John V. Kalantzis

John V. Kalantzis learned early on the value of helping others through tough situations. The son of Greek immigrants, he grew up watching the frustrations and confusion his parents faced on a day-to-day basis as they tried to navigate their newfound culture and society. Their struggles became one of the chief motivators behind John eventually pursuing a career in law and representing victims of wrongdoing who might not otherwise have a voice with which to fight injustice.

As an attorney, he has worked in multiple areas of personal injury law, from car crashes to slip-and-fall injuries to cases of medical malpractice. Grief, he says, is all over the world and comes in all forms, and it’s the common element present in any case where someone is the victim of another person’s negligence or wrongdoing.

John joined Clifford Law Offices in 2019. These days the majority of his work is on aviation-related cases, including the firm’s ongoing representation of victims that lost loved ones in the Boeing 737 Max 8 crash in Ethiopia in 2019.

Any time a human being sustains an injury because of another’s negligence, there is an opportunity for firms like Clifford Law Offices to bring that person justice and closure, and hold the negligent party accountable. That said, the stakes tend to be greater with airline litigation because those cases are inherently more complex than many other areas of personal injury law.

For example, the average car accident case involving two passenger vehicles is fairly straightforward, from the effects of the injuries to the law itself. Aviation cases, on the other hand, require attorneys to understand international treaties, state laws, and federal laws, to name just a few topics. John says the work on a case like the Boeing 737 Max 8 one is “all-encompassing and all-consuming” because of these inherent complexities.

More than that, plane crashes often bring loss of life on a scale that is absolutely devastating. John points out that one of the most tragic elements of the Ethiopian Airlines case is not just this loss of life but how much human potential the world lost because of the crash. Passengers on Ethiopian Airlines Flight 302 included individuals working for the United Nations, those working on environmental causes, and young people just starting out in life. “That’s the real tragedy,” says John of the aircraft crash. “There were a lot of people who would have done a lot of good in the world.”

Changing the system, so to speak, is one of the main factors that drives John when it comes to his work in these aviation cases. By holding others accountable for their negligence, the hope is that families, and indeed the entire world, will lose fewer individuals to such avoidable tragedies. This is as true of car accident cases and medical situations as it is of large-scale airline disasters.

“People suffer wrongs almost every day and they don’t know who to turn to,” he says of society. As someone who has built his career on the values of compassion and empathy, John takes the task of helping such people very seriously. Like all attorneys at Clifford Law Offices, he treats each new client as if they were a family member, and roots these relationships in trust and openness, not the monetary figure attached to the case.

John’s work extends beyond the walls of Clifford Law Offices, too. Fluent in Greek, he is active in his surrounding community through volunteer work for Greek American organizations, including educational groups and his church.

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This year, Clifford Law Offices welcomed a new Partner to the family when Chicagoan

Until joining Clifford Law Offices, Yvette spent the majority of her career as a prosecutor in the Cook County State’s Attorney’s Office. She has had the opportunity to work on several novel cases that had never been tried in the Cook County court system. Yvette also served as Chief Counsel to the Illinois State Police and was a law clerk in both the Illinois Appellate and Supreme Courts. 

Her most career-defining case so far has been as one of the lead attorneys in the first RICO (Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations) Act case ever brought in the Cook County Circuit Court. “We prosecuted six gang members who had been wreaking havoc on the community,” she says, adding that the case was extremely complex because a trial of its kind had never before been done in state court.

Yvette also remembers the case as being “extremely fact intensive” and “a feat of endurance and commitment and dedication.” It involved reviewing and transcribing nearly a year’s worth of confidential overhears, drafting and litigating numerous complex pretrial pleadings, preparing the testimony of the primary confidential informant, and, finally, nearly 12 weeks of trial and the presentation of 103 witnesses.  

The case, she says, gave her “an opportunity to litigate issues of the law that just never came up before,” broadening both her knowledge and experience in the process. All six gang members were convicted of racketeering and sentenced to life imprisonment for multiple murders and narcotics offenses. 

“It meant a lot to me that we could bring some justice to the victims’ families,” she says.

