Lerman will be a senior VP in charge of litigation.

Lerman has been with Winston since 1988, working on product liability and white-collar defense matters. He spent years on Ryan’s legal defense team and also handled legal work for Blagojevich’s political campaign, which paid Winston nearly $2 million in legal fees.

The firm no longer represents Blagojevich, who was recently arrested on corruption charges.

Prior to joining Winston, Lerman was a partner at Kirkland & Ellis; and he served as an assistant US attorney in Chicago for eight years.

Lerman received a BA in Economics, summa cum laude, from Yale University in 1978, where he was a member of Phi Beta Kappa, and received a JD, cum laude, from Harvard Law School in 1981.

Via The Chicago Tribune.

• Blagojevich Owes Winston Strawn Over Half A Million Dollars
• Highly Regarded Litigator and Advisor Elizabeth P. Papez Joins Winston & Strawn
• Morning Roundup
• Law Firm Hirings & Firings
• Winston & Strawn Brings on Hunton & Williams Partners

Today the Chicago Business News reports that Blagojevich owes more than $500,000 in unpaid legal bills to Winston.

Mr. Blagojevich racked up millions of dollars in legal fees over several years but stopped paying the Chicago firm earlier this year…. The firm stopped representing the governor after his payments dried up…

Winston Strawn has been the governor’s main counsel since the federal government began its investigation five years ago into pay-to-play politics within his administration… It named Winston partner Bradley Lerman as the governor’s main legal counsel.

In October CBN reported that over the last two years, Winston had billed Citizens for Blagojevich, the governor’s campaign committee and the group defending the governor against the Federal probe, nearly $2 million, and that the committee still owed the law firm $965,000.

Via BlogWonks.

• Impeachment Prosecutor Calls 12 Witnesses Against Blago
• Bradley Lerman Leaves Winston & Strawn Because of Drugs
• Winston & Strawn Adds Prominent Litigation Attorney to London Office
• Morning Roundup
• Veteran Federal Tax Attorneys Join Winston & Strawn as Partners