Butler, 360 F.3d 787 (2004).  For the work by Mr. Stauffer and others on the case, Northwestern University School of Law’s Children and Family Justice Center gave Jenner & Block its 2005 Appellate Award. 

Mr. Stauffer is a member of the American Bar Association, the Chicago Bar Association, the Illinois State Bar Association, and the American Health Lawyers Association.  He has authored numerous articles and other publications relating to topics such as internal investigations and testimonial privileges.

Mr. Stauffer graduated summa cum laude from the University of Missouri in Columbia in 1983.  He graduated magna cum laude from Harvard Law School in 1986, where he served as an executive editor of the Harvard Civil Rights/Civil Liberties Law Review.  He joined the Firm in 1986.  From 1988 to 1990, while on a leave of absence, he served as a law clerk for the Honorable Ilana Diamond Rovner, United States District Court for the Northern District of Illinois.  Mr. Stauffer has also taught legal writing part-time at the School of Law of Loyola University of Chicago.  Mr. Stauffer is a member of the bar of the United States Supreme Court, the United States Courts of Appeals for the First and Seventh Circuits, the United States Court of International Trade, the United States District Court for the Northern District of Illinois and the Supreme Court of Illinois.