Gretchen Eck focuses her practice in the areas of intellectual property, fidelity and surety law and commercial litigation.

In her intellectual property practice, Ms. Eck handles all aspects of trademark lifecycle management, including counseling on brand selection, trademark clearance opinions and searches, and domestic and foreign trademark clearance and prosecution. In addition, she counsels clients on issues such as forming an appropriate business entity, and identifying, defining and maximizing the intellectual property developed by her clients, as well as structuring and implementing plans to protect her clients’ intellectual property rights, including negotiating and drafting of licenses, assignments, and other agreements; and policing against improper use of the intellectual property rights by others. Ms. Eck also handles trademark infringement litigation; copyright registration, enforcement and litigation; domain name dispute resolution; unfair competition; right of publicity; and various other intellectual property litigation.

Ms. Eck’s commercial litigation practice focuses on surety issues and administrative proceedings against the City of Chicago and other municipalities. Ms. Eck joined Hinshaw & Culbertson LLP as an associate in January 2008. Previously she was a law clerk with the firm since April 2007. 

During law school, Ms. Eck was for two years a law clerk for the Honorable Michael Gerou, John MacDonald and Ron Lowe, all of the Thirty-fifth District Court in Plymouth, Michigan. She also worked as a student representative for the Westlaw division of Thomson-West. In 2004, Ms. Eck was a summer intern for the Honorable Sue Myerscough, Illinois Appellate Court, Fourth District, in Springfield, Illinois.

In addition to her other law school achievements, Ms. Eck was the Chair of the Intra-School Competition Committee, member of the Dean’s Honor Roll and an oralist in the Philip C. Jessup International Law Moot Court Competition.

Prior to her legal career, Ms. Eck worked in the beverage and spirits industry in Chicago, and worked in the advertising industry at Grey Worldwide in New York.

Ms. Eck is a member of the American Bar Association, the Illinois State Bar Association, the Chicago Bar Association and the International Trademark Association.

She is proficient in German, which she learned while studying at Universität Innsbruck in Austria. Ms. Eck was directly involved in editing the Second Edition of "Illinois Municipal Tort Liability,” published by Lexis Publishing, under the direction of author and Hinshaw partner, Steven M. Puiszis.

Ms. Eck's other publications include:

• “WIPO’S First Electronic UDRP Action is Complete,” Hinshaw’s Intellectual Property Update: Current Issues and Practice Advice for Businesses, February 2010.
• “New Internet Scheme Presents Threats to Trademark Owners,” Hinshaw’s Intellectual Property Update: Current Issues and Practice Advice for Businesses, November 2009.
• “Inducing Infringement – How Much Knowledge is Required,” co-author with Hinshaw partner, David H. Levitt, The Business Suit, a publication of the Defense Research Institute's Commercial Litigation Committee, April 2009.

Ms. Eck volunteers pro bono legal services with Lawyers for the Creative Arts. She a member of the United Way Young Leaders Society, and is a member of the Notre Dame Clubs of Chicago and Springfield. German
Gretchen celebrates the Christmas spirit each year by volunteering at Christkindlmarket Chicago, hosted by the German American Chamber of Commerce.