General Information
Overview
Putting our clients first has resulted in unparalleled success — Corboy & Demetrio has acquired more than $5 billion in verdicts and settlements, of which more than 600 were $1 million or higher.
Year in and year out, our firm and our attorneys are uniformly judged the best of the best, garnering the highest honors in the legal profession:
Co-founder Thomas A. Demetrio has been ranked the #1 or #2 Super Lawyer in Illinois for a decade, and his extraordinary ranking is out of lawyers in every practice area.
Partner Philip Corboy, Jr. was named to Top 100 Attorneys by Super Lawyers in 2024 for a 12th year.
Thomas, Philip and Partner Patrick Murphy were selected to IL Super Lawyers for 20 years in a row. Our other 2024 Super Lawyers are Bill Gibbs, Ken Lumb, Dan Kirschner, Michelle Kohut, and Ed Willer. Fewer than 5% of Illinois lawyers are selected for the honor. Tommy Demetrio and Mitchell Bild were selected to 2024 Super Lawyers’ Rising Stars, a designation given to fewer than 2.5% of eligible lawyers.
In addition, Thomas Demetrio was ranked the #1 Personal Injury Plaintiff’s Lawyer and the #1 Aviation Accidents Plaintiff’s Lawyer by Leading Lawyers for 2022. It’s the second year in a row of Thomas’ #1 Aviation ranking. Thomas was ranked second in the area of Medical Malpractice for Plaintiffs for 2022.
Philip Corboy, Jr. was named to Top Ten Product Liability Attorneys in Illinois by Leading Lawyers in 2022 for a third year, and all firm partners were selected to Leading Lawyers.
For the 14th year, Corboy & Demetrio was selected to “Best Law Firms” by U.S. News – Best Lawyers®, receiving the highest ranking possible in the categories of Plaintiffs’ Personal Injury and Medical Malpractice for 2024. C&D also received a national ranking in Plaintiffs’ Mass Tort Litigation/Class Actions for a second consecutive year.
Nine Corboy & Demetrio partners were named to Best Lawyers in America, 2024 Edition. Thomas, who was named for the 35th year, was joined by Philip, Bill, Dan, Michelle, Ken, Patrick, Ed, and Mike Ditore.
In 2024, eight Corboy & Demetrio partners were selected to the prestigious Lawdragon 500 Leading Lawyers in America, including attorney Conrad C. Nowak, who joined the firm in 2023. In 2021, Thomas Demetrio was inducted into the Lawdragon Hall of Fame. In 2015, Lawdragon anointed him “the dean of the Chicago trial bar” when he was selected as a Lawdragon “Legend.”
Also in 2024, Attorney Chad D. Kasdin, with nearly 24 years of litigation experience at a national defense law firm, joined Corboy & Demetrio, as did Attorney Collin Gill, who previously served as a Judicial Law Clerk for Hon. Thomas M. Cushing, Cook Co. Circuit Court.
Our attorneys show extraordinary leadership in the community. Corboy & Demetrio is the only law firm in Chicago to have had four former Chicago Bar Association Presidents. We are also the only Illinois firm to have had four past Presidents of the Illinois Trial Lawyers Association, including Thomas and Philip.
Outside of the courtroom, our attorneys show extraordinary leadership in the legal community. Corboy & Demetrio is the only law firm in Chicago to have had four former Chicago Bar Association Presidents. We are also the only Illinois firm to have had four past Presidents of the Illinois Trial Lawyers Association, including Thomas and Philip.
We are and always have been dedicated to serving the community. Thomas is the founder of the Lawyers Lend-A-Hand to Youth and funds the Thomas A. Demetrio Lend-A-Hand Award of Excellence, which is given annually to the most exemplary established Chicagoland area tutor/mentor program.
Philip Corboy, Jr., is a Past President of the Board of Directors of the Legal Assistance Foundation of Metropolitan Chicago, a not-for-profit agency that provides free civil legal services to low income and elderly people in Chicago and suburban Cook County.
Since 1995, the Philip H. Corboy Fellowship in Trial Advocacy program at Loyola University Chicago School of Law has supported and trained law students to become trial lawyers. As a result of the program, hundreds of Loyola law students have received scholarship assistance, in addition to advocacy training.
In 2009, Loyola University Chicago School of Law renamed its law school building the Philip H. Corboy Law Center after Philip H. Corboy and his wife Mary Dempsey made the largest single gift ever to the law school.
Our firm is a longtime Corporate Work Study Partner of Cristo Rey Jesuit High School, providing internships to students from low-income families.
