Claudette Miller, ’88: Navigating In Highly Regulated Waters
Claudette Miller, ’88, of counsel at Fox Rothschild in Chicago, has built a career helping clients navigate the challenges of highly regulated industries, principally in the alcoholic beverage, cannabis, and gaming sectors.
Her first job, working as a commercial litigator at Hopkins & Sutter, exposed her to cases involving, first, savings-and-loan matters, and then alcoholic beverage and gaming laws, and made her realize she had an affinity for counseling players in government-facing industries.
“I liked the complexity involved, untangling the layers of state and federal laws and regulations; I liked working with lawmakers and regulators; and I liked counseling clients,” she said. “And it helps that I have a fascination with legislative and administrative processes and how laws and rules are made.” That latter interest led to a busy regulatory practice and to working as a lobbyist several times in her career.
When Hopkins & Sutter was merged into another firm, Miller and some other Hopkins partners joined Ungaretti & Harris, where she remained for 14-plus years. When that firm was merged into Nixon Peabody, she again joined with some partners and went to Fox Rothschild. Miller left for a stint at a boutique firm but returned to Fox in 2021.
“There is so much political and societal interplay, and the laws and rules are constantly evolving. And I am blessed to have colleagues who are great people as well as great lawyers.” Claudette Miller, ’88
“There is rarely a dull moment in my practice areas,” Miller said. “There is so much political and societal interplay, and the laws and rules are constantly evolving. And I am blessed to have colleagues who are great people as well as great lawyers.” Fox Rothschild’s cannabis law and gaming practice groups are rated in the top tier by Chambers USA and American Lawyer.
The rapid growth of these regulated industries keeps her on her toes. Forecasters have predicted that the legal cannabis market in the United States will reach 350 billion dollars by 2033, more than seven times its current size. The US legal gaming space, currently valued at more than 175 billion dollars, has been forecasted to reach 290 billion dollars in 10 years.
“I am so thankful to the Law School, both for giving me great friends—I’m still close with many of my classmates—and the skills to be able to work effectively in such dynamic, complex, and fascinating fields,” Miller said. “I think my Law School class was really fortunate. Our professors included David Currie, Richard Helmholz, and Richard Posner, as well as Geoffrey Stone, David Strauss, and Cass Sunstein. And those are just a few names. I think the amazing accomplishments of so many of my classmates testify to how great the faculty, and the overall Law School experience, were.”
Miller confessed that when she first came to the Law School, she had “no idea what a lawyer actually did, aside from what I had seen on television.” She certainly didn’t always comprehend the significance of some of her courses at the time. “I was working on a lawsuit some years after graduation when I said to myself, ‘Wait—This is what we were talking about in Federal Procedure!’” she recalled.
Miller has been active for many years in the Law School’s women’s mentoring program. “Mentoring is not at all an unselfish thing for me,” she said. “I have met some wonderful young women, and some of them have become long-term friends. I get to share my experience, but more importantly I get to learn about how those young lawyers-to-be think about their careers and see their worlds. And I can feel good about giving something back in return for all that the Law School has given me.”