One point Yvette is particularly proud of — both in the racketeering case and throughout her career — is her ability to handle that level of pressure and commitment while simultaneously raising four children. “Being able to do that while being a mother really defined me a lot,” she says. “It really impacts your perspective on the world and you do have that instinct to protect people.” 

It was that instinct to protect that eventually led Yvette to Clifford Law Offices. “I was very interested in moving to the private sector and doing something that was cutting edge,” she explains. “I wanted to have my hand in litigation but also do the deep dive into complex issues of the law.”

At Clifford Law Offices, Yvette handles complex legal research and analysis as well as appellate work. She is involved in a range of cases, from medical malpractice claims to the recent cause of action against Boeing for the crash of Ethiopian Airlines Flight 302. 

She says the depth and complexity of the work Clifford Law Offices does is what initially attracted her to the firm and what continues to surprise, challenge, and motivate her — at the firm and in life.

Clifford Law Offices is proud to count Yvette as one of the family and looks forward to many years of working together.

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Jim’s philosophy on litigation is based on integrity and hard work for his clients. His strong work ethic and sense of social justice were shaped while he was working his first jobs – at his family’s restaurant and as a union railroader.

He attended Marquette University followed by DePaul University of Law and then received his MBA from the University of Chicago’s Booth School of Business.

After attending law school, Jim served 14 years in the Cook County State’s Attorney’s Office where he worked on complex matters including wrongful death, highway negligence, civil rights, labor and employment, medical deliberate indifference/medical negligence, class-action, criminal and other significant tort matters.

As a result of Jim’s hard-work, judgment, and successful results he was promoted to lead two of the most complex and busiest litigation practice groups in the Civil Actions Bureau as Supervisor of Torts and Civil Rights Division and Supervisor of Labor and Employment division.

He always knew he wanted to work at a plaintiff’s law firm helping those in their greatest time of need and Clifford Law was at the top of his list.

“I knew I wanted to be a lawyer since I was eight years old. And Clifford Law Offices was always my top choice because of its respect in the legal community and the entire Chicago area for what Bob Clifford and the lawyers here have accomplished and how they treat their clients.”
– James C. Pullos

Jim has tried more than 50 cases to verdict and hundreds of bench trials and hearings in federal and state courts, he earned numerous favorable verdicts representing police officers from the Cook County Sheriff’s Office in civil lawsuits in federal court, has prepared numerous state and federal appellate briefs and presented oral arguments before the Seventh Circuit Court Appeals.

While at Clifford Law Offices, Jim has worked on behalf of individuals and families whose lives have been forever impacted.

We are honored to have James Pullos; a passionate attorney who is persistent in an effort to earn his clients the justest case resolution, as a partner at Clifford Law Offices.

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Susan’s career path reflects her compassion for others. As an undergraduate, she studied nursing and worked for years as a registered nurse at Children’s Memorial Hospital in Chicago. She joined Clifford Law Offices in 1989, having graduated with Honors from DePaul University College of Law in Chicago in 1990.

Susan’s nursing experience gives her a unique advantage that sets her apart from other lawyers because she was able to see and understand the effects of the patients’ injuries firsthand in the hospital, subsequently making her more determined to get patients’ justice in the courtroom. 

“As a nurse, I was the patient’s advocate. As a medical malpractice attorney, I am still the patient’s advocate but in a different area and profession.”- Susan A. Capra

Susan exhibits the dedication that Bob Clifford looks for in his partners at the firm.“Susan Capra consistently demonstrates unwavering loyalty to her clients, colleagues, and friends,” Mr. Clifford said. “It’s a privilege to have her as my partner and all of our lives are enriched by her.”

Susan’s dedication to her clients is shown through her work ethic. She has developed a reputation in medical malpractice circles for working tirelessly behind-the-scenes to get into the necessary details of what occurred during a patient’s treatment. 

That dedication to her work has paid off, having received million-dollar verdicts and settlements for obstetrical, gynecologic, and pediatric negligence cases. Susan has been recognized as a Leading Lawyer and a Super Lawyer, having been profiled for her outstanding legal accomplishments in very difficult and complex medical malpractice cases.

