One big misconception I hear from the public a lot is that attorneys will cover for each other when one of them does something wrong. I’m not saying that there aren’t some scummy, unethical attorneys in Illinois. There are. But the great majority are honest, ethical and want to do the right thing.

As part of this belief, some individuals don’t think that lawyers in Illinois will sue each other. I promise you that is not true. We love to get involved in legal malpractice lawsuits. They aren’t easy to win, but when the facts and damages are right, we are all over them.

So what makes a good Illinois legal malpractice lawsuit?

The first thing needed is what is called irreparable harm. That means that your lawyer made an error and it can’t be fixed. So if you hired an attorney to file a lawsuit for a car accident and they didn’t do it before the statute of limitations ran out, you’d have irreparable harm and likely a good case for suing. On the other hand, if you feel that your lawyer has been lazy and that’s caused the case to drag on for years, that sucks, but it’s a harm that can be fixed. In other words, that’s not a case.

We also look for actual financial losses. If the car accident case isn’t filed in time, that’s an actual loss. If you lose out on a spouse’s pension in a divorce because your lawyer waived your right to it without permission, that’s an actual loss. Because there are costs in bringing these lawsuits, we want the financial loss to typically be at least $100,000.00.

It’s also important to know that a bad result doesn’t mean legal malpractice nor does a lawyer not doing what you want. In most cases, an attorney could successfully defend themselves by saying that they made a judgment call and it didn’t work out. That’s unfortunate, but not typically negligence. You also can’t sue because their service was bad. It’s unethical not to return phone calls or yell at a client or miss court, but if it doesn’t lead to the irreparable harm, it’s not a lawsuit.

The last thing to know is that to win an Illinois legal malpractice lawsuit, you have to be able to prove that had the attorney done things correctly, you would have won your case. That can be a challenge at times. The more complex the original case was, the harder it can be to sue your law firm.

These cases aren’t easy, but we love to bring them. If you’d like a free consultation to see if you have a case, call us any time at 312-346-5320.

Over the weekend there was an article in the Sun Times that had a headline stating police in Chicago are being investigated for possible improper sexual conduct with immigrants. There are allegations that multiple police officers are having sexual acts with teenage immigrants. One officer is accused of impregnating a teenage girl.

I respect the police, but this favorable headline treatment is ridiculous. These cops are being accused of rape and sexual assault. That’s what it is. If the teens are under 18 it’s statutory rape. If not, do you really believe that these fresh to the country teens are so horny and hot for cops that they voluntarily engaged in sexual acts with them?

Of course they didn’t. There’s a huge power imbalance here. We’ve seen scores of instances across the country, including many in Illinois, where police have pressured women to have sex with them or blatantly raped them. It doesn’t take a genius to figure out that’s what is happening here.

I hope these immigrants understand that they have rights and that includes the right to sue the police. They can and should do that. This power inbalance is no different than if a lawyer pressured a client for sex or a doctor did that to a patient. It’s not too dissimilar to the power imbalance sexual abuse and hazing allegations recently in the news against Northwestern. We’ve sadly seen those situations many times too and have represented people in all of these types of cases.

Coerced or forced sexual activity is sexual assault. Any officers that did that should be stripped up their police powers and arrested. It puts a huge stain on good cops. Any victim should file a lawsuit and I hope that they recover millions. Them being immigrants doesn’t change their rights in any way and may actually make the situation worse as for some this is their first exposure to the United States.

We have helped hundreds of sexual assault victims with their lawsuits. If you would like to speak with an attorney for free and in confidence you can call us any time at 312-346-5320.

I recently had an hour long conversation with a woman who was looking for an Illinois medical malpractice attorney to pursue a case involving the tragic death of her husband.

At first it seemed like it would be a quick conversation because she just asked “Who is the best Illinois malpractice attorney?” Usually I can explain this away quickly, but she asked me so many good questions about hiring a lawyer that I thought it would be a good blog post.

What I told her is that there isn’t a “best” law firm, but what we can do is help her find the best one for her possible case. To do that though, we need to know what happened with the treatment and about the patient.

I say that because there are some Illinois malpractice firms that are extremely selective with the cases they take. They have amazing track records of success and it would be great if you can get them to take your case. But because time is of the essence, you don’t want to waste your time with them if it’s clear you won’t meet their standard.

In other words, for some firms, if there isn’t an economic loss or millions of dollars in medical bills for past and future treatment, they won’t consider the case. Some firms are only interested in cases that could be worth potentially in the mid to high seven figures at worst.

