Robert A. Clifford, founder and senior partner at Clifford Law Offices, was awarded the esteemed Judge Joel Flaum Award at the annual meeting of the Chicago Inn of Court on Monday, September 18, 2023.
Robert A. Clifford with the Judge Joel Flaum Award at the annual meeting of the Chicago Inn of Court on September 18, 2023.
Clifford, a past president and founder of the organization, was honored for his outstanding contributions to the profession and for embodying the ideals of the American Inns of Court – excellence, professionalism, civility, and ethics. The award was established in 2000 with the first recipient being Judge Flaum of the Seventh Circuit Court of Appeals on which he served as Chief Judge from 2000-06.
Other recipients of the award over the last quarter century include Hon. William J. Bauer, Judge of the Seventh Circuit Court of Appeals (2002), Hon. Thomas R. Fitzgerald, (deceased), former Chief Justice of the Illinois Supreme Court (2003), Hon. Charles P. Kocoras, Judge of the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Illinois (2004), Hon. Mary Ann G. McMorrow, (deceased), former Chief Justice of the Illinois Supreme Court (2005), Hon. James F. Holderman, former Chief Judge of the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Illinois (2006), Hon. John Paul Stevens, (deceased), Justice of the United States Supreme Court (2007), Former Governor James Thompson (deceased) of the State of Illinois (2009), Hon. Ann C. Williams, (retired) Judge of the Seventh Circuit Court of Appeals (2010), Hon. Thomas L. Kilbride, former Chief Justice, Illinois Supreme Court (2011), Hon. Diane P. Wood, Chief Judge of the Seventh Circuit Court of Appeals (2013), and Hon. Rebecca R. Pallmeyer, Chief Judge of the U. S. District Court for the Northern District of Illinois (2019).
The Inn of Court award ceremony was held at DLA Piper in Chicago. James Figliulo of Smith Gambrill & Russell, LLP, in Chicago, presented the award to Clifford before a group of more than 100 members and guests. Figliulo was a past recipient of the Judge Joel Flaum Award as well as a past President and founder of the Chicago Inn of Court.
James Figliulo of Smith Gambrill & Russell, LLP, in Chicago presented the award to Robert A. Clifford.
Chicago Inn of Court President Trent A. McCain of McCain Law Offices, P.C. in Chicago, presided over the meeting where he announced next year’s President will be Christopher Esbrook of Esbrook PC in Chicago.
Clifford has the distinction of being selected by Super Lawyers®, a peer-review organization, as the number one lawyer in Illinois from 2009-2016, and in 2023, and has always placed in the top three. He was named by Chicago Magazine as one of the 100 Most Powerful Chicagoans and was named the 2012 Chicago Lawyer Person of the Year, based upon his trial accomplishments, and his contributions to the legal community and to the Chicago area. In 2014, the Seventh Circuit Court of Appeals presented Clifford with its Professionalism Award, and in 2017 The Chicago Bar Association awarded him the Justice John Paul Stevens Award – its highest honor. That same year he received the Unity Award from the Diversity Scholarship Foundation. The National Trial Lawyers named Clifford the Class Action Trial Lawyer of 2018 and he has been listed in The Best Lawyers in America® from its inception, decades ago, including holding the top placement in the Chicago metropolitan area in certain practice areas. In 2019, the Illinois Trial Lawyers’ Association honored Clifford with the Leonard Ring Lifetime Achievement Award and that same year he also was among those honored by Public Justice’s Trial Lawyer of the Year Award. He currently serves as Lead Counsel in the litigation in federal district court in Chicago against Boeing for the 2019 crash in Ethiopia that involves victims around the world.
From left to right, Christopher Esbrook of Esbrook PC in Chicago; Joan Clifford; Robert A. Clifford, founder and senior partner of Clifford Law Offices; Erin Clifford, partner at Clifford Law Offices; John V. Kalantzis, associate at Clifford Law Offices.