Alfred L. Buchanan

Al Buchanan devotes his practice to representing insurers and reinsurers—both domestic and foreign—in complex litigation and arbitration proceedings. Al has handled high-exposure coverage cases involving premises, products and advertising liability arising from a wide variety of industries, including oil, petrochemical, construction, electrical, aerospace, automotive, pharmaceutical, primary metal, paper, and medical devices. Both insurers and reinsurers benefit from his counsel on a variety of issues, such as coverage determinations, claim valuation and forecasting, reserving practices, and policy drafting.

In addition to his extensive experience with insurance litigation, Al has also represented clients facing securities fraud and lender liability class actions, as well as handled matters involving trademark infringement and unfair competition, shareholder and contract disputes, product liability, personal injury and wrongful death suits, and civil rights actions.

Al's legal career spans nearly three decades in firms throughout Chicago. Prior to joining Hinshaw, he practiced at a firm for fourteen years, where he was one of four founding shareholders, served on the Board of Directors and was Corporate Secretary. While there, Al also acted as lead counsel on numerous insurance coverage and extracontractual liability litigation and arbitrations. He spent a decade with other firms in Chicago handling a variety of coverage and bad faith cases—including the defense of international clients—as well as product liability matters.

Al graduated from law school as the first in his class. Before embarking on his legal career, Al served seven years in law enforcement, including five years holding an elected public office as the head of his agency.

In addition to his busy law practice, Al owns a retail wine business located in the western suburbs of Chicago.

• Porsche Club of America (Chicago Region), High Performance Racetrack Driving Instructor
• Geneva Food and Beverage Association, Board of Directors