Clifford Law Offices has been named a 2026 Illinois Powerhouse by Law360, recognizing the Chicago plaintiffs’ firm and its attorneys for their work in complex, high-stakes litigation and a record that includes hundreds of millions of dollars in verdicts and settlements over the past year.
Across medical malpractice, aviation, transportation, catastrophic injury, wrongful death, and other serious matters, the firm represents individuals and families in consequential litigation in Illinois and nationwide. Clifford Law Offices brings substantial resources, extensive preparation, and decades of trial experience to cases against major corporations and institutions.
“There are many good lawyers in Chicago, but you will never find anyone who will work harder than we do,” Robert A. Clifford, founder and senior partner of Clifford Law Offices, told Law360.
During the period examined by Law360, the firm secured more than $100 million in confidential medical malpractice settlements and more than $50 million through transportation litigation. That record has continued in 2026 with major results across the firm’s core practice areas.
In April, partners Bradley M. Cosgrove, Charles R. Haskins, and Joseph T. Murphy secured a $60 million settlement for a woman who was rendered paraplegic in a crash on an Illinois highway under construction. In June, Cosgrove and Haskins obtained a $50 million verdict in a case involving an 8-year-old boy who was sexually assaulted by another camper while unsupervised at a Peoria summer camp.
The firm also secured a record $7.25 million Cook County verdict in a medical malpractice case involving a woman who underwent a hysterectomy following negligent complications and delayed recognition of a postpartum hemorrhage. Partner Sarah F. King led the trial team, joined by partner David F. Jasinski and associate Devin J. Piper.
Trial readiness remains central to the firm’s approach to complex litigation. “You cannot get full justice for your client by being scared to go to trial,” Cosgrove explained.
Clifford Law Offices has built an extensive reputation in medical malpractice matters, supported by medical professionals who work with attorneys to evaluate and prepare cases. That combination of legal and medical knowledge supports the firm’s ability to investigate and litigate matters involving complex questions of medicine, causation, and damages.
Aviation and transportation litigation have also been central to the firm’s national practice for decades. Clifford is well known for his role as Lead Counsel in federal litigation against Boeing in the 2019 crash of Ethiopian Airlines Flight 302, in which Clifford Law Offices represented the families of more than 70 victims. In 2025, the firm filed the first lawsuits on behalf of families who lost loved ones in the UPS Cargo jet crash in Louisville, Kentucky, and is representing multiple families in the midair collision of a US Army Black Hawk helicopter and an American Eagle regional jet above the Potomac River.
In March, partner Kristofer S. Riddle secured more than $13 million in settlements against Amtrak and BNSF Railway for passengers injured in a 2021 train derailment in Montana. In July, Clifford and Cosgrove secured a $20 million settlement on behalf of the family of a bicyclist who was killed in a collision with a commercial vehicle.
For Clifford, his work also carries what he describes as a “legacy component,” considering how litigation can promote accountability and contribute to greater safety beyond an individual case.
“Money is a poor substitute for the kind of personal losses that people sustain, but money can be a measure of the importance of things,” Clifford shared with Law360. “We know that hurting someone in their pocketbook sometimes changes behavior too.”
The firm’s depth of talent is carefully curated and extremely well-rounded. Since Clifford founded the firm in Chicago in 1984, its attorneys have brought experience from private practice, federal and state prosecution, medicine, law enforcement, government, and the judiciary to complex civil litigation.
The firm also maintains a longstanding presence within the legal profession. For two decades, Clifford Law Offices has hosted free continuing legal education programs addressing professional responsibility, legal ethics, and issues affecting the practice of law. The firm’s reach extends to the annual Clifford Symposium on Tort Law and Social Policy at DePaul University College of Law, which brings together leading scholars, judges, and practitioners to examine significant issues in tort law and the civil justice system.
The 2026 Illinois Powerhouse designation recognizes Clifford Law Offices for the caliber and consequence of its work in Illinois. More than four decades after its founding, the firm continues to handle complex cases involving catastrophic injury and loss while pursuing accountability for individuals and families against some of the nation’s largest corporations and institutions.
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