About Linda
Linda Coberly trained in the humanities and the law. She earned an A.B. in religion from Princeton University in 1989 and a J.D. from the University of Michigan Law School in 1995. Those years set a steady course. They led directly into two high-level clerkships that framed her early legal work.
She served as a law clerk to Judge Douglas H. Ginsburg on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit in 1995. A few years later she spent a term at the U.S. Supreme Court clerking for Justice Stephen G. Breyer in 1998. Those roles placed her in the middle of federal appellate deliberations and shaped the way she approaches complex legal questions.
Coberly moved into private practice in the late 1990s. She joined Mayer Brown in 1999 as a partner in trial and appellate litigation. Her practice there covered federal and state appeals as well as high-stakes civil litigation. In 2015 she took on a firm leadership role as Chicago managing partner at Winston & Strawn LLP. That position carried administrative responsibilities on top of an active litigation docket.
She is admitted to practice in Illinois and before the U.S. Supreme Court, the Federal Circuit and numerous U.S. Courts of Appeals, including the 2nd, 4th, 5th, 6th, 7th, 8th, 9th, and 11th Circuits. The Illinois State Bar lists her as a member since 1996. Beyond the courtroom she has taken on roles in civic and nonprofit organizations. She has been on the board of Heartland Alliance and served as its chair. She chairs the Legal Task Force of the ERA Coalition, and she is vice president of the Goodman Theatre Board of Trustees. She also serves on the board of United Way of Metro Chicago.
Colleagues describe her as someone who combines appellate practice skills with trial experience. She handles brief-writing, oral argument, and trial strategy in complex civil cases. Her work touches on constitutional and federal law issues that often require coordination across jurisdictions.
She practices at Winston & Strawn LLP in Chicago, where her work continues to include trial and appellate litigation and service on nonprofit boards.
