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Corboy & Demetrio: The Firm Chicago Lawyers Call the Corboy College of Law

Late in 1973, a lawyer admitted to the Illinois bar a few weeks earlier walked into Judge James Geroulis’s courtroom to watch the sitting president of the Chicago Bar Association try a case. Philip Corboy hired Thomas Demetrio that afternoon. Nine years later the firm’s name changed to include him. The Illinois State Bar Association’s own obituary of Corboy records the nickname the Chicago bar gave the place — “the Corboy College of Law, for serving as a training ground for a generation of trial lawyers” — and that is the most accurate single description of what this firm has been for seventy-four years: a plaintiff’s practice that also functions as a pipeline into the leadership of the local bar and the bench.

At a Glance

FIRM	Corboy & Demetrio, P.C.
FOUNDED	1952, as Philip H. Corboy & Associates; renamed Corboy & Demetrio in 1982
FOUNDER	Philip H. Corboy (1924–2012), first in his class at Loyola University Chicago School of Law, 1949; admitted January 17, 1949
OFFICE	33 North Dearborn Street, 21st Floor, Chicago, IL 60602 — a single office, no satellites
PRACTICE	Plaintiff-side only: catastrophic personal injury, wrongful death, medical malpractice, aviation, mass torts, workers’ compensation
SIZE	13 attorneys on the firm’s own roster — 10 partners, 3 associates
MANAGEMENT	Co-managing partners William T. Gibbs and Kenneth T. Lumb
AGGREGATE CLAIM	“Over $5 billion”; the firm’s own materials also state $4 billion elsewhere, and give both “nearly 600” and “nearly 700” for million-dollar-plus recoveries

Origin and Background

Corboy graduated first in his law school class in 1949 and went to work as an Assistant Corporation Counsel for the City of Chicago, where among the ordinances he drafted was one prohibiting smoking in public elevators. He opened his own practice in 1952. Demetrio became a partner in 1982; Philip Harnett Corboy Jr. and Francis Patrick Murphy joined the partnership in 1991. The founder died in 2012. The firm’s own marketing is inconsistent about its age, variously claiming “more than 65 years” and “over 50 years” against a 1952 founding date that the Better Business Bureau, the Chicago Bar Association and the Inner Circle of Advocates all support; Awesome Attorneys uses 1952. A legal directory listing that describes the firm as having operated as “Corboy, Demetrio & Clifford” from 1995 appears to be an error — Robert Clifford, a Corboy protege, founded his own firm in 1984 — and is not repeated here.

What Makes the Firm Structurally Different

The mechanism is a law-clerk-to-partner pipeline that has produced an anomalous concentration of bar leadership, and it is countable rather than asserted. A 2003 trade article reproduced by the firm names six present or former members who had led the Chicago Bar Association before Michael K. Demetrio became the seventh: Philip Corboy in 1972, John D. Hayes in 1984, Richard J. Phelan in 1985, Thomas Demetrio in 1992, Rene A. Torrado Jr. in 1995, and Patricia C. Bobb in 1997. The firm’s own honors page separately claims to be the only Chicago firm with four former CBA presidents, counting only those who stayed; the seven-figure counts alumni who left. Awesome Attorneys reports the names rather than either number. The second structural fact is scale, or the deliberate lack of it: thirteen lawyers carry a catastrophic-injury and mass-tort docket that most firms would staff with several times that number, and the firm still hires law students as clerks and promotes from within.

Practice Areas

Personal injury and wrongful death. Medical malpractice. Aviation litigation. Construction accidents. Truck and vehicular accidents. Product liability and medical devices. Drug liability. Nursing home negligence. Premises liability. Railroad negligence and FELA. Firefighter cancer claims. Rideshare. Sports liability. Workers’ compensation.

