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February 6, 2014 Kevin P. Durkin, attorney at Clifford Law Offices, obtained a record $16 million verdict on behalf of two families whose sons were killed in a grain bin entrapment incident in Northwestern Illinois. Following a two-and-a-half-week trial, the Carroll County jury deliberated just eight hours before granting $8 million to each of the two plaintiffs’ families who were working at Haasbach at a Consolidated Grain and Barge Company grain elevator. The previous record…

Clifford’s Notes, Chicago Lawyer February 5, 2014 By Robert A. Clifford I recall reading a story about 10 years ago that I still find disturbing: On a cross-country flight, a lawyer sat next to the president of one of the firm’s top clients. When the president discovered the lawyer was the managing partner of the firm, he commented, “Yes, your firm used to be our lawyers.” The company had stopped sending work to that firm…

A new study conducted by medical researchers at the Buffalo campus of the State University of New York system has concluded that obesity is responsible for a lack of seatbelt usage that greatly increases the risk of fatality for individuals already living with obesity. Sounding eerily similar to conclusions drawn by a team of researchers looking into the redesign of airplane seatbelts for larger occupants, the team leader, Dr. Dietrich Jehle, is calling for immediate…

The Food and Drug Administration (FDA), a federal agency tasked with keeping the American public aware of potential health risks like E. Coli and pharmaceutical side effects, is warning that there could be a link between testosterone-boosting pills and increased risk of heart problems and fatalities. According to the Chicago Tribune, many men take these drugs due to the persuasive nature of the marketing efforts that coined the phrase “low-T” without fully researching the possible…

Robert A. Clifford, senior partner at Clifford Law Offices, wrote a column for the February issue of the Chicago Lawyer on the importance of staying in touch with clients (“If communication is rockin’, the ARDC won’t come a knockin’”). Click here to read the entire column: Clifford’s Notes, Chicago Lawyer. He offers some important tips as well as answers that are provided by the Illinois Attorney Registration and Disciplinary Commission (ARDC) at iardc.org. The column…

That’s the title of a two-page article that appeared in the February issue of the Chicago Lawyer on Clifford Law Offices. The reporter, Dustin J. Seibert, said, “That’s the feeling that surfaces just after you step off the elevator on the 31st floor of 120 N. LaSalle St. and into Clifford Law Offices.” Time and again, clients and visitors alike have described walking into the firm’s offices as if walking into one’s living room, and…

The 7th annual Continuing Legal Education Series sponsored by Clifford Law Offices will be held on February 20th, 2014. The Chicago law firm will be hosting a complimentary webinar on “The Ethics of Client Communications” that focuses on the best communication practices to benefit people in the legal world. The event will also focus on the challenges of ethical communications, such as limitations on what can be said online, how to ethically handle online reviews,…

On Jan. 29, 2014, the National Hellenic Museum held “The Trial of Orestes” with an all-star legal cast, including Robert Clifford, senior partner at Clifford Law Offices. He and his co-counsel, Dan Webb of Winston & Strawn LLP, successfully defended Orestes on the charge of matricide to a crowd of over a 1,000 spectators. A 16-member special jury panel ended the evening as a hung jury, with an 8-8 tie. Hon. Richard A. Posner acted…

On January 27th, an Illinois Toll-way worker was killed and a state trooper was grievously injured in a collision involving a multi-axle vehicle. This tragic event reportedly has been linked to the fact that the operator of the truck had been on-the-job for 37 straight hours, far more than is allowed for operation of commercial vehicles according to federal limits. Of further concern, the operator of the big rig truck reportedly had multiple arrests, including…