We are honored to have Susan Capra; a dedicated, intelligent, and compassionate advocate, as a partner at Clifford Law Offices.

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Helping other people in times of need. Volunteering in one’s spare time. Juggling a house and family life.

That is the life of Tracy Brammeier, an associate at Clifford Law Offices for the past three years. She joined the firm as a law clerk as a 1L student at Loyola University School of Law and has been with the firm since 2011.

Her father was a lawyer, having practiced criminal defense work in Chicago for more than 30 years before retiring earlier this year. The oldest of four, her siblings all became engineers, but Tracy decided to follow in her father’s footsteps. Helping others is something that she grew up with and has become a part of Tracy’s DNA – her dad and her mom, who passed away 10 years ago, taught their children the necessity to give back to one’s community. “Both of my parents instilled in us the importance of community involvement and helping people who are under served.”

It’s evident that these life-long lessons have stuck. Tracy is a Director of the Chicago Bar Association’s Young Lawyers Section where she organizes panels of speakers for lawyers who have passed the bar examination in the past 10 years. She also is part of a Wills for Heroes program in basic estate planning that serves first responders and current or former military members at the Chicago Police Department headquarters on Saturday mornings. “Participating in this program seemed like a perfect way for me to give back and show my appreciation for these dedicated service members,” Tracy said.

And recently she joined the team of volunteers of the 100 Club – a 50-year-old organization that provides 24-hour support to families of first responders in Cook County and Lake County. “Recently, I received a call from a widow who was in tears because she was worried that she might lose her home after her firefighter husband died in the line of duty. Her husband didn’t have a will and she was not on the deed to the home. I was able to assure her that it would all work out.”

She says over the years she has had a number of mentors: “My dad, Bob Clifford, Kevin Durkin, and the other amazing lawyers I work with – they have all taught me in different ways and have been a big part of developing my professional career and they continue to do so.”

But it was another lawyer that had a significant impact on her life seven years ago when he introduced her to the man she would one day marry, Brian, head of an IT services company in the Chicago area. They dated as Tracy wound her way through law school for three years and even as she studied for the bar exam. “He thinks he’s a lawyer,” she said in jest. They recently moved to Bucktown where they love being able to support local shops and restaurants. “I love that Chicago’s neighborhoods are so welcoming and community-oriented.” They honeymooned in Hawaii and have found time to travel a bit, but one of her more memorable trips was when she studied in Rome, Italy, as a college student and took a week to go to Tunisia and stayed in the Sahara Desert with the group. “I knew it was a once-in-a-lifetime experience, and it was so different from everything I ever knew growing up. I’m glad I had that opportunity,” she said.

Tracy knew she wanted to be a lawyer early on when growing up in Palos Park. “I just wanted to help people get answers for what happened,” she said of her interest in the law. “Some people need the financial support, but almost all of those who have been victimized by wrongful conduct want answers as to why such a horrible thing could have happened to them or their families.”

After graduating from Loyola University as an undergraduate student majoring in English and communications, she went to work at a large corporation. After a year, she said it became clear to her that anything she would do in a corporate environment helps the company thrive but not individual people. That’s where she wanted to make a difference.

She recalls several important cases that she’s worked on including a $1.4 million settlement of a case that settled during jury selection. It was a very sad case of a man who was sitting in the back of a police car waiting for a tow truck when a drunk driver slammed into the vehicle, killing him. She is working with Kevin Durkin on behalf of a young woman who was severely injured when a driver struck her as she walked on the sidewalk at a Chicago intersection. Currently, she’s also working on cases involving bicyclists who have been struck by a truck and died as well as a boat that sank in Lake Michigan, resulting in three people drowning.

Tracy also has worked on train accident cases as well as medical malpractice cases, including one that settled for $1.5 million involving a woman who underwent a routine colonoscopy and because of a lack of oxygen during anesthesia was left with a permanent brain injury. She also does a great deal of probate work on behalf of clients at the firm, which is required in all cases involving a minor, an incapacitated person or a deceased person.