Track Record

Matter	Result	Verification
Wilcox v. Advocate Condell Medical Center, No. 18 L 10293 — wrongful death	$42.4 million jury verdict, Cook County, August 19, 2022; affirmed on appeal in 2024	Independently verified in the appellate opinion
Dr. David Dao v. United Airlines — passenger forcibly removed from a flight, April 2017	Confidential settlement, April 27, 2017	Independently reported (NPR, NBC News); amount never disclosed
American Eagle Flight 4184, Roselawn, Indiana	$110 million global settlement, 1997	Co-led with other plaintiffs’ firms; see note below
Lam v. City of Chicago, No. 2019 L 3062 — fatal police pursuit	$10.5 million	Per the firm, with a docket number
United Airlines Flight 232, Sioux City	$74 million	Per the firm
John Hancock Building scaffolding collapse	$75 million global settlement	Per the firm
Metra derailment	$44 million, including a $29.6 million verdict	Per the firm
Boogaard v. National Hockey League — wrongful death of an NHL player	Dismissed with prejudice, N.D. Illinois, 2017; dismissal affirmed	Independently verified in the court record

Two notes belong with this table. The Roselawn settlement was a multi-firm aggregate that Thomas Demetrio co-headed with Robert Clifford and two other lawyers; Clifford Law Offices publishes the same $110 million figure, and neither firm recovered it alone. The Boogaard dismissal is included because a track-record section that lists only wins is a marketing document: the firm brought that case and lost it outright. The firm also lists “Sterigenics” among its notable matters, and Awesome Attorneys found no source attributing the widely reported Willowbrook ethylene-oxide verdict or settlement figures to this firm; those numbers are not repeated here. The firm’s aggregate recovery claim is internally inconsistent across its own materials and is not independently auditable. Past results do not guarantee or predict a similar outcome in any future case.

Client Voice

This firm does not expose client reviews on the major platforms, and what exists points in two directions. Martindale-Hubbell states plainly that the firm “has chosen not to display reviews provided by their clients.” Thomas Demetrio’s Avvo profile carries no client reviews. The Better Business Bureau shows an A+ rating with zero reviews and zero complaints. Against that, an aggregator reporting on the firm’s Google listing shows 3.6 out of 5 across forty-four reviews, including at least one one-star entry — materially below the 5.0 the firm’s Facebook reviews average, and Awesome Attorneys could not retrieve the text of the negative reviews. The attributed positive quotes that are readable come from Facebook: a reviewer identified as Mark Stang wrote that a named partner “is a compassionate counselor and an outstanding advocate,” and a reviewer identified as Chris Weber wrote of two partners that they “are genuinely great & compassionate guys who truly care about their client’s.” Several 2017 Facebook entries are reactions to televised coverage of the United Airlines matter rather than client relationships, and are not treated as testimonials. Awesome Attorneys does not report that this firm has no negative reviews; it has them, and their content could not be read.

Beyond the Courtroom

Loyola University Chicago School of Law renamed its downtown building the Philip H. Corboy Law Center in 2009 after a gift from Corboy and his wife, Mary Dempsey, reported as the largest single gift to the law school at that time; the Corboy Fellowship in Trial Advocacy was established there in 1995. The Illinois Trial Lawyers Association renamed its headquarters the Philip H. Corboy Center for Justice in 2013. Thomas Demetrio co-created Lawyers Lend-A-Hand to Youth with the Chicago Bar Foundation in 1995 out of his CBA presidency, and the firm states the program has awarded more than $1.6 million to youth mentoring. Bar presidencies held by firm attorneys include the Illinois Trial Lawyers Association (Corboy 1963–64, Thomas Demetrio 1988, Philip Corboy Jr. 2008–09), the Chicago Bar Association (Corboy 1972–73, Thomas Demetrio 1992–93, Michael K. Demetrio 2003), and the Women’s Bar Association of Illinois (Michelle M. Kohut 2013–14). Awesome Attorneys did not identify a published pro bono program, policy or hours figure for the firm.

Recognition

Illinois Rule of Professional Conduct 7.4(b) provides that the Supreme Court of Illinois does not recognize certifications of specialties in the practice of law, and 7.4(c) restricts the words “certified,” “specialist” and “expert.” Awesome Attorneys does not use specialist language for Illinois firms.

Invitation-only or peer-conferred: Philip Corboy’s membership in the Inner Circle of Advocates, which caps membership at 100 and is independently confirmed in that organization’s directory; fellowships in the American College of Trial Lawyers held by Philip Corboy Jr. and Thomas Demetrio; a Martindale-Hubbell AV Preeminent peer rating; the Chicago Bar Association’s Justice John Paul Stevens Award to Thomas Demetrio in 2016; the Illinois Trial Lawyers Association’s Leonard M. Ring Lifetime Achievement Award; and the bar presidencies listed above. Hybrid: Best Lawyers and Best Law Firms use peer balloting but license badges commercially — the firm holds a 2026 National Tier 1 ranking in Mass Tort Litigation and Class Actions for plaintiffs, and four Chicago Tier 1 rankings. Commercial or membership-fee based, kept separate: Super Lawyers, the Leading Lawyers Network, Lawdragon, and The National Trial Lawyers. Awesome Attorneys notes that Lawdragon republishes this firm’s press releases verbatim and is therefore not treated as an independent source for it. No Chambers ranking was found for this firm.

