Barnes & Thornburg has added Martín Montes as a partner in the firm’s Chicago office, where he will serve as group lead in Chicago for the Government Services and Finance Department.
Montes joins Barnes & Thornburg following a decade of legal and business experience at Exelon and served in executive leadership roles at ComEd, where he managed regulatory strategies and large customer business operations. He also spent nine years as associate general counsel at Walmart, where he developed and executed global legal strategy across Walmart’s international retail markets. At the firm, Montes will focus his practice on representing clients in the energy, utility, healthcare, education, and retail sectors in a variety of issues before the executive and legislative branches in Illinois.
“Thanks to his experience across multiple industries, Martín has developed a rich skill set that will further bolster the ability of our practice group,” said Richard Hall, chair of the firm’s Government Services and Finance Department. “His in-house background at a Fortune 1 company and two leading energy companies and industry know-how will be invaluable to our clients in Chicago and nationwide.”
Montes also was in private practice with Seyfarth Shaw and started his career as an associate with Barnes & Thornburg.
As a first-generation Mexican-American, Montes has been a longtime advocate of the Latino community and has held leadership positions at a number of organizations, such as the Hispanic National Bar Association, the Hispanic Lawyers Association of Illinois, National Museum of Mexican Art, and the Mexican-American Legal Defense and Educational Fund. Montes has also brought this advocacy to his legal work, having led diversity, equity, and inclusion development at his previous in-house and corporate roles. He is a Leadership Greater Chicago Fellow and a Chicago United Business Leader of Color.
“Martín not only has a strong foothold in the Chicago legal and business markets, but he has played an important role in the national and local Latino community,” said Michael Carrillo, Chicago office managing partner. “His passion for actively promoting the protection of Latino civil rights is a level of advocacy and dedication that makes Martín a great fit for our firm as we continue to strengthen our diversity and inclusion efforts.”
Montes earned his J.D. from the Indiana University Maurer School of Law and his B.S. from the University of Illinois-Chicago.