Carmouche, Paul Joseph

Eric Carlson is resident of Edwardsville, Illinois.  He was born in Belleville, Illinois and then moved to the Edwardsville Glen-Carbon area in 1977.  He earned a bachelor of Liberal Arts and Sciences cum laude from the University of Illinois. He received his juris doctor, magna cum laude from Southern Illinois University at Carbondale in 1995.

During law school, he served on the Board of Editors for the Southern Illinois University law review and published a case note titled, "Premises Liability: The Exception that Swallowed the Rule, Lee v. CTA," 19 S.Ill.L.J. 217. He was a member of Phi Kappa Phi legal fraternity, the Order of Barristers and the Southern Illinois American Inn of Court. He served on and was later captain of the national Products Liability Moot Court Team. Mr. Carlson also clerked for John P. Womick & Associates in Carbondale, Illinois.

Following law school, Mr. Carlson began working as an associate for Jon G. Carlson in 1995. He became a shareholder of the firm in 1998 and a named partner in 1999. Carlson & Carlson, P.C. concentrated its practice in products liability, medical malpractice, vehicular and trucking accident litigation and has secured multiple substantial verdicts and settlements. The firm also represented injured railroad workers under the Federal Employer's Liability Act.  In July 2010, Carlson & Carlson, P.C., and Byron, Gerber, Petri & Kalb, LLC merged to form Byron, Carlson, Petri & Kalb, LLC. 

Mr. Carlson was admitted to the Illinois bar in 1995 and the Missouri bar in 1996. He is admitted to practice in the United States District Courts for the Southern District of Illinois (1996), the Central District of Illinois (1996) and the Eastern District of Missouri (1996). He is also admitted to practice before the United States Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit (1996), the Eighth Circuit (1998) and the Sixth Circuit (2001).

Mr. Carlson is a member of the American, Illinois and Missouri Bar Associations. He is also a member of the Madison County Bar Association, and the American Association for Justice, formerly known as the American Trial Lawyers Association. He belongs to the Illinois Trial Lawyers Association where he currently serves on the Board of Managers. He has also previously served on the Board of Advocates and the Executive Committee for the Illinois Trial Lawyers, and was a co-chair of the Young Lawyers Committee.

Notably, Mr. Carlson was intricately involved in the cases that successfully challenged the Illinois Tort Reform Act of 1995 in the landmark decision of Best v. Taylor Machine Works, Inc., 179 Ill.2d 367, 689 N.E.2d 1057 (Ill. 1997). As a result of the work performed in Best, Mr. Eric Carlson was recognized by the Trial Lawyers for Public Justice as a 1998 Trial Lawyer of the Year finalist. Another reported case of interest is Isbell v. Union Pacific Railroad Co., 318 Ill.App.3d 1011 (Ill. App. 5th Dist. 2001).

Mr. Eric Carlson has successful trial experience in cases involving wrongful death, medical malpractice, products liability, automobile accidents and FELA matters. He has tried cases in State and Federal Courts in Illinois and Missouri.  Recently, in September and November 2010, Eric Carlson and Jon Carlson, received verdicts of $2.5 million, and $3.3 million in back to back catastrophic injury cases at the Madison County, Illinois courthouse.  Judge Bryon also assisted in the railroad crossing verdict of $2.5 million.

Eric J. Carlson was raised in the Edwardsville/Glen Carbon Area, and graduated from Edwardsville High School in 1988. After undergraduate and law school, Mr. Carlson returned to the Edwardsville area, where he currently resides with his wife and three children.