“I enjoy getting to make a difference in people’s lives when they need it,” Tracy said. “If you are involved in a terrible accident or are the victim of negligence, you usually have your family and friends to help you through for emotional support. We at Clifford Law Offices are the ones who do the legal work necessary to hold the party or parties accountable for the wrongdoing that occurred. We work hard so that people who face life-altering circumstances may have the financial assurance they are owed so they can handle the new challenges in their lives.”

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It’s a story heard over and over – a family of eight grows up on Chicago’s South Side in the Beverly neighborhood. His father works round-the-clock in the restaurant business while his mother does the “heavy lifting” of raising six children, working shifts at the restaurant, and pursuing her own nursing career.

The children attend parochial high schools but the first five children do not seriously pursue higher education. (All three of the older boys went into the trade unions.) That’s until the youngest – the one who listens to and learns from his older brothers and sisters – seizes upon education and the opportunities that it could offer. Despite the toll of raising six children, his parents proudly put him through Marquette University. The industrious son then puts himself through DePaul University College of Law and later even obtains an MBA from the University of Chicago’s Booth School of Business.

That’s the story of James Pullos who recently joined Clifford Law Offices as a partner after working at the Cook County State’s Attorney’s Office for 14 years. He rose quickly through the ranks and became supervisor of complex, busy litigation practice groups in the Civil Actions Bureau including the Torts and Civil Rights Division. He then went on to work at an insurance company, but deep down inside he always knew he wanted to work at a plaintiffs’ law firm helping those in their greatest time of need.

“I knew I wanted to be a lawyer since I was eight-years-old,” Jim says, his youthful face belying his years of experience. “And Clifford Law Offices was always my top choice because of its respect in the legal community and the entire Chicago area for what Bob Clifford and the lawyers here have accomplished and how they treat their clients.”

Once in law school, Jim began taking trial advocacy classes to prepare for a career in court. “The idea of earning an education and becoming a lawyer was empowering because it allows you to help people who don’t know how to help themselves. I thought that trying cases would help people and that trial work offered me the most direct way of achieving justice for my clients. As an Assistant State’s Attorney, it was particularly satisfying to stand up in court and speak for those who were unable to speak for themselves. As lawyers, we are in a particularly trusted position to represent people in court who need reliable advocates. Now I feel that I am doing the same thing for those who seek justice in a civil arena here at Clifford Law,” Jim said.

“I value careers that help make a difference in people’s lives. I am certain that Clifford Law is the culmination of my own personal career goals of being in the place where I can have the greatest impact on helping others. I would like my family to view me as a person who lives by a defined set of values in order to make a meaningful contribution to our community. Of course, I want to set a good example for my family.” Jim’s three children, aged four to eight, attend parochial schools. Jim’s values have already hit close to home – his eight-year-old son has said that he hopes to one day be a police officer.

Like his parents, Jim and his wife Maria are raising their three children on Chicago’s Southwest side. “I love Chicago. I’ll be a Chicagoan always,” Jim said of his raising his two sons and daughter in the city. “I love living in a city that offers such diversity, culture and philosophies for our children to be a part of.”

Jim’s wife of 10 years is a special education teacher in Chicago’s public school system, instructing teachers and school staff on how to create individualized education programs for students who need and want to be mainstreamed. She also works directly with parents to try to help their child obtain special accommodations at various schools across the city.

Jim is knee-deep in casework at Clifford Law Offices, working on cases involving those who have been unknowingly harmed by asbestos. He also is representing clients involving premises liability, auto accidents and medical negligence.

Jim has represented hundreds of clients as an Assistant State’s Attorney, including murder cases, rape cases, and other high-profile and high-value civil cases, but one that stands out in his mind is that of a young man, 19, who was bludgeoned with a brick to his head and fell lifeless onto the concrete. It turns out that the person charged with this crime was in his mid-20’s and had numerous previous arrests when the case landed on Jim’s desk.