Illinois Legal Backdrop

An Illinois action for damages for personal injury must generally be commenced within two years after the cause of action accrued, under 735 ILCS 5/13-202. Under 735 ILCS 5/2-1116, Illinois bars a plaintiff from recovering at all if the trier of fact finds the plaintiff’s contributory fault was more than 50 percent, and otherwise diminishes damages in proportion to that fault. Where the injured person was a minor, 735 ILCS 5/13-211 permits the action to be brought within two years after that person turns 18. Shorter periods apply against some defendants, notably local public entities, and medical malpractice claims carry their own limitation and repose framework. None of this is legal advice; deadlines in Illinois vary enough by defendant and claim type that the question belongs with a licensed Illinois lawyer quickly.

Awesome Attorneys Assessment

The differentiator is real and it is not the dollar figures: it is that a thirteen-lawyer firm has supplied seven leaders to the Chicago Bar Association and had a law school building and a trial lawyers’ headquarters named for its founder. That is institutional standing of a kind money does not buy, and it is verifiable from Loyola, the ISBA and the CBA rather than from the firm. The honest trade-offs are three. A firm this small is selective by necessity, and a routine claim is unlikely to be taken. The firm’s own numbers do not reconcile — its aggregate recoveries are stated as both $4 billion and $5 billion, its firm age three different ways, and its Google rating sits well below the testimonials it publishes. And the founder’s record is not unblemished: in 1988 the Illinois Supreme Court held that Philip Corboy and three other lawyers violated the rule prohibiting a lawyer from giving a thing of value to a judge, arising from a $1,000 payment in 1981 to a Cook County judge later central to the Operation Greylord corruption investigation. The court discharged the complaints and imposed no discipline, reasoning that the respondents had acted without settled guidance, but the violation finding stands and any claim that this firm has a spotless history would be false. The family of a woman killed in a 1995 crash also sued the firm for legal malpractice over alleged failure to preserve evidence; the Illinois Supreme Court denied leave to appeal in 2009 and Awesome Attorneys could not determine who prevailed below. For a catastrophic injury or death case in Cook County where institutional weight and trial credibility matter more than staffing depth, this is among the first names on the list. For anything smaller, it is likely the wrong door.

Methodology and Sourcing

Researched from the firm’s own site, including its attorney directory, results, philanthropy and legacy pages, cross-referenced against the Illinois Attorney Registration and Disciplinary Commission’s public records, which were checked individually for every attorney on the firm’s roster and returned no public discipline or pending proceedings for any of them. In re Corboy, 124 Ill. 2d 29 (1988), was read in the original, and the ARDC’s disciplinary database record for case 1986PR00120 was retrieved and shows the complaint discharged. The Wilcox verdict was verified in the 2024 First District appellate opinion; Boogaard in the federal court record; the United Airlines settlement in NPR and NBC News reporting; the Pinnick malpractice matter in the Illinois Supreme Court’s 2009 denial of leave to appeal and in NBC Chicago reporting. Founding date checked against the Inner Circle of Advocates directory, the Better Business Bureau record and the Chicago Bar Association firm profile. Illinois limitations, comparative fault and minority-tolling provisions were verified against the Illinois General Assembly’s published text of 735 ILCS 5/13-202, 5/2-1116 and 5/13-211. Awesome Attorneys could not retrieve Google or Yelp review text, or a Chicago Reader article on the malpractice matter.

Publisher Disclosure and Independence Notice

Awesome Attorneys is an independent legal directory and editorial publication. This profile was not paid for, commissioned, or reviewed by Corboy & Demetrio, P.C. prior to publication. Awesome Attorneys may in the future offer sponsored placement products to attorneys and firms, including this one, but sponsorship has no bearing on the editorial content, inclusion, or findings of this profile. Facts in this profile are current only as of the research date and may change.