Other firms won’t take cases that have obvious defenses right away. For example, if you have co-morbidities such as diabetes, extreme obesity, etc., they won’t even consider your case.

There’s of course no way for you to know this about various firms which is one reason we started our lawyer referral service. We know the selection criteria each firm has and can match you up with the best one for your case facts.

You also want to hire someone who has experience with your type of case. Having won similar cases in the past can increase the chances of success as well as speed up the process. If they know which experts to consult with, it can significantly cut down on the investigation time. These are also things we are familiar with and can help you with.

Some things you can do on your own when looking for an Illinois medical malpractice attorney include:

  • Make sure they can demonstrate a track record of settlements and trial verdicts in many cases. How many? There’s no magic number, but it should be at least somewhere above 25.
  • Verify that they can fund these very expensive cases. If you have a young or one person firm, they might not be able to.
  • Know that just because a lawyer says they do medical malpractice cases in Illinois doesn’t mean they really do. A lot of lawyers just list it in order to refer the cases on to other firms.
  • Be aware of the time limits for suing. It can be as little as two years from when the incident happened. So don’t delay looking for a law firm as it takes more than six months on average and often more than a year to properly investigate a case.
  • Avoid lawyers that also do defense work. You don’t want to have to worry that they will have a conflict of interest or be more loyal to their insurance company clients.

If you have any questions or want our opinion as to if you have a case and if so who you should hire, call us any time to speak with a lawyer for free at 312-346-5320.

We are Illinois attorneys who since 2001 have given free legal guidance to more than 500,000 people. If you’d like to speak with a Chicago lawyer for free, call us any time at 312-346-5320.

We get a lot of great questions from readers and callers. Here are some of the best ones that we’ve received over the last few months that we thought you might enjoy.

Can my doctor stop seeing me?

Generally yes. They can’t ignore an emergency situation, but just as you can stop seeing them, they can choose not to see you. They should give you notification in writing and a reasonable amount of time to find a new doctor.

I have my will mad and would like to register it to make things easier for my executor. Where should I go to register it?

While there have been talks about creating a State registry and it is a great idea, as of now it does not exist. The best thing you can do is to let your loved ones know that a will was created, who made it for you and where a copy can be found.

Can the police lie to you?

Yes they can and it happens all of the time. They aren’t generally looking out for you and it’s not their job to look out for you. This is why lawyers advise people not to talk to the police and certainly not to trust them in most situations.

My wedding got cancelled after my fiance and I ended things. The event planner and venue won’t give me a refund. Can I sue them?

The real question is can you sue and win? The answer comes down to what the contract you signed with them says. Typically it’s written in their favor so while you still have to look at the contract, I’m not optimistic.

With Covid and everything being closed, is that a way to get around not filing a lawsuit before the statute of limitations expired?

It’s not. The courts were open and lawyers were working even if most things were being done remotely. So generally speaking, Covid is not an excuse for waiting too long to sue.

My son was shot and killed outside of his apartment in the streets of Chicago. I’m sick of the violence here. Can we sue the City of Chicago over his death?

We are all sick of the violence and this is a sad situation. That said, there is no basis for suing the City over the acts of some criminals. They can’t police every block at every moment. There may be a lawsuit against the scum bag who did the shooting or potentially whoever supplied the gun. In some cases we can sue property owners if they let this behavior happen. But I’ve never seen a successful lawsuit against the City due to the amount of crime.

If you have any questions about anything related to Illinois law or want our help in finding the best attorney for your case, please contact us any time.


We are Illinois attorneys with over 25 years of experience helping people with work injury cases. Call us at 312-346-5320 any time to speak with a lawyer for free. We help with work injuries everywhere in Illinois.

One thing that most people don’t know is that just because you are injured while at work doesn’t always mean you have a good workers’ compensation claim. You have to prove that something about the job increased your risk of injury.

For example, if you slip on a wet floor at work, the job increased your risk of injury. On the other hand, if you don’t tie your shoes and trip over your own two feet, it’s likely not a case because the job didn’t contribute to your accident.

Sometimes it’s clear that an injury is work related, other times a real analysis is needed. One area in which this is especially true is when an injured worker falls in a parking lot.

Typically if a worker is in a parking lot, they either haven’t started their work day, just finished their work day or are coming back from a break. But you don’t have to be clocked in to have a valid work comp case. What you do need is to show that the job increased your risk of getting hurt.

