René A. Torrado, Jr., a former President of the Chicago Bar Association, is a distinguished and respected member of the Chicago legal community. A 1969 graduate of the University of Notre Dame and a 1973 graduate of Georgetown University Law Center, René began his legal career as a law clerk for U.S. District Judge James Lawrence King in the Southern District of Florida. Following his clerkship, he participated in the U.S. Department of Justice Honors Program as a trial attorney in the Antitrust Division and as a Special Assistant U.S. Attorney in the Eastern District of Virginia.
After completing his government service in 1978, René represented plaintiffs in antitrust matters and defendants in criminal prosecutions in a Washington, DC law firm. In 1981, René moved to Chicago and continued his trial practice with Reuben & Proctor and then formed his own firm. In 1987, René joined Vedder, Price, Kaufman & Kammholz, where he remained as a trial lawyer until joining Corboy & Demetrio in 2003.
René has represented individuals and corporations in a broad spectrum of civil matters. His clients have included corporate executives in executive compensation matters, class actions, shareholder derivative actions, and securities litigation; and individuals in trade secret and business tort litigation. As a trial lawyer, his representation has included matters involving antitrust, securities, RICO, contract, and fraud claims.
He has also represented Chicago area professional sports teams in workers' compensation claims and personal injury actions. On behalf of trade associations, he has both prosecuted and defended commercial claims such as antitrust matters, contract claims, and constitutional claims.
His courtroom successes include a $20 million judgment on behalf of a commercial financial institution in a lawsuit against corporate and individual defendants accused of violating RICO, committing fraud, and breach of contract and an $8 million judgment on behalf of an inventor against a multi-national healthcare product manufacturer.
Active in the Chicago Bar Association, (CBA), René has served as General Counsel of the Association from 1988 to1995, President from 1995 to1996 and chair of the Appellate Review Committee of the Judicial Evaluation Committee, where he is currently a member. With René as General Counsel, the CBA was successful in its constitutional challenge to proposed voter initiative imposing term limits on members of the Illinois General Assembly. René currently serves as President of the Chicago Inn of Court. He is a member of the Special Committee on the Illinois Constitutional Convention and is active in the Center for Conflict Resolution and the Chicago Inn of Court.
René is listed in "The Best Lawyers in America," an invitation-only, peer-selected publication. He is one of the top 5% of Trial Lawyers in Illinois as determined by the Leading Lawyers Network, is an Illinois Super Lawyer, and has an AV rating - the highest possible for any attorney - from the Martindale-Hubbell Law Directory.
