COUNSEL CHAIRMEN
Illinois courts answer to
these princes of the prairie.
A dozen or so lawyers control Trial Lawyers, Inc.’s Illinois operations. These attorneys—the “leadership team” for Illinois’ litigation
industry—make millions off the state’s magic jurisdictions.
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Philip Corboy
Chairman, Cook County
For over 50 years, Corboy has led
the personal-injury bar in Illinois, and
his junior partner, Tom Demetrio,
scored the state’s largest personal-injury
award sustained on appeal.[178]
TIME LIFE PICTURES/GETTY IMAGES/MICHAEL L. ABRAMSON
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Bob Clifford
President, Cook County
The leader of Illinois’ most
profitable plaintiffs’ firm, Clifford
has pulled in two med-mal
awards at or above $16 million in
the last two years alone.[179]
AP/MARK CORNELISON
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Randy Bono
Chairman, Madison County
The asbestos tort king has assumed
the Madison County leadership
since returning from the bench, scoring
a $250 million verdict against U.S. Steel.[180]
AP/CHARLES REX ARBOGAST
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John Simmons
President, Asbestos
Madison County is Asbestos Central, and Simmons, in partnership with Bono,
leads the way: their firm filed 375 of the
county’s 457 mesothelioma cases in 2003.[181]
AP/CHUCK NOVARAS
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Brad Lakin
President, Class Actions
Madison County’s most frequent
class action filer uses
"cookie cutter" lawsuits that
even contain the same
typographical errors.[182]
ST. LOUIS POST-DISPATCH/DAVID CARON
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Stephen Tillery
President, Tobacco
Another of the litigation-industry leaders
east of St. Louis, Tillery won a landmark
$10.1 billion verdict against Philip Morris
for marketing light cigarettes, which was
overturned on appeal.[183]
AP/CHARLES REX ARBOGAST
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Rex Carr
Chairman, St. Clair County
The longtime litigator made
headlines in 2004 when he represented
former judge Gordon Maag, after an
electoral defeat, in a $110 million libel
suit against his political opponents.[184]
AP/DERIk HOLTMANN
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Bruce Cook
President, St. Clair County
St. Clair County’s most politically influential
lawyer, Cook is also the former law partner
of Ann Callis—daughter of local tort
powerhouse Lance Callis and now
the chief judge of Madison County.[185]
AP/DERIK HOLTMANN
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178. See Corboy & Demetrio, Philip H. Corboy, http://www.corboydemetrio.com/practice/attorneys/corboy.cfm (last visited Oct.
5, 2006); Corboy & Demetrio, Thomas A. Demetrio, http://www.corboydemetrio.com/practice/attorneys/tdemetrio.cfm (last visited
Oct. 5, 2006).
179. See Clifford Law Offices, supra note 31; Clifford Law Offices, Our
Success Record, http://www.cliffordlaw.com/success (last visited Oct.
5, 2006).
180. See Boynton, supra note 123.
181. See Hampel, supra note 118.
182. See Schmidt, supra note 92.
183. See Price v. Phillip Morris, Inc., No. 96236, 2005 Ill. LEXIS 2071 (Ill.
2005).
184. See Knef, supra note 177.
185. See Ann Knef, Ann Callis Elected Chief Judge in Madison County,
MaiIson County Rec., Mar. 29, 2006.
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