Jim recalls that the 19-year-old victim was a step from death. “It was the excellent medical care and the patient’s great health that saved his life, but not without permanent consequences,” Jim said. “He suffered traumatic brain damage and had to drop out of college, but at least he’s alive. His father came to me and I could see in his eyes that all he wanted was justice, some sort of closure for his son who was hit in the head by a brick just for being in the wrong place at the wrong time. Along with my partner, we proved the aggravated battery charge and the defendant got the maximum prison sentence. I remember the look in the dad’s eyes afterward and I felt incredibly satisfied for helping him and his family after this traumatic event.”

“As lawyers handling some very heavy issues, we do our job with such passion because it’s the right thing to do,” Jim says.

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Steve Jobs and Michael Wozniak founded Apple Computer. The Blues Brothers debuted on Saturday Night Live. Peyton Manning was born. A gallon of gas was 59 cents. Jimmy Carter was elected as President. The country celebrated its bicentennial.

The year was 1976. It also was the year that I was sworn in as a lawyer. Obviously, a lot has happened since then, in the country, around the world and in each of our lives.

I have taken in every day as a learning experience, enjoying the fulfillment of having a profession that let’s me get up in the morning and look forward to going to work. I have the same vigor and enthusiasm of making the civil justice system a bit better today than I did as that idealistic young 20-something lawyer just passing the bar exam.

I recall my first case – being sworn in ahead of everyone else – so that I could take the deposition of a federal court judge and go on to win his case after he was unceremoniously bumped from a flight without any compensation from the airlines. That law still stands today for everyone.

Of course, I remember the cases that garnered the big headlines – Rachel Barton, the violinist’s trial against Metra that was on the front page and lead story for a month; the record settlement against Cook County for a fire that killed several people and injured many more in a stairwell blocking their exit; the scaffolding collapse from the John Hancock Building that killed innocent people below.

But it is also every person who I’ve had the opportunity to counsel, to talk to, to comfort throughout the years. People who have relied on my experience and my common sense to seek answers to questions when simply they didn’t know to whom to turn. That’s where I felt that I have had the greatest impact on a day-to-day basis outside of a courtroom.

I take greatest pride, though, in my family. Although my parents are no longer with us, nor my wife’s parents with whom we were so close, life moves on to the next generation, and I find myself talking endlessly about my daughters and son in law. It seems like just yesterday they were babies as we picnicked in our back yard in our tiny apartment on Chicago’s Northwest Side.

Now, my oldest, Erin, is a lawyer. How proud does that make a dad feel knowing that one of your children follows you in your footsteps as she clerks for an appellate court justice. My youngest daughter, Tracy, followed her dream to become a fashion stylist, traveling the world and married to the best son in law one could ever ask. He, too, is a lawyer, and takes care of my daughter like every father in law could only dream.

And my wife Joan, of 43 years, surprises me every day with her love, her loyalty, her unending philanthropic work, her support of me and what I do. I have no greater friend and no closer person in my life than someone who has stood by my side watching me as I worked full time going through law school, raising two beautiful daughters with me and now looking forward to many more years to come as we enjoy the fruits of our labor.

I still love working every day, seven days a week, mentoring the younger lawyers at our firm and the challenge of winning that critical motion in court. It never gets old. I like the strategizing, the intellectual challenge, the professional sparring. I also enjoy giving back to the community in many ways, supporting our bar associations through my own efforts and that of my firm’s lawyers. Having served as the American Bar Association Chair of its State Delegation for nine years, the President of the Illinois Trial Lawyers Association, the President of the Chicago Bar Association and so many other positions I held with pride as I felt the responsibility of representing the profession.

Has our profession changed? Obviously, the internet in the last 40 years has put everything we do at warp speed, but really the fundamentals of what we do is the same. We must keep up with the law, do our best in representing those who count on us, and communicate with our clients to make sure that they understand the importance of a justice system that was created to give them their day in court in an equitable manner.

That will never change.

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The daughter of two physicians in Poland, Marta (Kowalczyk) Davidson immigrated to the United States when she was just three-years-old. Her father continued working as a board certified family practice physician in the U.S. and her mother worked in the health care field.

