Joseph Kolar Chicago Personal Injury Attorney, Medical Malpractice Attorney, Wrongful Death Attorney

medical malpractice, hospital negligence, automobile, train, construction, truck, and aviation accident cases

Joseph Kolar has been practicing law since 1985. For 2005, Joe was named an Illinois Super Lawyer for Plaintiff Personal Injury: Malpractice. Joe concentrated his practice in handling serious personal injury cases, including medical malpractice, aviation crashes and truck/car crashes. As noted above, in the first medical malpractice case Joe and Bob took to trial, they obtained an $18.6 million verdict.

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Joseph Kolar has been practicing law since 1985. For 2005, Joe was named an Illinois Super Lawyer for Plaintiff Personal Injury: Malpractice (Chicago Magazine, May 2005). Joe has a peer-review rating of AV by Martindale-Hubbell®, the highest rating an attorney can receive for general ethical standards and legal ability.

In 1997, Joe was co-counsel with Bob Baizer when they obtained the then largest medical malpractice verdict in Illinois history. That $18.6 million verdict was more than $14 million higher than the next largest Lake County verdict. Joe was also co-counsel with Bob when they obtained in 2002 Illinois' second largest pre-verdict medical malpractice settlement. In 2003, Bob and Joe obtained an $11 million verdict in federal court in Chicago in a case involving a truck/car collision.

Joe graduated from Illinois State University in 1982 and he graduated cum laude from Northern Illinois University College of Law in 1985. While at NIU, Joe was an editor of the law review and had an article published in the law review titled: "Adoption of a Flexible Standard for Analyzing Informant's Tips in Illinois v. Gates," 4 Northern Illinois University Law Review 179-202, 1983.

After graduation from law school, Joe took a job with the Lake County State's Attorney's Office in Waukegan. While in the State's Attorney's Office, Joe handled complex civil matters at the trial and appellate court level. Joe successfully handled numerous appeals, including the following reported decisions: Salvation Army v. Department of Revenue, 170 Ill.App.3d 336, 524 N.E.2d 628 (1988); Lake County Board of Review v. Property Tax Appeal Board, 172 Ill. App.3d 851, 527 N.E.2d 84 (1988)(co-counsel); County of Lake v. Zenko, 174 Ill.App.3d 54, 528 NE.2d 414 (1988); Commonwealth Edison Company v. County of Lake, 183 Ill.App.3d 1060, 540 N.E.2d 6 (1989)(co-counsel); Kankakee County Board of Review v. Property Tax Appeal Board, 131 Ill.2d 1, 544 N.E.2d 762 (1989)(amicus curiae brief)(co-counsel).

In 1989, Joe left the State's Attorney's Office and began practicing with Bob Baizer. Joe again successfully handled civil appeals, including the following cases: Poeta v. Sheridan Point Shopping Plaza Partnership, 195 Ill.App.3d 852, 552 N.E.2d 1248 (1990)(co-counsel) and Pace Realty Group Inc. v. Property Tax Appeal Board, 306 Ill.App.3d 718, 713 N.E.2d 1249 (1999). In 1993, Joe was co-counsel with Bob Baizer in a six-week long civil trial in Lake County involving computer consulting services. Joe and Bob won the trial against Kirkland & Ellis, one of the largest law firms in the country.

About fifteen years ago, Joe concentrated his practice in handling serious personal injury cases, including medical malpractice, aviation crashes and truck/car crashes. As noted above, in the first medical malpractice case Joe and Bob took to trial, they obtained an $18.6 million verdict. Since that time, Joe and Bob have obtained numerous verdicts and settlements for their clients in excess of a million dollars (the settlements ranged from a million dollars to $19.4 million).

Joe is admitted to the Illinois bar (1985) and United States District Court for the Northern, Central and Southern Districts of Illinois. Joe has also been admitted to practice before the United States Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit.

Joe is a member of the Illinois Trial Lawyers Association. He is also a member of the American Association for Justice, Public Justice, the Illinois State Bar Association, and the Lake County Bar Association. With AAJ, Joe has been recognized as an "Advocate of Trial Advocacy" by its National College of Advocacy.