OUR DIFFERENCE

We are employee benefits attorneys. Everything we do is centered on effectively and promptly resolving our clients’ benefits disputes whether in the courtroom or at the bargaining table. We focus on successfully litigating and resolving employee benefit and contractual disputes involving private contracts of insurance and claims brought under the Employee Retirement Income Security Act of 1974 (“ERISA.”) Because of our passionate advocacy and national reputation as a leader in the field, we are able to achieve maximum settlements and judgments in our clients’ favor. Our practice is completely devoted to helping our clients achieve their legal goals and objectives.

“JJ Conway is an attorney that has the talent, skill, compassion, and the ability to communicate with anyone he meets. When I had given up, JJ did not. He is committed to the rights of his clients. I would highly recommend his legal expertise to anyone.”

ACTUAL CLIENT THAT CONQUERED TOMORROW

About JJ Conway

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John Joseph Conway (JJ) is the principal attorney and owner of his firm. JJ represents clients in matters involving Disability Insurance, Employee Benefits, ERISA, Employee Benefit Class Actions, and Pension Law. JJ maintains practices in Michigan and Arizona. JJ has been appointed by several courts to serve as co-lead counsel in employee benefit class actions representing the interests of more than 50,000 participants and retirees.

Professional Experience

JJ has been a practicing trial attorney for more than seventeen years, handling a wide range of litigation matters. JJ graduated early (2 ½ years) and 2nd in his class at the University of Detroit-Mercy School of Law. There, he served as the Articles Editor for the State Bar of Michigan Business Law Journal. He previously worked for the Michigan Court of Appeals as a staff attorney, and as a trial attorney at a commercial law firm. JJ founded his firm in 1999. Since that time, JJ has earned an “AV” rating from Martindale-Hubbell and has been voted by his peers as a SuperLawyer in employment and employee benefits law. He is referred cases from lawyers throughout the United States to handle the interests of their clients. His primer on ERISA law and benefits, entitled Hitting You When You Least Expect It: A Basic Guide to ERISA for Non-ERISA Lawyers is one of the top searched internet documents discussing employee benefits claims.

JJ’s professional organizations and distinctions include: Past-Member, State Bar of Michigan Board of Commissioners; Past-Member, Executive Council, Young Lawyers Division, American Bar Association (ABA); Past-Chairperson, State Bar of Michigan Young Lawyers Section; Member, American Bar Association Litigation Section, Member, State Bar of Michigan, Labor and Employment Section; Member, ABA Labor and Employment Section, ABA Committee Member, Employment Rights and Responsibilities, ABA Committee Member, ERISA and Employee Benefits Litigation; Pro Bono Mediator, Equal Employment Opportunity Commission. JJ has been admitted to the Fellows of the American Bar Foundation and the Fellows of the Michigan Bar Foundation. Both groups limit members to less than 1% of the profession. In 2010, JJ was awarded the State Bar of Michigan’s Champion of Justice award for his work in securing healthcare benefits for children with autism. In 2011, JJ was awarded the Thomas P. Moore Award for Leadership in Philanthropy from the Society of St. Vincent de Paul.

JJ is a past partner with the Detroit Cornerstone Schools Program and has served on advisory boards for Matrix Human Services, the Center for Faith and Action, and the University of Detroit Jesuit High School Alumni Board. He served as President of the Marquette University Alumni Club of Detroit from 2002 through 2010. JJ served as Vice-Chairman of the Foundation Board of the Society of St. Vincent de Paul. Currently, he serves as the fiduciary for a scholarship fund at Marquette University.

Education and Bar Admissions

The University of Detroit-Mercy School of Law, J.D., Magna Cum Laude, 1996; Marquette University, B.A., Journalism, 1994; Admitted to the State Bars of Michigan and Arizona; also admitted to the United States Supreme Court, the United States Court of Appeals for the Third and Sixth Circuits, the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Michigan. He has been admitted to practice pro hac vice in a number of federal district courts and the State of California. JJ is a member of the American Bar Association and the Federal Bar Association.

“So gifted and committed – he understood what I was going through.”