The Kowalczyks eventually settled in Park Ridge, a northwest suburb of Chicago. Marta attended Maine South High School. It was there that Marta’s love of the law crystallized. She was selected to compete in the We the People: the Citizen and the Constitution competition and her team won first in state. They traveled to Washington, D.C., when she was a high school senior, and the team was among the finalists in the country. “It was all very exciting to be a part of such a prestigious group and to be recognized for our hard work,” Marta said.

Although Polish is her native language, Marta quickly acclimated to life in America. She grew to love its history as well as political science and ultimately the law, deviating from the health care paths of her family just a bit because now she focuses her legal work on medical malpractice cases. “I never had the stomach for blood,” she says, so she headed to University of Illinois Law School in Champaign-Urbana. “I knew I wanted to help people and I felt I could do that through the law,” she explained. “It’s where the law and medicine meet that I felt I could best help those who are suffering at probably the most challenging time of their lives.”

Marta was hired by Dr. Kenneth Chessick, a highly successful doctor and lawyer who had a thriving med mal practice in the suburbs of Chicago. Marta found herself working up cases and in a courtroom right from the start. “When I first hired Marta so many years ago, she was an eager rookie. Today, Marta has blossomed into a high quality, hard working, tireless attorney, who is passionate in her efforts to achieve justice for our clients,” said Dr. Chessick. “She has made me proud.”

When Dr. Chessick combined his legal practice with that at Clifford Law Offices, Marta began working on LaSalle Street. As part of the medical malpractice trial team, Marta has achieved several multi-million dollar verdicts and settlements. For example, she was part of the trial team that obtained a record $3.157 million verdict in Winnebago County for the amputation of a 65-year-old man’s left leg due to a doctor’s negligence. Most recently, Marta was part of the trial team that obtained an $8.25 million verdict in Cook County on behalf of the family of a 68-year-old man who died two days after a knee replacement surgery. Marta has also taken part in settlement negotiations resulting in multi-million dollar settlements, including a $2.75 million partial settlement in DeKalb County on behalf of the family of a 45-year-old man who died from medical malpractice and a $2.55 million settlement, on behalf of a 54-year-old man who suffered severe and permanent injuries from negligent emergency room care. She currently handles a wide variety of medical malpractice matters on surgical, cancer, cardiovascular, cardiology, orthopedic, obstetric and anesthesia cases in Cook County and the Collar counties. She also handles other types of personal injury matters, including a case involving the drowning death of a six-year-old boy at a park district pool during day camp.

Marta attended the University of Illinois in Champaign-Urbana, majoring in political science and Spanish and it is where she met her husband, Philip. They were married last year with many of her relatives from Poland traveling to Park Ridge for the wedding. “It was very beautiful and, of course, memorable with so many of my family members able to share that day with us,” Marta said. Her husband also is a lawyer and as newlyweds with intense jobs, much of their time since their August wedding has been devoted to their work and making a home in the southwest suburbs of Chicago.

Speaking fluent Polish, she has a large number of Polish clients given the large Polish population in Chicago. “Although language has never been a barrier for me, I empathize with people who have legal problems whose native language may not be English. I feel that I can better explain to them what may happen and what they can expect in seeking justice through the legal process. It is very heartwarming and satisfying as a career,” she said.

Marta also considers herself fortunate to have some great teachers in her life. “I’m lucky to have a great number of mentors in my life – from Bob Clifford and Dr. Ken Chessick to Keith [Hebeisen], Brad [Cosgrove] and Susan [Capra] at the office,” Marta says of the law partners at Clifford Law Offices on the medical malpractice team who have helped her since she arrived. “I see myself working here a long, long time.”

To see Marta’s attorney profile, click here.

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Clifford Law associate attorney, Kristofer Riddle has two sides of his personality that combine to work in service of his clients. He is a well-liked, thoughtful attorney with knowledge well beyond his years. His role has him involved in handling some of the most complex litigation at the firm. He does so with a steady, even demeanor, one that his clients and his colleagues appreciate and respect. But don’t be fooled by his affable outside.

