Philip Harnett Corboy Jr. - Chicago, IL

Overview

Philip Harnett Corboy, Jr. was admitted to the Illinois Bar in 1978 and worked in a small white-collar criminal defense firm before joining the criminal division of the Cook County State's Attorney's Office that same year. At the time of his resignation from that public office in 1985, he was a "first-chair" prosecutor - responsible for trying such felonies as murder, rape, armed robbery and kidnaping - in one of the major courtrooms at the Cook County Criminal Courts Building at 26th and California in Chicago. He joined Corboy & Demetrio as an associate that same year and became a partner in 1991.

Mr. Corboy's practice centers on representing plaintiffs in aviation and construction litigation, medical and professional negligence, product and premises liability, claims brought under the Federal Employers' Liability Act, and vehicular accident law. He has settled or tried to verdict more than 65 cases in which plaintiffs have recovered $1 million or more. These include:

• $22.5 million settlement in October 2011 for the family of a woman who was killed as a result of the derailment of a train in Rockford, IL, which was carrying dozens of Canadian National Railway cars filled with ethanol.
• $18 million settlement for a Mexican national who was killed by a piece of falling glass from Chicago's CNA Tower.
• $11 million settlement for a Chicago dental student burned in an automobile fire.

• $8.5 million settlement for the family of an assistant fire chief killed when a fire erupted at a Neiman Marcus store

•$8 million jury verdict for the estate of a Homewood wife and mother who was fatally struck by a truck after she stood on the shoulder of I-294 to investigate her flat tire.

Record-setting settlement of $7 million for a 78-year-old woman who was injured when she was struck by a malfunctioning automatic door as she entered a Target store.

• $16.7 million verdict for a brain-damaged pedestrian involved in a collision with an automobile.
• $7.67 million verdict for an injured construction worker.
• $5.35 million verdict for a limousine driver who lost his leg in an automobile incident at Chicago's O'Hare Airport.
• $4.5 million verdict for a 66-year-old man who was injured in an auto collision in central Illinois.

Mr. Corboy has tried cases in a number of states throughout the country and served as lead counsel in litigation on behalf of Cook County, Illinois, against the country's major tobacco companies to recoup public monies paid out for treatment of tobacco-related illnesses.

He is a past President of the Illinois Trial Lawyers Association and a member of the American Association for Justice, where he served as an Illinois State delegate and on its National Board of Governors. A long-standing member of the Illinois State Bar Association and the American Bar Association, he is also a member of the Chicago Bar Association, where he served on its Board of Managers. In 2002, he was inducted into the invitation-only American College of Trial Lawyers, the country's pre-eminent organization of trial lawyers that limits its membership to those trial lawyers who are outstanding and considered the best in their state.

Mr. Corboy is widely recognized by his peers as one of the top attorneys in the state of Illinois. Since 2005, Mr. Corboy has been selected to IL Super Lawyers, which is awarded to fewer than 5% of lawyers in the state. Super Lawyers has also selected Mr. Corboy to its Top 100 list for 11 years. Also, for more than a decade, Mr. Corboy has been selected to Best Lawyers in America for his work in representing victims of personal injury, and Corboy & Demetrio has been selected for Best Law Firms for more than a decade. In addition, year after year, Illinois Leading Lawyers has named Mr. Corboy in the top 5% of all attorneys in Illinois, also selecting him to Top Ten Product Liability lawyers in Illinois since 2019.

Mr. Corboy has been selected to the national Lawdragon 500 Leading Lawyers in America since 2015.

Mr. Corboy is the 2011-2012 recipient of the DePaul University College of Law Distinguished Alumnus Award, the highest distinction the College of Law can bestow.

In 2018, Mr. Corboy was elected to the U.S. Olympic and Paralympic Foundation (USOPF) Board of Directors. Previously, he served as a Trustee of USOPF and helped raise critical financial resources that enabled the U.S. Olympic Committee to make investments in areas promoting excellence and innovation for Team USA.

He was recently re-appointed by U.S. Senator Dick Durbin to a screening committee to assist the Senator in selecting Federal District Court Judges, U.S. Attorneys, and U.S. Marshals for the Northern District of Illinois. Mr. Corboy has also been appointed to the Equal Justice Illinois Campaign Blue-Ribbon Committee where he will work to increase state funding of civil legal aid so that all Illinois residents, regardless of income, have access to the justice system.

Mr. Corboy is a frequent panelist and lecturer to local, state and national bar associations and is quoted extensively in news stories on matters relating to law and government. He has been interviewed and quoted in every print and broadcast media outlet in Chicago and the greater Chicago land area, as well as making appearances and offering commentary on legal issues nationally on the Today Show, The Early Show with Bryant Gumbel, Good Morning America, Court-TV, MSNBC and Fox News' The Edge with Paula Zahn. He has also been quoted on legal topics in Time Magazine, Lawyer's Weekly U.S.A., Of Counsel, Chicago Magazine, Inside Litigation, Crain's Chicago Business, The ABA Journal, General Surgery News, and others.

He devotes much of his time to charitable and not-for-profit endeavors. He is a past President of the Board of Directors of the Legal Assistance Foundation of Metropolitan Chicago, Illinois' largest legal aid program for low income people. He served on the Board of Illinois Variety Club's International Children's Charity for a number of years and was Vice-President of The Chicago Lighthouse, one of the country's oldest organizations for people who are blind or visually impaired. He is a member of the Board of Trustees of the President's Club of DePaul University and a member of the Dean's Council of DePaul's law school.

In 2018, Mr. Corboy was elected to the U.S. Olympic and Paralympic Foundation (USOPF) Board of Directors. Previously, he served as a Trustee of USOPF and helped raise critical financial resources that enabled the U.S. Olympic Committee to make investments in areas promoting excellence and innovation for Team USA.