The number one thing that Illinois workers compensation attorneys look for when a worker falls in a parking lot is who owns the parking lot. If your employer owns and maintains the lot, it’s highly likely that a fall in that lot will be covered by the Illinois Workers’ Compensation Act. In other words, a slip and fall on an icy lot owned by your employer is similar to falling in the office on a wet floor.

The other thing we look for if your employer doesn’t own the lot is did you have to park in a certain spot and/or was that area open to the general public or not.

If your employer directs you to park in a certain location (such as the back of a store) then they are exercising control over you and increasing your risk of injury as compared to the general public. In a similar manor, if a parking area is only for employees, it also could increase your risk of injuries. The key factor is the control that they have over you.

On the other hand, if you work at a place like a shopping mall and can park anywhere, a fall in that lot wouldn’t likely be covered unless your employer owned the lot. It’s the same thing in places like the City of Chicago where you can have a parking lot across from your building, but not be required to drive.

There are a couple of big exceptions. 1. If you are carrying something for work and that leads to your accident, you’d likely have a case. For example, if you are carrying a box of supplies and slip on wet pavement, if the box prevents you from breaking your fall that would show that your job increased your risk of injury. 2. If you are a traveling employee, most falls would be covered because the act of having to drive for work increases the chance that you will get injured. Your driving is a benefit to the company so you get the benefit of work comp coverage.

This can be confusing which is why we are happy to talk to you for free to see if you have a case. Whatever you do, don’t take the word of your employer or the insurance company if they say you don’t have a case. They often lie or don’t know what they are talking about and certainly aren’t looking out for you.

A really nice guy who was going through a tough marital breakup called me looking for a Chicago divorce attorney referral. It was a typical situation where the marriage had run its course. He and his wife both have decent jobs and the biggest issue in the case is custody of their two kids and child support.

Based on his location and specific needs (including cost and some other personal requests) I recommended a very experienced, male divorce attorney in Chicago. After I described him and he agreed it sounded like a great fit, he said he’d call him. The process is typically to call the attorney, get a free consultation and see if it’s the right fit. But before he did that, he had a question. Here’s what he said:

I was told that it’s better to have a female attorney for divorce and custody if you are a man. Is that true?

Now we know and recommend a lot of great female family law attorneys in the Chicago area. Who we recommend will depend on your case facts and desires. There’s nothing wrong with being more comfortable with a male attorney or female attorney.

In this case though, and most where I hear something like this, he didn’t care what gender his lawyer was. He was asking because he had heard that it would help his case.

This is a common myth not based in reality. When I asked him if a lawyer had told him that, I knew the answer would be no. It was of course some well meaning friends who were telling them what they thought based on whatever perceptions they have.

There are more than 50 family law Judges in Cook County. Are there some that seem biased in favor of women or men? Sure, that’s just a numbers game. But by far the great majority of them could care less and aren’t going to award you custody or parenting time because you are working with a woman (or a man).

No Judge is going to think you are good person because you are working with someone of the opposite sex. They have hundreds of cases on their docket and just want to get through them. What they really want to see are experienced, prepared lawyers in their courtroom and respectful parties.

Judges can’t be gamed and while, like we said, some might have inherent biases, most really do listen the case facts and make rulings based on the evidence in front of them. There is nothing in the law that gives Moms more rights than Dads or Dads more rights than Moms. Custody is decided on the best interests of the child when the parents can’t work things out themselves.

Bottom line is that you should get the best attorney for you. If you feel more comfortable with a man or a woman, that’s great. But most importantly, make sure they know what they are doing and will fight for you. If you’d like a recommendation from us, please call any time to speak with a lawyer for free at 312-346-5320.

Electric cars are all the rage and that makes sense. They are new. They are cool. And with the high cost of gas they make economic sense for many people in the long run. And they are getting better and better every year.

I’m not an Elon Musk fan, so I’d never buy a Tesla, but I would like to buy one of the other great electric cars on the market some day. I’m not a huge “car guy” but do like the idea of buying something environmentally friendly. And the electric cars I’ve been in, including Teslas, are very cool.

What I never thought about Teslas until recently was how fast they are. I met an engineer for Rivian, which is an electric vehicle company focusing on trucks and SUV’s, who explained to me how these cars really work.

What he told me was that some versions of Tesla and Rivian are actually as fast or faster than pretty much any car on the road including Lamborghinis. The Model S Tesla can go zero to sixty in 2.07 seconds. That is really fast.