Inside, he is a life-long hockey player who takes out his aggression on the ice every week and in the courtroom every day. “I like the team aspect of playing hockey,” Kris said. “There’s a camaraderie on the team that I also see at the office. Working together towards a common goal is a dimension of the sport that I see at work.” Kris credits his colleagues for showing him what excellence in the law looks like. “Bob Clifford, Kevin Durkin, Keith Hebeisen…I work for a literal legal all-star team; I get to learn from these men,” Kris said.

Kris was on the job at the firm just one month and obtained a $100,000 partial settlement in an auto accident case for a woman who was t-boned when a driver ran a stop sign. He has handled class action matters at the firm – from Pella window cases to data breach matters affecting thousands, if not millions of potential consumers.

He says he was motivated to become a lawyer to continue a commitment to the public that he saw in his family. As the son of a fireman and a homemaker, and whose uncle and grandfather also were firemen, Kris’ family provided a daily demonstration of compassion and dedication to public service. “I just knew I wanted to help people and my interest in the law led me to DePaul Law School.” He juggled work as a clerk for several years at the firm while attending law school, learning the culture and the complexities of tort work. By the time he graduated and passed the bar exam, he was well prepared to take on any assignment given him.

“Kris is one of the brightest young attorneys I know,” said Robert A. Clifford, founder and senior partner at the firm. “I can rely on Kris to do any assignment that is given him and he comes through each and every time with a reasoned analysis. He is hard working, dependable and thoughtful in his approach to everything he does. He is a tremendous addition to the firm.”

Kris grew up in south suburban Harvey with an older brother. He attended Mt. Carmel High School then went on to receive a Bachelor of Arts in political science from The City College of New York City, CUNY, where he received several awards including being named to a Marvin Rosenberg Fellowship in Public Policy and to the McNair Scholars program. Prior to law school, Kris was employed by Duke University’s Graduate School and Terry Sanford Institute of Public Policy in North Carolina. It is there that he met Elizabeth, his wife of four years.

He now resides with his wife, who also is a lawyer, in Chicago’s Bridgeport neighborhood. Cormac, their son, is now 18 months old. “I hope to pass down to my child the same commitment to public service that was shown to me,” Kris said. “I would like him to find satisfaction through his work by somehow assisting those in need.”

When asked about his own future, Kris says, “I see myself at Clifford Law Offices in the years to come. The work here is very challenging and very satisfying. The interaction with my colleagues provides for the most dynamic learning environment I have encountered. I hope to continue helping people through some of their darkest times. It makes me proud to be a lawyer, and I know my family is proud of me as well.”

To see Kristofer Riddle’s attorney profile, click here.

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So many of the attorneys at Clifford Law Offices are products of growing up in Chicago’s back yard – in its wonderful neighborhoods or the surrounding areas.

Sarah King, associate at the firm, could have been literally anywhere in the world, yet she still found her way to Chicago and 120 North LaSalle Street in a story that perhaps only could come from someone’s imagination. But it’s true.

Sarah grew up in North Hollywood, the daughter of an executive advertising producer. She occasionally traveled with him to shoot commercials on location for major brands. Yet it was her mother, a paralegal, in whose footsteps Sarah followed.

Since she was barely 10-years-old, Sarah knew that she wanted to be a lawyer. “My mom took me to the office and court a lot. I knew I wanted to do it, although I didn’t know exactly what type of law I wanted to practice. I forced my little sister to play my witness in our reenactments of Law and Order,” Sarah said of her childhood. “Even in grade school I was drawn to fighting for the ‘underdog’ and for women’s opportunities.” In 7th grade Sarah started a signature drive and spoke at a town hall meeting to prevent a local gas station from unearthing buried piping near her school. She also petitioned the Archdiocese of Los Angeles to allow girls to play in the all-boy flag-football league. “I wasn’t a huge football fan, but once they granted my petition I knew I had to try out.” Sarah made the team and played safety. She was the only girl in the league. Sarah jokes, “I wasn’t as big as them, but I was faster and clearly smarter.”

When Sarah was 16 – that critical junior year in high school – her grandmother was diagnosed with Alzheimer’s and the family decided to move from Hollywood to Kansas City to help her. Sarah took it all in stride, making life-long friends and applying to colleges around the country. She chose Loyola University of Chicago, wanting to return to the taste and feel of a big city, especially after experiencing all the wonders of the Windy City with her dad on a school visit.