ACTUAL CLIENT THAT CONQUERED TOMORROW

Practice Areas

FULL REPRESENTATION OF PARTICIPANTS AND BENEFICIARIES UNDER THE EMPLOYEE RETIREMENT INCOME SECURITY ACT OF 1974 (ERISA)

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  • ERISA DISABILITY INSURANCE CLAIMS

  • DISABILITY INSURANCE CONTRACTS

  • LONG-TERM DISABILITY INSURANCE

  • SHORT-TERM DISABILITY INSURANCE

  • DISABILITY RETIREMENT AND DISABILITY PENSION PLAN CLAIMS

  • ERISA LIFE INSURANCE SURVIVOR BENEFIT CLAIMS

  • ERISA BREACH OF FIDUCIARY DUTY CLAIMS

  • ERISA AND CONTRACTUAL HEALTHCARE CLAIMS

  • ERISA PENSION AND EMPLOYEE BENEFIT CLASS ACTIONS

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“His talent and passion are second to none.”

ACTUAL CLIENT THAT CONQUERED TOMORROW

Achievements

 

Legal Experience

In 1999, John J. Conway founded his law practice on the belief that the Law should be used strategically to bring about meaningful change within our society.
Below is a listing of some of JJ’s legal experience:
 
  • Recovered more than $65 million in benefits to plan participants, claimants, and retirees throughout the firm’s 15-year history.
  • Crains Detroit listed one of JJ’s cases as the top settlement of 2013 in which he served with a team of attorneys to secure $52 million in funding for Medicaid families to receive essential treatments for their autistic children.
  • Serving as co-lead counsel, JJ secured major structural and governance reforms to the Detroit General Retirement and Police and Fire Pension Systems overcoming the defense of governmental immunity to force the Trustees to responsibly invest the retirement funds of nearly 30,000 retirees and secured a $7.999 million penalty for the Trustees’ malfeasance.
  • JJ litigated the first federal autism benefits healthcare action against an employee benefit plan where the Court held that denying medical treatment for autism was “arbitrary and capricious.”
  • Named co-lead class action counsel for the first autism class action settlement that provided a specific course of healthcare treatments for children with autism. Presently, co-lead counsel for several nationwide class actions against insurers for their denial of healthcare benefits for autistic children.
  • Named co-lead class action counsel for a nationwide class action of 22,000 military families seeking healthcare treatment for children with autism.

  • Served as co-lead counsel in a landmark ruling that struck down the discriminatory healthcare policy of a nationwide insurer who had been arbitrarily denying healthcare benefits to disabled children. The case has garnered nationwide attention and is used by other claimants to challenge the way health insurers treat their children.
  • Has represented hundreds of employees, including physicians, attorneys, investment professionals, who have been deemed occupationally disabled in securing their monthly disability benefits from their insurance companies and plans.
  • Successfully litigated a seven-year action against a disability insurance company before two different federal judges and the Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals and defended against all further appellate challenges to secure monthly disability insurance payments for a 42-year old accounting senior executive who suffered a brain injury in a car accident and could no longer work.
  • Secured the pension of a 30-year employee of a publicly traded corporation who was fired 77 days shy of a vesting date for an alleged violation of a company policy when it was established that no other person had ever been fired for this offense.
  • Successfully tried a federal age discrimination case to verdict on behalf of a manager of a publicly traded corporation and defended all appellate challenges where the case hinged on the meaning of a single word – “input.”


Professional Recognition

JJ has been recognized by his peers in the following ways:
 

 

  • In 2013, Michigan Lawyers Weekly featured two of JJ’s cases as its Top Verdicts and Settlements
  • In 2011, JJ was awarded the Thomas P. Moore Leadership in Philanthropy Award.
  • In 2010, JJ was awarded the State Bar of Michigan Champion of Justice Award.

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“It was his demeanor and concern. He really took our case to heart. You could tell he really cared.”

ACTUAL CLIENT THAT CONQUERED TOMORROW

Contact

Address:

John J. Conway, P.C.
26622 Woodward Avenue, Suite 225
Royal Oak, Michigan 48067

Phone Numbers:

Phone: 313.961.6525
Fax: 877.895.6598

E-Mail

jj@jjconwaylaw.com

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