What we have started to see and will see more as more people take possession of the Teslas they’ve ordered is a lot of car accidents caused by people going at an excessive speed. I’ve seen teens driving these vehicles which makes sense because teens want cars that are cool and fun. I’m sure a lot of them like that the Tesla can make fart noises. But I question if they are truly prepared and trained to drive a car that can go so fast in such a short period of time.

Of course these cars can be driven safely, but high speed leads to many accidents. So while we’ve all heard about deaths and accidents from the self driving feature of Tesla, I think that the great majority of accidents where the Tesla driver is at fault will be due to excessive speed situations.

We’ve helped thousands of people who have been in car accidents. For someone who has a catastrophic injury such as death, brain damage, paralysis, etc., it may make sense to not only sue a negligent driver, but also to sue Tesla (or whoever the auto maker is for negligent product design.

If you’d like to speak with an attorney for free about your car accident, we are happy to talk to you. Please contact us any time at 312-346-5320.

For over 26 years we have helped thousands of people find the best attorney for their medical malpractice case. If you would like to speak to a lawyer for free please call us at 312-346-5320.

Winning a medical malpractice lawsuit in Illinois isn’t easy. People generally love doctors and understand that people do get sick. That said, there are standards of care in medicine that doctors must follow. When they don’t do it, a medical malpractice lawsuit will take place.

One of the most common lawsuits is for a failure to diagnose cancer. If a patient exhibits obvious warning signs and the doctor doesn’t act on their behalf, that is negligence. In most cases if the doctor delays the discovery of cancer by the patient for six months or more, it’s likely a good case. This is especially true when it comes to curable cancers like prostate cancer.

Some of the signs of prostate cancer include the following:

  • Difficulty urinating
  • Urinating a lot
  • Weak and interrupted streams
  • Bone pain
  • Pain during urination
  • Blood in urine or semen

If you have any of those symptoms and report them to a doctor, there are two tests they should do right away. The first would be a blood test and the second a rectal exam.

These are also the tests that should be performed on an annual exam, especially the blood test. When your blood is examined, they will look at your PSA level. That is a prostate specific number that indicates whether or not there are any problems with your prostate. The higher the number, the more likely it is that something is wrong. Normal for most men under 60 is less than four. If the number is near or above that, a rectal exam will be performed.

When doing the rectal exam, your doctor will feel your prostate. If it’s hard in any way, that’s a sure sign of cancer. With these two tests they can almost always tell if further intervention is needed and usually save your life.

Unfortunately we’ve seen cases where a patient had PSA levels 3-4 times more than the normal level and never have their doctor tell them it’s bad or do anything about it. If the patient is in the dark and their care is delayed, it greatly increases the chance of the cancer spreading.

We’ve talked to many people over the years who have Stage 3 or Stage 4 prostate cancer because their doctor didn’t do a basic part of the job. When that happens there likely is a lawsuit. These are sad situations, but we’ve been able to not only recover millions for our clients, but also help others avoid the same fate. Litigation does force doctors and hospitals to be more careful.

If you or a loved one has prostate cancer and would like to see if you might have a lawsuit, we’d be happy to help you. Contact us any time at 312-346-5320 to talk to an experienced lawyer. We help everywhere in Illinois.

If you are looking to see if you have a legal malpractice lawsuit or want to find an Illinois attorney who will sue another attorney, call us any time for free and in confidence at 312-346-5320.

We speak to people every week who want to sue their Illinois attorney. The most common complaint is against divorce and family law attorneys. That makes sense because those are emotional cases and if you don’t feel like your attorney is fighting for you, especially when they are charging you so much, you will be pissed.

Suing a divorce lawyer can be challenging. Generally speaking, you can’t sue them for judgment calls. In other words, if you wanted them to present a certain piece of evidence, but they determined it wasn’t a good idea, it’s likely not a lawsuit

On the other hand, there are some items that should be done that might not be aware of that if your lawyer doesn’t do could be legal malpractice. I’m talking about a failure to get an order forcing your spouse to take out a life insurance policy that could benefit you or your children.

Recently, a very prominent Chicago divorce attorney lost a trial and was ordered to pay his former client $1 million for failing to secure life insurance for her from her ex. They had special need kids and the life insurance was protection for them and their costs in case something happened to him. As luck would have it, her ex husband would die shortly after the divorce. Even prominent, good attorneys can screw up.