After her grandmother died, her parents, at still a relatively young age, did what so many dream of – they leased their house in Kansas and moved to live in the Bahamas on their sailboat, “Pura Vida,” meaning “Pure Life” in Latin. That wanderlust, although buried deep inside Sarah who loves to travel, hasn’t struck yet because she says there are so many things she wants to accomplish at the firm, given her “workaholic” personality. Enjoy reading her parents’ blog and you will get some insight into Sarah as well: http://thepurelfe.blogspot.com/

Sarah worked as a waitress and hostess, majoring in Women’s Studies and English with a minor in political science. After graduation, she backpacked through Europe for three months with her best friend from Los Angeles, working her way from Turkey to Portugal in a trip of a lifetime.

She was accepted at DePaul University College of Law and initially thought she would be practicing family law. She even worked for a short time at a divorce firm. “I loved the people I worked for but I knew I wanted to be in the courtroom more. I was at the law library late one night waiting for a friend and flipping through magazines. I spotted Susan Capra’s profile. She sounded like she was practicing in an interesting area of law in which a lot of women aren’t involved,” Sarah said.

She then contacted Susan, partner at Clifford Law Offices and a nurse, who was impressed with her poise, her background, her research and writing skills, and Sarah was hired as a clerk at the firm. Sarah credits her opportunity at Clifford Law to Susan, “Susan is one of the most impressive and inspiring attorneys I know.” Sarah said, “But above all she is a great teacher and a selfless mentor.”

Upon graduation, Sarah was immediately hired as an associate attorney, finding out that she passed the bar examination while working on a trial with another mentor, Keith Hebeisen, partner at the firm. They were in downstate Carbondale, Illinois, and she checked her test results at 3 a.m. Coincidentally, the case settled the next day.

She said she is very appreciative that Keith, one of the state’s most experienced plaintiffs’ medical malpractice lawyers, has taken her under his wing and taught her all he knows. “Never once has he ever said I couldn’t do something,” Sarah said. “I enjoy trying medical malpractice cases with Keith. I think we make a great team.” Keith describes Sarah as a trial lawyer with great potential: “Sarah is bright, determined and enthusiastic. She has great instincts and poise. She is destined to be a great trial lawyer.”

Indeed, Sarah already has had great success in a courtroom, trying some multi-million-dollar cases alongside Keith and Brad Cosgrove, another partner at the firm – a case of the wrongful death of a young mother who died following a C-section that resulted in a $15.55 million verdict and a trial involving the permanent injury to a young woman who suffered a debilitating stroke following the negligent prescription of the birth control pill Yasmin that resulted in a $13.55 million verdict.

“There should be more women trial attorneys, especially in tragic cases,” Sarah said.  “I truly believe that women have a unique ability to connect with jurors and clients. We are effective and empathetic. Our firm handles cases involving childbirth, breast cancer, birth control and other issues personal to women and it takes great resources to take these cases to trial. We are very lucky that Bob Clifford provides us the opportunity to do it.”

However, as a young female attorney Sarah has run into many lawyers that are not as encouraging as Clifford and Hebeisen, “A very wise woman once said ‘No one can make you feel inferior without your consent.’ I think about that quote whenever someone patronizingly calls me ‘young lady’ during a deposition and I just object louder and work harder to beat them.” Her success as a young lawyer is evident in Sarah being named a Top 40 Under 40 Lawyer this year by the Law Bulletin Publishing Company and being elected to the Board of Managers of the Illinois Trial Lawyers Association.

Sarah lives with her two dogs, Bruno and Max, and her long-time boyfriend, Dan, in Wrigleyville. Sarah and Dan are Cubs season ticket holders and she was interviewed opening week this year on Waveland Avenue by a local television station. They also find time to run marathons.

But most of Sarah’s time is spent in marathon days at the office, preparing medical malpractice cases for trial on some of the most complex issues- breaking them down for jurors to understand. And she says that’s exactly where she intends to stay.

To see Sarah’s attorney profile, click here.

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