Ferguson, Edward J.

Attorney Baku N. Patel currently handles all of the firms' criminal defense cases and personal injury/wrongful death matters.  Mr. Patel has reached or exceeded the million dollar ($1,000,000) mark in several cases, thus being privileged to be a life member of the Million Dollar Advocates Forum, which is limited to trial lawyers who have demonstrated exceptional skill, experience and excellence in advocacy by achieving a trial verdict or award settlement in the amount of one million dollars or more.  By qualifying to be a Million Dollar Advocate, Mr. Patel is considered to be one of the top trial lawyers in the United States. 

In the area of criminal defense, Mr. Patel is currently certified by the Illinois Supreme Court to be lead counsel in death penalty cases.  He has been accepted as a member of the Capital Litigation Trial Bar, which is an exclusive membership to attorneys who have exemplified jury trial experience in handling murder cases to verdict. 

Mr. Patel was born in 1969 in Baroda, Gujarat, India.  He was raised in the United States when his parents arrived from India in 1970.  Mr. Patel received two bachelor degrees: one in economics and one in political science from Washington University in St. Louis, Missouri, in 1991.  After graduating from college, he attended the University of Pittsburgh School of Law where he received his Juris Doctorate degree in 1994.  While in law school in August of 1993, Mr. Patel was commissioned in the United States Navy as an Officer in the Judge Advocate General's Corp (JAG).  Upon graduating from law school, he served on full-time active duty as a JAG Officer where he served as a criminal defense trial attorney and as a military prosecutor.  He attained the rank of Lieutenant.  He left active duty and joined the reserves where he subsequently attained the rank of Lieutenant Commander in the Naval Reserves. 

After leaving active military service, Mr. Patel joined the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) as a trial attorney prosecuting anti-trust and consumer fraud cases.  After serving as a Federal Prosecutor for the FTC, he served as a senior prosecutor for the Champaign County State's Attorney's office and in the Vermilion County State's Attorney's office.  In each of those positions, Mr. Patel prosecuted numerous criminal cases to jury verdicts.  After serving as senior prosecutor for both offices, Mr. Patel was then appointed by the Fifth Judicial Circuit as the Chief Public Defender of Vermilion County.  He was appointed at the age of 31 making him the youngest Chief Public Defender in the State of Illinois.  In that capacity, Mr. Patel defended thousands of criminal cases.  He also defended numerous murder trials to verdict, including death penalty cases.  As of today, none of Mr. Patel's client's charged with murder have been sentenced to death nor has any of his clients charged with murder been sentenced to even life in prison.  Each and every one of Mr. Patel's murder cases has resulted in either a full acquittal, dismissal of charges, reduction of charges, jury verdicts for lesser included charges, or parole eligible sentences. 

After serving as Chief Public Defender, Mr. Patel went into private practice, concentrating in the area of criminal defense and personal injury/wrongful death cases.  In private practice, Mr. Patel has continued to represent numerous murder cases, including death penalty cases, as well as all types of felony, misdemeanor and DUI's.  Mr. Patel has tried over 100 criminal jury trials to verdict, thereby making him one of the most experienced criminal defense attorney's in the area.

Mr. Patel is also eligible to practice not only in State courts, but he is also a member of the Bar in Federal District Court in both the Northern and Central Districts of Illinois.  In addition, in the Federal District Court of the Central District of Illinois, Mr. Patel is a panel member eligible for court appointments to represent very serious federal criminal cases.  Eligibility for panel membership is determined exclusively by the Federal District Judges based on an attorney's federal trial experience.  As noted above, Mr. Patel was a former Federal prosecutor both as a U.S. Navy JAG and the Federal Trade Commission.  Due to Mr. Patel's extensive experience in trying federal criminal cases, he was certified by the Federal District Court to be a panel member.  In addition, he has routinely been privately retained by those charged with very serious federal matters.  He has defended federal narcotic charges, gun charges, environmental pollution cases, real estate fraud, child pornography and securities fraud.   Each of these cases involved thousands and thousands of pages of evidence and extensive investigation resulting in successful outcomes that well exceeded the client's expectations.  Due to the complexity of federal criminal defense, Mr. Patel is uniquely qualified to represent those charged with such serious matters in federal court.

Mr. Patel truly believes in utilizing all of his experience to defend the rights of clients to the fullest extent of the law.  He will aggressively defend his clients and rely on his jury trial experience to protect their freedoms.

Baku and his wife, Vandana, reside in Urbana where they are raising their two sons.