I talked to three experienced divorce attorneys after this case came out. They all agreed that life insurance is something that should be insisted on. One bluntly stated that it’s fairly standard that you get life insurance to secure child support and related expenses. He also said that it’s something that should happen if there’s an order for maintenance (alimony).

This is one of those situations for clients that you don’t know what you don’t know. But if you were involved in a divorce case where life insurance wasn’t secured, you may have a legal malpractice lawsuit.

Few things to know:

  1. There are time limits for suing an attorney in Illinois for legal malpractice. You must sue your attorney within two years of when you knew or reasonably should have known that malpractice might have occurred, but no more than six years from when it did.
  2. The lawyers we know who sue other Illinois attorneys work on a contingency basis. This means there is no fee unless they are successful.
  3. We will consider suing divorce lawyers in Illinois for other issues that cause financial harm such as failure to get you a share of your spouse’s pension or business.

If you would like to speak with an experienced lawyer for free about suing your attorney, you can call us any time at 312-346-5320.

When people call us for an Illinois medical malpractice lawyer referral, we want to find them the best one for their case. When it comes to Illinois medical malpractice lawsuits, there are a lot of lawyers who say that they handle those cases, but the reality is very few can show a real track record of success with them.

That’s because these cases are complex and very expensive (don’t worry, it won’t cost you anything, the lawyers we work with advance all the costs and only get paid if they win). Insurance companies fight these cases very hard. The best lawyers give you the best chance of winning and obtaining the most money. There are probably less than ten law firms in Illinois who continuously get multi-million dollar results for their clients.

As part of our role in finding the best lawyer for you, we first assess the case facts including what happened, who the potential defendant is, what the potential damages are, is there anything unique about the case and what is important to you. When we ask people what is important to them, some will talk about geographic concerns. The good news is you will almost never have to travel to get a great lawyer.

Another issue that is important to people is making sure the lawyer can speak their language. This should never be a worry, especially if you are looking for a Spanish speaking lawyer. The best medical malpractice law firms in Chicago that we know all have Spanish speaking attorneys on staff. They also have multiple staff members who can speak Spanish. In other words, you won’t have to rely on a family member to translate for you or need hope that you understand what they are saying.

In my opinion, especially when you have a good case, you shouldn’t have to compromise on lawyer quality just to feel more comfortable because they speak your language. And the good news is that you don’t have to. So if you would like a free consultation to discuss a case, please call us any time at 312-346-5320.

Los mejores abogados de habla hispana en Chicago

Cuando las personas nos llaman para una referencia de un abogado de negligencia médica en Illinois, queremos encontrarles el mejor para su caso. Cuando se trata de demandas por negligencia médica en Illinois, hay muchos abogados que dicen que manejan esos casos, pero la realidad es que muy pocos pueden mostrar un historial real de éxito con ellos.

Eso es porque estos casos son complejos y muy costosos (no se preocupe, no le costará nada, los abogados con los que trabajamos adelantan todos los costos y solo cobran si ganan). Las compañías de seguros luchan muy duro en estos casos. Los mejores abogados le brindan la mejor oportunidad de ganar y obtener la mayor cantidad de dinero. Probablemente hay menos de diez bufetes de abogados en Illinois que continuamente obtienen resultados multimillonarios para sus clientes.

Como parte de nuestro papel en la búsqueda del mejor abogado para usted, primero evaluamos los hechos del caso, incluido lo que sucedió, quién es el posible acusado, cuáles son los posibles daños, si hay algo único en el caso y qué es importante para usted. Cuando le preguntamos a la gente qué es importante para ellos, algunos hablarán de preocupaciones geográficas. La buena noticia es que casi nunca tendrá que viajar para conseguir un gran abogado.

Otro tema que es importante para las personas es asegurarse de que el abogado pueda hablar su idioma. Esto nunca debería ser una preocupación, especialmente si está buscando un abogado que hable español. Los mejores bufetes de abogados especializados en negligencia médica en Chicago que conocemos cuentan con abogados que hablan español en su personal. También tienen varios miembros del personal que pueden hablar español. En otras palabras, no tendrá que depender de un miembro de la familia para que le traduzca o esperar que entienda lo que está diciendo.

En mi opinión, especialmente cuando tiene un buen caso, no debería comprometer la calidad de los abogados solo para sentirse más cómodo porque hablan su idioma. Y la buena noticia es que no tienes que hacerlo. Entonces, si desea una consulta gratuita para discutir un caso, llámenos en cualquier momento al 312-346-5320.