Merrick Wayne

Merrick Wayne joined Loevy + Loevy in 2018. He works on the Freedom of Information Act & Government Transparency Team, where he primarily focuses his practice on federal FOIA litigation, along with state-level FOIA, Open Meetings Act, First Amendment, and election matters.  Merrick has litigated FOIA cases at all levels across the State of Illinois, in federal courts, and as pro hac vice in other state and federal courts.  Among other successes on behalf of our clients, Merrick forced the release of police bodycam videos showing a squad car hitting a pedestrian, footage of a police officer striking a protester at a summer 2020 protest, records pertaining to the destruction and mishandling of classified documents and the FBI raid at Mar-a-Lago, emails showing government employees using public resources for an elected official’s political action committee, records detailing law enforcement agencies’ access to Amazon Ring video doorbells and other surveillance technology, reports detailing ICE’s use of deadly force, police reports for the arrests of elected officials, and communications between government officials discussing our clients. Merrick has also obtained, for our clients, never-before-seen data on the H-1B visa lottery system, American war crimes in Afghanistan and Iraq, and deaths in prisons and jails.  Our clients have won Pulitzer Prizes and IRE awards for their reporting on the records we obtained for them in litigation.

Merrick is a graduate of the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign and the University of Alabama School of Law.  While in law school, Merrick served as the President of the Student Bar Association and as the Executive Articles Editor for the Law and Psychology Review, was awarded the Dean’s Community Service Award, and was chosen to speak at his graduation.  Additionally during law school, he worked in the Elder Law Clinic, where he assisted and advised clients on a broad range of matters including estate planning, Medicaid benefits, housing discrimination, immigration, tax, and property disputes.

Merrick is a frequent speaker at events and conferences aimed at teaching journalists, students, activists and concerned citizens about their rights under FOIA.  He is also an investigator for the Chicago Bar Association’s Judicial Evaluation Committee.  Merrick successfully completed the Improv Program at Second City, and after work, you can find Merrick practicing the ukulele, coaching  recreational kickball, performing stand-up comedy, and playing pub trivia at his neighborhood spot.

BAR ADMISSIONS

• Illinois, 2018
• U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Illinois, 2019
• U.S. District and Bankruptcy Courts for the District of Columbia, 2019
• U.S. District Court for the Central District of Illinois, 2022

MEDIA & PRESS

Blog Post:

Captain America: Brave New World — A Modest Review & Analysis Under Leopold v. FBI and Trump v. United States | February 28, 2025

Press:

Better Government Association | March 26, 2025 | State Courts Lag on Electronic Monitoring Data Required by SAFE-T Act
Chicago Headline Club | April 17, 2022 | FOIA and Policy: A Deep Dive into FOIA Statutes | FOIA Fest 2022 | YouTube
South Side Weekly | March 8, 2022| CPD Routinely Denies FOIA Requests, Incorrectly Citing the Law
WAND News | March 10, 2021 | Investigation finds DPS board violated open meetings act during multiple meetings
Chicago Justice Project | April 5, 2020 | FOIA, Featuring Merrick Wayne | YouTube
Evanston Round Table | September 4, 2019 | City Clerk Facilitates FOIA Training

Other Media:

Loevy + Loevy #ReaffirmTheOath | May 1, 2025