To speak with one of our lawyers, call 312-346-3191. We are available 24 hours a day, 7 days a week.
Firm News
Rankings
Corboy & Demetrio is nationally ranked in 1 practice areas and metro ranked in 5 practice areas. Best Law Firms rankings are based on a rigorous evaluation process.
Read how Best Law Firms ranks firmsNational Rankings
Metro Rankings
Firm Leadership
Rankings
National Rankings
Regional Rankings
Practice Areas
- Aviation Litigation
- Commercial Litigation
- Mass Tort Litigation / Class Actions - Plaintiffs
- Medical Malpractice Law - Plaintiffs
- Personal Injury Litigation - Plaintiffs
- Premises Liability
- Product Liability Litigation - Plaintiffs
- Railroad
- Sports Law
- Trucking Accidents
- Workers' Compensation Law - Claimants
Individuals Recognized in The Best Lawyers in America®
Client Comments
Awards
- Patriot Award - U.S. Department of Defense
- Best Law Firms - Medical Malpractice - Chicago
- Best Law Firms - Personal Injury - Chicago
- Best Law Firms - Commercial Litigation - National Tier 3
- Cook County JVR Trial Lawyer Excellence Award: Phil Corboy, Jr. & Edward G. Willer
- National Law Journal 2018 Elite Trial Lawyers
- National Law Journal: Elite Law Firms - Medical Malpractice
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Management and Personnel
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Significant Matters
Throughout our history, we have fought against some of the largest and most powerful corporations, hospitals, manufacturers, insurance conglomerates, construction companies, national trucking firms and municipalities in the world.
They include railroads, the National Football League, City of Chicago, Chicago Public Schools, Johnson & Johnson, American Airlines, Hyatt Corporation, Amoco Oil, Northwestern Memorial Hospital, the University of Chicago Hospitals, State Farm, Allstate, Turner Construction and Schneider National Trucking. And we have been successful in holding them accountable for the injuries and deaths that have occurred because of their actions.
Our firm has secured record-setting verdicts and settlements against these and other defendants in all types of cases, including: airplane crashes; work place injuries; defective products; birth injuries; car crashes; medical malpractice; and railroad accidents.
In one such record-setting case, a $25.2 million settlement for the death of a passenger in the US Air jet crash outside Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, is the largest compensatory damages recovery ever awarded for the death of a person in an aviation wrongful death action. The previous record - a $25 million settlement in a case stemming from the 1989 crash of a United Airlines jet in Sioux City, Iowa - was one also set by our firm.
Our attorneys tried a case on behalf of a 25 year-old who was rendered a quadriplegic after a semi-trailer truck struck her car on Thanksgiving morning that resulted in a $22 million verdict that became the largest jury award ever upheld by the Illinois Supreme Court. We also acquired a total of $40 million for a woman injured in a car collision and her husband: $34 million for the woman and $6 million for her husband for the loss of his wife’s companionship. Both awards were record-setting.
In a case against Canadian National Railway, our attorneys obtained a $22.5 million settlement in 2011 for the family of a woman who was killed as a result of a derailment of a train in Rockford, IL, which was carrying dozens of CNR cars filled with ethanol.
In a case where a mother died shortly after giving birth because the doctor and nurse failed to properly treat her high blood pressure, Corboy & Demetrio attorneys secured a record-setting jury verdict of $22 million. It is the largest verdict ever for the death of a woman in Cook County, Illinois.
Our attorneys obtained an $18 million settlement for a Mexican national who was killed by a piece of falling glass from Chicago's CNA Tower.
In addition to our extraordinary success on behalf of our clients, our work has affected public policy, raised public awareness, and improved public safety.When the country was fearful of taking any over the counter medicine because of the tampering with Tylenol, our firm negotiated a settlement on the eve of trial with Johnson & Johnson, the product’s manufacturer, that led to regulations requiring tamper-resistant packaging on all over-the-counter medicines.
The attorneys at Corboy & Demetrio prosecuted two separate cases where innocent drivers were seriously injured at the same dangerous intersection. As a result of the substantial awards - over $30 million - and the public outcry that resulted from the horrible injuries needlessly suffered, the State of Illinois completely reconfigured the intersection and the adjoining roads to prevent further injuries to innocent victims.
Using a cell phone while driving is a very dangerous practice.
After our firm was hired to represent a street crossing guard who was injured when a motorist hit her while talking on a cell phone, the attorneys handling the case became actively involved in persuading the Chicago City Council to enact a ban on using a cell phone while driving. Chicago was one of the first major municipalities to enact the ban.