Graff, Shelli

Kevin P. Durkin has distinguished himself as one of Chicago's leading personal injury attorneys. Mr. Durkin has been named a top tier attorney in 2010 by U.S.News-Best Lawyers in the area of personal injury litigation based upon peer reviews and his legal ability, professionalism and integrity. As a partner at Clifford Law Offices, he has achieved numerous large jury verdicts and settlements in state and federal courts in cases that are highly complex and often high profile. For example, he tried the case of a mother and her two children who were involved in a devastating truck-car collision on Interstate 90 near Rockford. A four-year-old girl was killed and her two-year-old brother was permanently brain damaged when they were involved in a snowy pile-up in 1999. Their mother suffered facial injuries that required 31 surgeries. After a month-long trial in the Cook County Circuit Court, Mr. Durkin received a $38.3 million verdict on behalf of the family in March, 2004. The verdict was the largest in the country in 2004 involving a motor vehicle crash and was featured as one of the Top 100 Verdicts in the National Law Journal in 2005.

His trial accomplishments include serving as co-counsel in the highly publicized case of internationally-acclaimed violinist Rachel Barton who was severely injured when a Chicago commuter train dragged her for more than 300 feet. After taking dozens of depositions and a pain-staking investigation for more than four years, the month-long trial resulted in a $30 million verdict. Mr. Durkin also tried a tragic Sioux Falls automobile accident case in South Dakota on behalf of a man who suffered permanent brain damage. The case resulted in that state's largest personal injury verdict, $7.5 million. He was involved in the highly publicized $10 million settlement on behalf of a suburban police officer who was struck by a speeding hearse that ran a red light while the officer was on routine patrol. It made headlines because of the so-called "black box" that was discovered in the hearse that recorded the speed and contradicted the driver's story to police. Mr. Durkin also represented several men who were severely burned in a power plant explosion in Hammond, Indiana, and received multi-million-dollar settlements on behalf of the injured workers. He led the plaintiffs in the litigation involving the tragic high-rise fire in the Cook County Administration Building that killed six people and injured sixteen others. This resulted in a $100 million settlement.

Mr. Durkin is perhaps best known for his work in the aviation litigation field. He has been involved in nearly every major commercial airline crash in the last two decades, often serving as lead counsel. In 2003, he settled a series of lawsuits stemming from the crash of Alaska Airlines 261 that killed 88 people when it plunged into the Pacific Ocean in January, 2000. He reached more than $40 million in settlements on behalf of seven families following three years of depositions led by Durkin who served as Co-Chair of the Plaintiffs' Executive Committee for the litigation. Boeing admitted liability despite the National Transportation Safety Board giving the corporate giant a virtual pass in its determination of the cause of the crash because of Durkin's having exposed problems with the aircraft's horizontal stabilizer. Mr. Durkin also served on the Steering Committee of the Singapore Air crash Flight 006 as well as served on the Steering Committee for the crash of American Airlines Flight 587 that crashed in Queens, New York. He served as Lead Plaintiff's Co-Counsel in federal court where a $110 million settlement was negotiated for a number of families in the American Airlines Flight 4184 crash in Roselawn, Indiana. He represented the family of Joshua Woods, the six-year-old boy who was killed when a Southwest jetliner crashed into his family’s car after skidding off the runway at Midway Airport in December, 2005. He also represents several families in the February 12, 2009 tragedy involving the crash of a Colgan Air commuter aircraft near Buffalo, New York. He represented several families in the August 27, 2006 tragedy involving a Comair plane in Lexington, Kentucky. He served for four years as the Co-Chair of the Aviation Committee for the 75,000-member American Bar Association's Section of Litigation. In that position he chaired an annual program that brings together the best and the brightest to discuss cutting-edge issues in aviation litigation. He often still serves as a speaker for that annual program. He served for two years as Co-Chair of the Mass Torts Litigation Committee. He currently is Vice-Chair of the Aviation and Space Law Committee of the Tort Trial and Insurance Practice Section of the American Bar Association.

Kevin Durkin has also represented victims of many small plane crashes. For example, he handled the case involving the crash of Bob Collins, WGN radio’s most popular disc jockey, who was killed when a small plane crashed into his as he was landing in the Chicago area. In 2007, the judge in that case entered an award for the maximum coverage by the insurance, nearly $1 million. Mr. Durkin also received a $4.1 million settlement in October, 2001, on behalf of a photographer killed in a helicopter crash in northwest suburban Chicago.

Mr. Durkin handles a variety of personal injury and wrongful death cases, truck, railroad and automobile accident litigation, premises liability, security cases and medical malpractice. He has received multi-million dollar settlements or verdicts in a number of these cases. Mr. Durkin was co-lead counsel in the Amtrak crash that occurred in Bourbannais, Illinois, killing 11 people and injuring hundreds more.

After he graduated from DePaul University College of Law, Mr. Durkin served as an Assistant State's Attorney in the Cook County State's Attorney's Office in Chicago for eight years, 1980-88. Since then, he has focused on civil litigation at Clifford Law Offices.

Mr. Durkin is very active in the legal profession. He served as President of the Chicago Bar Association, from 2006-2007, a 22,000-member organization, from 2006-2007. He also has served on the Board of Directors of the Chicago Bar Foundation which serves the underprivileged of the Chicago legal community. He also was appointed to head the Chicago Bar Association's Judicial Evaluation Committee for the 1997 and 1998 judicial elections in Chicago and for all of Cook County, including appellate and supreme court elections. He served on the Board of Managers of the Chicago Bar Association. He has been previously appointed an adjunct faculty member at DePaul University College of Law in Chicago, teaching trial advocacy and complex litigation. He currently is the President of the DePaul University College of Law Center for Public Interest Law.

Mr. Durkin in 2009 was elected a Fellow in the American College of Trial Lawyers. In 2010 Mr. Durkin also was inducted as a Fellow in the International Academy of Trial Lawyers.

Clifford Law Offices is proud of Kevin Durkin's distinguished legal career and of his exemplary accomplishments both inside and out of the courtroom.